I feel like we’re at a tipping point. Today the Philly schools announced they would close because they didn’t have enough teachers because so many of the teachers live in the counties outside the city that were closed yesterday so they’re at home with their own kids. The Philly school superintendent and our Mayor didn’t want to close because so many of our public school students are poor and dependent upon schools for food, safety, and health care (really, health care?) But truly, how much safety is there is a school system that has had to close eight schools this year due to asbestos, that struggles to place one nurse in every building, that has a counselor ratio of 1-600 at best?
Most of the students in the District will go home with no learning plan. Even if there had been planning for something like this, a number of students would have neither a remote capacity at home nor an adult who could adequately ensure that the student maintained the routine and could help with work when it was needed. Among other things we need to rethink after this pandemic ebbs is how we are caring for our most vulnerable young students in times of crisis.
Trump declared a national emergency this afternoon which frees up more money to combat coronavirus. When asked about his responsibility in the testing issues, he replied, I take no responsibility at all. So much for leadership.
I cancelled my Monday dentist appointment.
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