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Thursday, March 12, 2020

It's time for Florida to cancel school (draft)

Okay, my rational brain tells me we are over reacting to the corona virus, that my chances of catching it are minimal. Then however I look around and see they canceled the TPC, postponed the NBA season, March Madness will be played without crowds, all the public colleges have gone to on-line learning and so much more. If all those things are to much of a risk, then how can we shrug our shoulders put our kids and teachers in just as much danger?

Heck my district has already canceled field trips for the rest of the year.

Georgia is considering closing their schools for two week.

https://www.ajc.com/news/education/governor-schools-should-consider-closing-for-two-weeks/m6ccgfuAQkJBVtrXNiM8YI/?fbclid=IwAR3q1Mwf-aCI2-bDzfHMzFmEF7CHBUQyTiKqVKWLrBn-kKRpYob7HK8-

Ohio and Maryland have canceled K-12 school.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/03/12/coronavirus-school-closings-ohio-maryland-washington-seattle-king-closures/5036252002/?fbclid=IwAR3T-ZQGv_nXWEkyqKVuLMOBCqTrgxNJoTYO49RPgBQxE-vQFseRzj-ozNI

Indiana gives it's schools a 20 day waiver to protect against the Corona Virus.

https://www.wndu.com/content/news/Indianas-governor-announces-steps-to-protect-public-from-coronavirus-568747361.html?fbclid=IwAR04L_4muVBBuDlBkZlPdzXCChUEFOlw7U5qnk33vGXJPxhFfubcGnn__Sk

This is also the best time to cancel school. I get it no time is good but most districts are either rolling into or out of spring break. What's an extra couple weeks if it stops a pandemic. 

Also I get this would undoubtedly cause some pain for a lot of families what with missing work or providing child care but the thing is Florida is sitting on 534 million dollars that it plans to give as a rebate to the most profitable companies in the state. They didn't expect it but there it is. Instead of helping the most financial well off why don't we use that to help families that would be hurt by a school shut down.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Florida is about to give more than $500 million to some of its biggest corporations.

That’s enough to more than double state funding for pre-kindergarten, where Florida currently ranks in the bottom 10 in the country. It’s more than the state will spend this year combating toxic algal blooms, fighting the opioid epidemic, buying conservation land, subsidizing adoptions and rebuilding beaches -- combined.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-giant-corporate-tax-break-20190814-daprqqcvnzef7jlp5ad4yqzcpm-story.html

Or I don't know maybe help out with the Corona Virus.

Florida has money, we just like to give it to the wealthy not the everyday person. I guess our lobbyists aren't as good.

Then lets talk about testing, it should be canceled going forward. There is going to be a lot on people's minds for the next few weeks and probably a lot of absences if school isn't canceled as well. Testing will have even less value than usual, besides Senator Stargell who should be the poster child for the opt out movement inadvertently just admitted it is unimportant, if the parent thinks so anyways.

This is an exchange she had with Senator Lee about putting some accountability on vouchers, which we just allocated an extra 200 million for. Families with an income of 77k are now eligible for them too, so much for them being here to help poor children right?

Anyway here is the exchange, from Poltico Reporter Andrew Atterbury's twitter page.





Sens. Tom Lee and Kelli Stargel are going round and round about private-school oversight right now. Lee is proposing an amendment requiring the state to gather more data on private schools.
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Stargel: Do you feel that the parent doesn't have the ability to decide what school is best for their child? Lee: I think that's a narrow view of accountability 

https://twitter.com/ALAtterbury

A narrow view of accountability to say the least.

Testing in Florida is a club to punish, the fact we now invest over 1.2 billion on voucher schools who don't have to do any real testing should tell you all that you need to know.

I know what the arguments against are too. Schools are the places where some kids get their meals and where they feel safe. It's true and it breaks my heart but that is part of a bigger problem. Schools shouldn't be end all be alls for children and we need to start address that issue in a way that doesn't put all the responsibility on our public schools. To much is put on our public schools and not nearly enough is given. Then people might point out that young people "seem" to be less susceptible, um well what about teachers and their families, we can give them a good luck, but we can't give them a raise? No thanks.

If you disagree I get it. I for one am just so tired of public schools bearing the brunt of everything and then being treated like they are second class and I believe the bottom line is if the state thinks something is to risky for adults, then its time they started thinking about the state's children too.

Image result for corona virus

1 comment:

  1. When I was stationed in South Korea and Iraq we got hazardous duty pay. I don't really see how this is any different? Looking at you DTU and DCPS.

    ReplyDelete