School Death Camp
If there is one decision I have not had to make is regarding the start of classes because I have no school-age children. That is proving to be a difficult decision for the school systems as well as families all over the country.
Teachers everywhere have been advocating for a delay of in-person instruction while most parents want school to start normally. In Lawrence, dozens of teachers held a socially-distant protest at the Parthum School and another one in front of City Hall where the public was invited to attend.
This week, many cities have decided how they will handle it to the chagrin of many.
Some cities have approved a hybrid plan with children attending school two or three days each week and the rest at home.
It was announced on August 12, 2020, during the meeting of the Lawrence Alliance on Education, that the Lawrence Public Schools will begin remotely (or virtually) at the beginning of the school year 2021 (which is September 16, 2020).
Perhaps it was a good idea because, according to an article published by The Boston Globe on Thursday, August 13, Dr. William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a hybrid plan of instruction could create a greater risk of exposure or transmission. “When you start to do that, you realize that hybrid schooling produces more networks by which the virus can spread,” he said.
Although we are all thrilled that science is being followed and it was a difficult decision, we believe more emphasis should have taken place in the decision or the plan itself to implement this virtual class schedule. I mean only special consideration for high needs students will be considered for in-person.
In the meantime, it does not help the thousands of parents in Lawrence that work for a living. Whether that be a one-parent family that works or both parents working one or possibly two jobs. When is this remote learning to occur? At 6 PM right after parents have arrived from work and have had their dinner? Because most parents won’t be home to help in the technological and education settings of those younger students who require help and structure.
On top of that, it has been shunned creating pools of parents to group sit and educate each other’s kids unless it’s by an authorized daycare provider. How will a child attending a daycare provider be able to learn with so many other children of other ages, classes, and possibly different schools? Besides, how can we force daycare providers to be responsible for children’s education? They have taken for granted that Lawrence families have one parent at home.
Parents are just as concerned about sending their children to school as teachers are of having in-service classes. So is most disgusting that in this process Mayor Rivera never took into consideration the harm that he has done to the city’s first responders and emergency employees by exempting them from the Federal Government’s Family First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 and the School Department has not done either! While some Lawrence government employee may be able to qualify for this federal leave, at a reduced pay, to care for a child that has no child care or school, an exempt employee can’t because Mayor Rivera has designated them ineligible under his control!
Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officials, Finance, Mayor’s Staff, Elections, Health Department, Department of Public Works, and any other department working on COVID-19 operations won’t be able to stay home to take care of their child while getting paid under the federal government’s Response Act while school is being transmitted to them via a cheap IPad and some copied instructional paper.
Are we paying taxes for just a curriculum? Can we create a curriculum ourselves (at least those that may have a master’s degree)? Think about it. I am in no way disrespecting our teachers. Lord knows that they are afraid and concerned about their health, as well they should be.
The teacher’s union has been applying pressure to many school districts across Massachusetts. Lately the union has place harder pressure (as evident of the vote), for virtual learning instead of in-service, on the LPS because the city places high on COVID19 rates.
I see the difficulties, I do – teachers are looking at Lawrence as one of the highest positive COVID-19 cities in Massachusetts and they are concerned for themselves and their family members. Do they want to come into the hornets’ nest of COVID-19? LPS has a lot of older buildings with insufficient and lack of air ventilation. But then, that’s the trust that these unions don’t have in each other to ensure each person remains safe, and mostly the lack of trust they have in these administrations (especially ones with a receivership board that can make up stuff).
The new DESE Commissioner really placed all school districts in the Commonwealth in a predicament when the board sent school districts a demand of allowing the schools to come up with their own choice of educating our children, something that has never been done either in a pandemic or non-pandemic. So all off the sudden DESE wants school districts to choose when prior to this pandemic LPS was in receivership and was forced with anything DESE or the receiver stated.
DESE designated Lawrence as underperforming at one point and that’s why Lawrence has had a receiver and a banana republic school committee since 2011. If this plan makes our students get to that underperforming or less performing status can we make a deal to take it back from DESE? Because, let me tell you, our students are going to fall way behind. And I say this not only because of the virtual learning but because of everything else including the virtual learning.
Moreover, the City of Lawrence receives millions of dollars for food services considering that LPS has over 90% free or reduced breakfast and lunch students attending its schools. Schools in the lunch program get cash subsidies and donated commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for each meal they serve. In return, they must serve lunches that meet Federal requirements, and they must offer free or reduced-price lunches to eligible children. Additionally, the LPS gets an additional $0.07 reimbursement rate per child per meal. In addition to cash reimbursements, schools are entitled by law to receive commodity foods, called “entitlement” foods, at a value of 15 cents for each meal served. Schools can also get “bonus” commodities as they are available from surplus stocks.
So, seeing that our children won’t be attending in-service classes – are schools losing these funds? If they are not receiving these funds for the year 2021, don’t we all agree they should be sent to the families instead to serve food at home while they virtually learn? My bet has it that the LPS will keep the money, then the city will include in into the general fund to create free cash. That’s what the Chief Administrative Operating Officer is there for – bean-counting and it’s not to give compassion to others. After all, he does not live in Lawrence anyways.
And now for the last part which makes me even more disappointed by a leader who believes he is a leader. It was his fault that this city has failed to answer him, has failed to follow his instructions, and is one of the highest cities in the Commonwealth with positive COVID-19 testing.
Mayor Rivera probably hasn’t issued one fine for people not wearing a mask. He hasn’t sent anyone to neighborhoods checking on parties and into residential backyard get-togethers to break those up in regards to this pandemic. He was only preoccupied with businesses. The buck stops at the top. He is the top. It’s his fault. I wonder what a real elected school committee would have voted for. We will never know.
