I really want schools to open, and also really think the benefits of doing so in our current context outweigh the risks. But “we just don’t surrender” is an insane thing to say that reflects exactly the way BDB is monumentally sabotaging his own effort here. 1/x https://twitter.com/emmagf/status/1293925295058190338

People - teachers and parents and students and principals -are really scared. They aren’t fake scared. They are scared and worried about how to best take care of themselves and their loved ones, their colleagues and their communities. And they’re getting a ton of information 2/x

That makes it hard to distinguish the NYC context from the national context, that makes it hard to understand how schools can be safe if restaurants aren’t. They don’t trust leadership- not BDB, cuomo or Trump- to fund the schools appropriately or prioritize safety 3/x

Because why should they trust them? The schools are desperately underfunded and inequitable at baseline, and BDB and Cuomo made very bad decisions in March to keep the city open longer than we should have. 4/x

We’re now in a situation where we’ll-meaning non-expert parents are trying to read papers on building ventilation and transmission dynamics and glean information from them about how schools should run or whether to send their kids in. It’s stressful and unfair. 5/x

The city is doing a TERRIBLE job explaining why opening schools in a low prevalence context with a strong 3% positivity rate shutdown plan is safe- why, in fact, it means some of the other issues like ventilation probably don’t apply quite as much here as they do elsewhere. 6/x

No one is asking for surrender. All stakeholders want to understand why the mayor thinks this is safe when so many others seem to think it isn’t. He misses every opportunity to reassure, to educate and to empathize. 7/x

And he cannot communicate about uncertainty at all-even though that’s what leadership means in this moment, it means helping people navigate uncertainty. 8/x

We are off the map-there are not clear right things to do here, there is only trying to apply best judgment in accordance with our collective values. No one will feel safe going back to school if they feel bullied into it. We deserve better right now. 9/9