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Thread on school re-opening: It& #39;s really something: we are seeing in real time the acknowledgement that teachers and related staff are the equivalent of menial "essential workers" who never had the PPE they needed & will be expected to just re-open, because, well, because. 1/ https://twitter.com/librarianerd/status/1279918248880988160">https://twitter.com/librarian...
There are a lot of important and compelling reasons for kids to be in school (heck, I want my own kids to go back). And yes, it appears the evidence for kid-to-adult COVID transmission shows it& #39;s not as big a risk as adults-to-adults. 2/
But it& #39;s also really, really true that we haven& #39;t remotely stopped this first wave of the pandemic in most parts of the country, and it& #39;s accelerating in many places that are due to re-open schools in 4-6 weeks. So, a rise in cases w/schools trying to plan for this. 3/
I also find it fanciful that so many op-ed writers and experts are willing to just say a more intellectualized version of "won& #39;t somebody think about the children?" even though they know that the risks are still high for the adults and parents in the mix. 4/
Because here& #39;s another awful reality that America has never dealt with: we don& #39;t support working mothers with anything like what other countries do (child care, paid leave) so now we are casting about for a way to manage our youth& #39;s education AND child care deficits. 5/
So what are we looking at, in early July? Districts will try to re-open (mostly) fully, and kids, teachers, and parents will all go back into the buildings, excited, relieved but also super-anxious. There will be a massive need for SEL and trauma-informed care on top of 6/
the VERY likely outcome of some schools, districts, and possibly regions of states having to shut down again due to another outbreak. 7/ https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/03/868507524/israel-orders-schools-to-close-when-covid-19-cases-are-discovered">https://www.npr.org/sections/...
& when this happens, then what? The whole rationale for being back at school was the damage being done to our youth educationally and developmentally, particularly already-disadvantaged students, not that we really think it& #39;s a safe place for adults. 8/ https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/asia/south-korea-coronavirus-shuts-down-again-intl/index.html">https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/2...
And what if teachers just say...no, we& #39;re not gonna be there? "Teachers increasingly are on edge and leaning on unions for help. & #39;I& #39;m being bombarded with, ‘How the hell are we going to do this?’ said (NEA President) Eskelsen García." 9/ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/04/coronavirus-school-opening-348405">https://www.politico.com/news/2020...
More magical thinking: the people who think that the feds are going to find the $$ needed to make re-opening of schools as safe as possible. Politico again: "DOE Sec. Betsy DeVos is largely on the sidelines, saying the COVID back-to-school planning is a state & local issue." 10/
Not a hopeful end to this thread (sorry) but I can promise you we& #39;re going to keep discussing these issues through the Summer-Fall over at @SchoolSocWork & our social media platform SSWNetwork, & we welcome any educators and researchers who want to help us figure this out. End
