However, here are all the professional organizations associated with academia…
Which they’ll duly send to the right people because we can’t possibly make waves…
3 Likes
2 Likes
Ugh. When Repubs get the tip of a wedge in, they’re usually so much better than Dems at continuing to drive it in. Having lots more money backing that driving helps too.
3 Likes
4 Likes
Looking forward to hearing updates on the Books Save Lives Act, despite the fact that it’s going to see so much unnecessary opposition.
8 Likes
5 Likes
The system discussed in the article is better than the nasty threatening letters and criminal charges. But it needs to go so much further.
Public schools need to be financed differently first. No more funding tied to daily attendance. This would help with the closure issues discussed in the article; stop incentivizing schools to encourage kids to attend while sick (parties for perfect attendance and nasty letters to parents who provided doctor notes for every damned absence); and help school budgets. All the adults need to be there and working even if some portion of the kids aren’t attending. This is going to be hard because certain people, you know who, prefer to underfund a school rather than accidentally paying double for a student who switched schools mid-month.
Public schools also need a dedicated crew of social workers. People whose only job is to help families get things they need and navigate the frankly difficult tasks of applying for social benefits at the federal, state, and local levels.
Public schools need entire departments just for mental health services and much stronger social emotional learning to prevent things like bullying and care for the emotional needs of the kids
Teachers should get paid more. A lot more and provided with professional support and resources. Plenty of passionate and talented people would be teachers, and be great teachers, if they could support their family on a teacher’s salary.
I should probably stop there. I could go on for a long time. TLDR: public schools need major increases in financing, kids need better support, and we need a society level commitment to education
The pandemic has merely exposed the cracks in a system the GOP has been hollowing out for decades now
9 Likes
That “needing notes no matter what” is a real issue for us. We are stretched very thin, and a whole ton of “He was running a fever but he’s better now. We just need a note for school.” really gums up the works and takes appointments we need for kids who are actually ill and in need of care. It is very frustrating.
10 Likes
Unfortunately, schools make it so parents have to do that. Or just dose the kid up on Motrin and send them to school any way. It’s a huge waste that every minor illness needs a doctor’s note.
Last year was kinder. Whole new germ environment. Every illness the kid had ended up at the doctor’s office for legit reasons like high fever for two days or dehydration and vomiting every hour, or flu with 104 fever. So we had a note for each one and gave notice every single day the kid was out, a long with the reason why. But we got the letter threatening truancy citations and flunking our kid anyway. I was so pissed off I had to ask my husband to discuss it with the school. Their excuse? “Oh, the law says we have to send that letter.”
Bullshit. I am a lawyer. I went and read the laws. The letter did not need to be so threatening. But they do it anyway, even in a fairly reasonable district, because daily attendance is budgetary live-or-die and they don’t have the resources to actually address any challenges a family might face.
It made me angry. Especially because we are a white middle class family who could afford to go to the doctor and afford the medications the doctor prescribed. All the privileges.
8 Likes
We have families that want us to write notes without coming in, but we are frequently required to produce office notes to justify our notes. We can’t do that without seeing the kids. And the families that get hit hardest are the ones who can’t afford the visits, a/o cannot take time off work without incurring penalties. They are getting well and truly shafted, and no one seems to care. And we usually come off as the bad guys. 
9 Likes
That’s all because Republicans want public schools to fail. If public schools fail, they can push through their voucher system to dial the clock back before Brown vs Board of Education only better - it’s not just Black kids they can segregate; they can segregate LGBTQ kids, any BIPOC, anyone who won’t eat shit exactly the way they want to serve it.
This may be controversial, but I would eliminate all private K-12 schools unless they were strictly supplemental. If every student is required to go to public schools, then even Republicans will be forced to fund them. I see it very similar to healthcare - the primary benefits of public funding is when there is no private competition. That way, everyone is invested in making it work.
8 Likes
Parkrose School District installs washing machines at 3 elementary schools to curb absenteeism - OPB
5 Likes
Oh, I absolutely agree the state of US public education is the consequence of a purposeful attempt to remove public education entirely. An educated public, particularly educated minorities, are a threat to the various factions on the right. From the plain old capitalists who want a workforce they can exploit more to the christo-fascists.
It’s also a consequences of less politically and religious focused people just not caring or understanding how important it is.
I’ve never thought about removing all private k-12 schools. I suspect there are some edge cases, private schools that serve a specific purpose for their students. and not all children, unfortunately, can fit into public education. Particularly not with schools that permit bullying (which is also a big issue for many private schools). But most could go away and the students would be better for it.
7 Likes
In this way I think it parallels single-payer universal healthcare in that it isn’t a change that can be implemented overnight without the risk of vulnerable people falling through the cracks. But the way we make sure every student gets what they need in the long run is by fully funding public schools to give them that capability, and as long as there are private alternatives, people will want to exploit and expand those exceptions.
9 Likes
Fuuuuck. It’s here now.
4 Likes
“Growth mindset” is nice and all, but it’s not what holds kids back from success. You know what does? Everything everyone who calls out class (and race) as a factor in educational disparity since forever has been saying. It’s almost too obvious and answer, but there are people who insist that the problem must somehow be the children…
10 Likes
Yep…
6 Likes
