Disappointing but Not Surprising: Trump and DeVos Ignore Equity and Abandon Safety In Demands to Reopen Schools
There is lots of penetrating writing about the collapse of our society’s ideals in these months since mid-March, when we suddenly realized the coronavirus was among us. As the weeks wore on last spring, and children were thrust into online lessons provided by their schools, a vast invisible digital chasm between wealthy and poor families was immediately exposed. People vowed that the COVID-19 pandemic would be an inflection point. America would address growing inequity between the extremely privileged and working families living paycheck to paycheck.
But all summer the Trump administration and Congress have ignored the problems set to emerge when school districts’ released plans for resuming school this fall. The Senate has put off even considering the amount of relief dollars necessary to ensure basic staffing and safety. This week, as the Trump administration falters, the press has been paying attention. I urge you to read carefully the articles briefly excerpted here to explore what needs to happen in the next month.
The Nation‘s Ellie Mystal most vividly depicts today’s dismaying and confusing realities for families as the Trump administration and Congress have shown not the least concern for the public institution that serves our nation’s children on behalf of our society: “After the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, President Barack Obama delivered what I have always believed to be the best speech of his presidency. He talked about what it’s like to be a parent, and the critical realization, experienced by most parents, that you can’t keep your children safe or teach them well without the help of your friends and neighbors. Then he expanded that idea to include the whole of society. He said, ‘This is our first task—caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.'”
Mystal continues: “We have not gotten anything right when it comes to caring for our CONTINUE READING: Disappointing but Not Surprising: Trump and DeVos Ignore Equity and Abandon Safety In Demands to Reopen Schools | janresseger