If you haven’t spent any time listening or reading about the pandemic stories of students, teachers, & staff, I recommend this 4 part audio doc series from the @nytimes on Odessa High School in West Texas. Currently 1st 3 parts are out. 1/

#ksed #ksleg https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/podcasts/odessa-school-reopenings-texas.html

Stories from schools & their communities of senior years disrupted; of isolation, loneliness, depression, & aimlessness; of future dreams put on hold or discarded; of friendships torn apart from fear & resentment. All exacerbated for those w/ less resources &/or those who... 2/

continue to suffer from institutional racism.

Stories of exhausted, overworked, & anxious teachers, staff, & administrators who've lacked adequate support & guidance from state legislatures, the federal government, & public health officials (who suffer from their own lack... 3/

of support & resources). In some cases, GOP controlled state legislatures have even used the pandemic to further their attacks on public education ( #ksleg being 1 example).

Stories of school board members forced to choose between the devastating impacts that remote/hybrid... 4/

learning has on many students, potentially throughout the remainder of their lives, & the impacts on families w/in their communities of having kids home versus the risk to life & long term health for these same teachers, staff, & students, as well as the community. 5/

We've known most of what we needed to do to make schools safer from COVID-19 since last spring (e.g., https://twitter.com/j_g_allen/status/1381555820480061440?s=20). And many have been calling for that since then.

But I also think some of the ways solutions were proposed somewhat ignored the concerns/... 6/

expertise of teachers/staff relative to a school's day-to-day as well as behavioral factors in general. Nevertheless, we could have made so much more progress over the last year than we did had we heeded these calls that started last spring.

The billions of dollars... 7/

now allocated to solving some of these issues is an important step. But we also must remember that public school districts entered the pandemic starting from a deficit w/ a long history in the making, not equitably distributed – decades... 8/

of deferred maintenance (e.g., https://twitter.com/marwa_zaatari/status/1380999477759201285?s=20), underfunding, understaffing while also being asked to perform so many services that society has slowly abdicated as the needs have only grown – from supplementing the needs of kids & their families driven by poverty... 9/

to addressing student mental health issues.

For many districts, it's going to take significant dollars & effort just to address the facility portion of this. And they will need more consistent, effective guidance implementing COVID-safe strategies that also improve... 10/

health/wellness/learning overall while reducing emissions.

On the public health side, that means we must have consistent messaging/guidance from the @WHO on down to local county health departments that #COVIDisAirborne & that implemented strategies must account for that. 11/

Ignorance, mixed messaging, &/or gaslighting (e.g., https://zeynep.substack.com/p/the-gaslighting-of-science) from some public health officials & scientists w/ varying degrees of influence only makes this harder.

And predatory manufacturers & suppliers capitalizing on all... 12/

of this to sell districts various electronic air cleaning equipment ( https://twitter.com/marwa_zaatari/status/1379196516263473153?s=20) or #hygienetheater ( https://twitter.com/marwa_zaatari/status/1380513781399322627?s=20) just sets school districts that much farther back - wasting limited resources implementing ineffective solutions that are likely harmful. 13/

We have collectively failed public education & our students - not just over the last year but in the years leading up to the pandemic. We have a chance to do better. Let's actually do better here. 14/

#ksed #ksleg