The distorted debate about reopening schools - The Washington Post

The distorted debate about reopening schools - The Washington Post

The deeply distorted debate about reopening schools

For nearly a year the Trump administration was accused of ignoring science by trying to bully schools into reopening during the coronavirus pandemic without requiring that proper safety steps being taken. Now the Biden administration, less than a month in office, is being accused of ignoring science — largely for doing the opposite.

A popular construct of the criticism of the Biden administration goes like this: Frustrated parents everywhere want their kids back in schools right now, but fearful (and sometimes lazy) teachers don’t want to go. Their unions are nothing but obstructionist. Researchers say there is little evidence that schools contribute to increased community transmission of the coronavirus. President Biden, a friend of labor, is siding with the unions by supporting the idea of instituting safety precautions before reopening.

There is a lot that is distorted with that thinking, which suggests that critics believe that there is a firm consensus on which safety measures are necessary and that all schools will or are implementing them.

Actually, there is a continued lack of governmental clarity over exactly what proper safety measures are necessary — and plenty of evidence that many school districts already open are not coming close to implementing some of the key measures. Researchers reporting on transmission in schools qualify their results by saying that safety measures matter, a point that sometimes gets left out of the reopening debate or gets added as an aside.

CDC offers road map for safely reopening schools

Encapsulating some of the pointed discussion was a conversation on Sunday between Jake Tapper, host of MSNBC’s “State of the Union” and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky. Tapper asked Walensky why more schools weren’t open when she and infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci and other experts have been saying for months that schools should open as long as there are certain safety measures in place.

“There are a lot of people out there watching who think, like, ‘I thought the science said we should open the schools as long as we are taking the safety steps,'" Tapper said. “We’re taking the safety steps, and we’re not opening the schools.” CONTINUE READING: The distorted debate about reopening schools - The Washington Post

NYC Educator: UFT Delegate Assembly February 10, 2021--Debate Upon Debate

NYC Educator: UFT Delegate Assembly February 10, 2021--Debate Upon Debate

UFT Delegate Assembly February 10, 2021--Debate Upon Debate

UFT President Michael Mulgrew--We're more than halfway through this wonderful school year. Hope everyone is safe. Asks for a moment of silence for former CTU President Karen Lewis. 

Middle schools--They needed testing capacity. They do not need an agreement with UFT. State approved city plan with 20% testing per building per week. We did not take their word for it. District has money from second stimulus act. We demanded time to get teams up to speed. Over last few weeks they've hired 55 additional testing teams. There are 60K additional tests, but they are now in compliance with state plan. 

We are frustrated with vaccines, and scrambling for more, as are hospitals and medical providers. We will get out more info, but city has agreed to specific number of slots every day at city centers for in person DOE employees--elementary, MS, and D75 working in schools. We also have more vaccine for our own program and will do the same.

We want middle schools to have time to get ready. That's why we have two weeks. Staff will have one day to come in and check. We will make sure PPE is in place. If you're going back, protocols, PPE, cleaning and ventilation are important. Testing gives us early warning so we can take proper procedures and shut rooms and schools as needed. Make sure everything is in place. Covid building response teams have done great work.

Around country people are surprised we have teams to do this. Other cities don't have testing capacity and haven't been doing anything for months. Disappointing to see teachers around country fighting for what we already have. Not enough to just say schools are important. 

Contact us with any issues. We will push and monitor. That's watching each other's backs. 

Federal--CDC was supposed to put out new guidelines, but pushed until Friday. You're going to see what we always talk about. Will sound a lot like NYC, but they don't have CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Delegate Assembly February 10, 2021--Debate Upon Debate

Mike Klonsky's Blog: More campaign chaos as COVID rocks the WH

Mike Klonsky's Blog: More campaign chaos as COVID rocks the WH

More campaign chaos as COVID rocks the WH

Trump at the debate: "I don’t wear masks like [Biden]. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."

Just when you thought there could be no real October surprises... 

I mean what new sordid tale could possibly be left to tell about the Trump White House, that snakepit of grifters, fascists, and white supremacists, who are largely responsible for the deaths of more than 204,000 U.S. COVID victims? This, even after Tuesday's vile debate performance in Cleveland Tuesday night where the president mocked his opponent and bragged, "I don't wear masks like him".

Now we know. With only a month to go before election day comes word that DT and Melania have both contracted the deadly coronavirus. The carefully constructed media story now being dribbled out is that they got it from White House official Hope Hicks, the former fashion model who, at age 26 was conscripted to be his campaign press secretary, even though she had never worked in politics and had no campaign experience. 

I'm sure that scenario will be rewritten and fine-tuned a hundred times once it's dug into. And in the days ahead we may learn the real story of how many others on the WH staff, the secret service, military leaders, or Republican pols have also been infected, directly or indirectly by super-spreader Trump? How many thousands more mask-disdaining MAGA rally-goers, Sturgis, S.D.-visiting bikers, or thousands of others who simply bought into Trump's fantastic CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: More campaign chaos as COVID rocks the WH

No More Debates. For the Good of the Country. | Teacher in a strange land

No More Debates. For the Good of the Country. | Teacher in a strange land

No More Debates. For the Good of the Country.

It’s been another tough week in Teacher Land. My music teacher buddies in Michigan are writing about coming inside from the cold, after a few weeks of humming softly in a circle on the grass, playing ukuleles or meeting under a canvas canopy with tubas and flutes.

How to make music safely, indoors: a challenge I never had to meet, but creative teachers are figuring out, on the fly, every day. Kudos, and more kudos, to every teacher struggling to make whatever form their instruction is taking effective. Y’all rock.

But imagine you are the 8th grade Social Studies teacher who assigned watching the Presidential debate, asking for a one-paragraph response or trying to discuss it via Zoom. You anticipated lots of fireworks, and actually hope that your students get hung up on the bad behavior. Because otherwise you’ll have to explain who the Proud Boys are–and the fact that a serving president has already falsely deemed the election a fraud, five weeks in advance. Try being ‘neutral’ and pro-civic engagement after that.

There have been lots of jokes today about needing a middle school teacher at the next debate. Ha ha and all that, but as a veteran, 30-year middle school teacher, let me  CONTINUE READING: No More Debates. For the Good of the Country. | Teacher in a strange land

CURMUDGUCATION: No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher

CURMUDGUCATION: No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher

No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher

Within ten minutes, the comments started, and they haven’t stopped since.

This is why kindergarten teachers should be paid a million dollars. Next time, pick a middle school teacher—they know how to handle this. It was like watching squabbling children. Referring to Trump as “President Manbaby.”

The comparisons are unfair to teachers and children both, and while I know we’ve all got a few things on our minds, it’s worth taking a moment to think about why the comparisons are unfair.

There are teacher skills that apply here. For instance, when chaos envelopes a classroom seemingly involving every student there, a good teacher knows who the instigator was. That’s where you direct your energy for rebuilding focus—at the source of the disorder.

But there's a picture of teaching implicit in all these jokes that is inaccurate and really kind of insulting--that a teacher's job is to stand in a room and sternly, even forcefully, crushing students into compliance. That's not the job, and hasn't been for quite a while. Yes, teachers have to learn how to exercise some sort of authority, but in this century, that involves earning trust and building relationships. In short, some of these japes imply an idea of teaching as the exercise of some sort of authoritarian, even dictatorial control over others. That's a bad picture of teaching and it's not particularly useful on the debate stage, either.

What I really object to is the comparison, both direct and implied, of these geriatric candidates as CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher