I watched President Biden’s CNN Townhall. I like President Biden and feel that he is sincere and wants to do a good job. He is well-focused on helping the country move forward. His kindness shines through. But his school plans for Covid-19 are worrisome.
As expected, Covid-19 dominated the Townhall conversation. A whole segment could have been on schools and Covid-19. Unfortunately, the school issue wasn’t well-addressed with only two questions.
Opening Schools in 100 Days
I wish the President had never said that schools should open in 100 days. It reminds me of when politicians from both parties said that with No Child Left Behind, all third graders would read proficiently by 2014. In 2021, students still have reading problems. Covid-19 is different from reading, of course, but making predictions about Covid-19 seems like a gamble.
It’s also not like all schools have been closed. Some schools have in-person learning or a hybrid approach. Schools may open then close due to Covid-19 cases. Teachers have been safely teaching remotely since the beginning of the pandemic.
If he had to pick a time, perhaps it should be Fall, as noted by Dr. Leana Wen, M.D. More people will hopefully be vaccinated and the Covid-19 and its variants under better control. It’s good that the President said teachers should be vaccinated.
Dr. Wen’s approach to opening schools seems cautious but sensible.
Speaking soon with @donlemon @CNNTonight: I still don’t understand the 100-day reopening school plan. We should focus on getting all students back to school for in-person learning in the fall. Catch-up will be important & I’m glad @POTUS addressed summer school. #BidenTownHall
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) February 17, 2021
Learning Loss
It was troubling that President Biden spoke of learning loss. Is he listening to McKinsey & Company and other nonprofits and Think Tanks that use learning loss as a way to blame teachers and public schools?
Where is a peer-reviewed education study that says that students have fallen behind? Falling behind what? Student schedules have been disrupted, but students have continued to learn.
Repeatedly hearing about learning loss makes parents uneasy and may drive schools to reopen when it’s not safe.
One way to lessen the stress around Covid-19 is not to force students to take unnecessary high-stakes standardized tests. Teachers are capable of following their student’s progress.
Some children have more difficulties learning remotely, and schools must make accommodations for students with learning problems.
Summer school might be an option if it is done safely, but it shouldn’t pressure stressed children.
The Media
The media is pressuring educators and the teacher’s unions to get schools open. The problem is school safety and keeping children safe in those schools. Here’s a rundown of the problems teachers face.
Also, reports continue to surface of Covid-19 cases increasing in children. From February 16, The New York Times: Covid-Linked Syndrome in Children Is Growing, and Cases Are More Severe.
Reports also insinuate that children have mental health issues because they don’t have in-person schooling. This is a concern, but school counselors, teachers, and school psychologists should be a part of the Covid-19 plan for schools and help parents when they are worried about their child’s mental health. How are schools and communities addressing this? It’s also easy to forget that mental health issues for children in and out of school were not well-addressed before Covid-19!
Covid is Scary!
President Biden tried to calm a young child, fearful about Covid-19, but children get the virus, and some get very sick, even die. He might have told her we’re all scared and we need the courage to face our fears by following the rules the best we can. Maybe he could have told her some things to do when she’s afraid, like talk to Mom or Dad, call a friend or go for a family walk and study nature, etc. We should all be thinking of ways to allay the fears in children. It’s not an easy task.
Fact checking @POTUS #BidenTownHall:
-Kids can get #covid19. Over 3 million children have been diagnosed thus far, 99,000 in the week before 2/11/21
-Kids can transmit #covid19 to adults & vice versa
-Vaccines are currently being bested on children 12+https://t.co/IUgUNBqmYz— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) February 17, 2021
Teachers
The President never mentioned the seriousness of the teacher shortage, or better to say finding teachers willing to work in questionable conditions during a pandemic. School administrators can’t find substitutes. Some states are looking for cheap fixes by asking for volunteers to fill in the teacher’s role. This is a grave concern. Teachers need support and to communicate and work closely with parents during the pandemic.
The President was right in that states and local school districts make many decisions about Covid-19, but he can and should continue to provide guidance.
How to address Covid-19 in schools isn’t straightforward. I hope that President Biden will seek better answers about how and when our schools should safely open in the weeks and months ahead. It would be nice to see him visit schools and talk with teachers.
Biden has tapped Gina Raimondo as his Commerce Secretary. In her role as governor of Rhode Island, Raimondo ordered a state takeover of Providence’s public schools. Those teachers and their union had no say in reopening as a result.
“In September, Providence, which now serves about 22,600 students, was the rare large, urban district in a blue state that not only opened its schools to in-person learning but also offered instruction five days a week to every elementary student, plus hybrid instruction to middle and high-school students whose parents chose to send them. (A separate virtual academy was set up for students whose parents preferred to keep them home.) Sixty-eight percent of the district’s students are Latino and 15 percent are Black, both populations that have suffered, across the country, especially high rates of Covid infections and mortality; it is in an exceptionally dense metropolitan area, with extensive multigenerational housing; and its school infrastructure is in such grim condition that the Johns Hopkins review reported that the worst of the buildings “reduced seasoned members of the review team to tears.” Even with those concerns, since September the majority of the city’s young people have experienced what has been the exception in this strange time: They could regularly see their teachers and classmates, either every day or at least two days a week…
“For school districts opening for the first time, Rhode Island’s experience also offers an example of what to expect — and to try to mitigate against — under very difficult circumstances: severely stressed educators, possibly chaotic classrooms, unpredictability for students, high rates of quarantine and absenteeism, lost services for students with special needs. It wasn’t easy; it wasn’t pretty; and at times, it did not even feel like school…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/magazine/school-reopenings-rhode-island.html
Raimondo was a venture capitalist before entering politics. Her husband, Andy Moffit, formerly TFA, is a hedge funder who founded McKinsey’s Global Education Practice. Their children, of course, attend private schools.
Raimondo’s Commissioner of Education, Angélica Infante Green, is as reformista as they come: TFA, first cohort of Jeb!’s Chief for Change.
Hard to feel confident in Biden’s plans for education when someone like Raimondo is on the team.
Sorry to hear this. I guess it isn’t surprising. Thanks for sharing, Christine. It’s important information. TFA. Wouldn’t you know?
As a Rhode Islander, I couldn’t agree more with your post, Christine. And I feel I must add that I’m glad that at least Raimondo (who I’m not sorry to see go as Governor) was not nominated for Education Secretary, though I shudder to think what she and her hedge friend buddies will be doing at Commerce. She and her McKinsey hubby have aggressively pushed the “innovative” tech-mindset of digital platforms, coding, and career pathways that have been dismantling actual human-to-human humane, authentic teaching/learning since before COVID. It is a tragedy that in needing to keep children and school staff safe, schools have had to resort to online learning. If this learning is teacher-directed and teacher-controlled, it has its place as a stopgap until in-person learning is really safe. But children’s data must not be vacuumed up in the process. If this Distance Learning experiment (a prime example of disaster capitalism with the edtech companies frothing at the mouth for control of the education budgets) becomes the default method of teaching, we are in for serious trouble. P.S. Andy Moffit was co-author with Sir Michael Barber of Deliverology 101: A Field Guide For Educational Leaders (aka a blueprint for privatizing education around the world).
Thank you for sharing this perspective, Sheila. You are in the thick of it there. I did not know about this.
While Joe Biden has a long history of dishonesty, his latest insistence at a townhall that children are unlikely to contract COVID-19 puts to lie his claims to “believe in science.” In fact, the AAP just published that pediatric cases of COVID are on a substantial upswing under the Biden-Harris Administration. The science shows that reopening schools is a reckless plan that will only lead to further infections.
> Change in Child COVID-19 Cases*
> 99,078 new child COVID-19 cases were reported the past week from 2/4/21-2/11/21 (2,934,292 to 3,033,370)
> Over two weeks, 1/28/21-2/11/21, there was an 8% increase in the cumulated number of child COVID-19 cases (216,595 new cases (2,816,775 to 3,033,370))
Source: https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/
Did you feel this way when Trump insisted schools open back up months ago? Talk about dishonest…
I can’t speak for Robert, Sandra, but I hope you know I wrote many posts against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration’s handling of school openings and Covid-19.
I was a vociferous critic of Trump and DeVos’ policies, including their calls to reopen schools during a pandemic. Turns out some of us are consistent on that issue.
If you check my twitter feed, you’ll learn that I never had anything good thing to say about troglodyte Trump. https://twitter.com/rdsathene/status/1059163384468258816
Yes .You have been critical of Trump. I have always had respect for your thoughts, Robert.
I’m not anti-Biden like you are, Robert, not yet anyway, even though I am concerned here about his Covid-19 plans for schools,
But this is interesting and important information. Thank you for sharing.
One thing that this pandemic has revealed is that most policy makers and politicians develop education statute based on misguided perceptions rather than personal experience. This results in misguided ideas about “learning loss” and school safety et al I was hoping that having Jill Biden with POTUS would help guide his decisions on education policy, but we have to remember that many of his political influencers come from the corporate disrupters that Diane Ravitch has written about. This will be an ongoing tug of war.
I wish there was a way for POTUS to REALLY see what Raymond has done during this pandemic. It would also be great for him to see how she has abandoned RI since the announcement was made. She never included Lt.Gov. MaKee in any conferences or meetings and she doesn’t do anything NOW to get him up to speed. It’s like Trump not discussing things with Biden before Trump left.
It makes me ashamed to say that I come from RI.