As school
districts debate if, when and how to go back to classroom education a recurring
sentiment from a fair percentage of parents across the country is that their
kids won’t be wearing a mask all day (if at all).
I’m sorry, but if you think your kids will be going back to school and won't be required to wear masks at all times except eating and drinking you're kidding yourself. To eliminate subjectivity, manage risk and keep the focus on education it is guaranteed most if not all schools will require constant use.
They can’t count
on kids to understand the nuances of social distancing and to remember to put
the mask up whenever they are within two meters of another person (heck, outside
of the school walls that’s asking a lot of adults).
On top of that, children are natural germ spreaders – they don’t cover their
mouths when they cough or sneeze and think nothing of projecting that spray in
their peer’s or your face. Six feet won’t cut it. Masks will to a point.
If you’re still
not sold on it, think about your pocketbook and the niceties you want your
schools to have: If schools don’t enforce continuous mask usage they could
expose themselves – which means we the taxpayers – to considerable legal liability
if a kid took the virus home, got someone sick, and that person died.
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It’s been written
in this column before about what kids are missing out on without the classroom experience.
School shutdowns stink because students’ foundational years are when you want
them exposed to different ideas, different cultures, and the teachers, coaches,
and staff who can inspire and provide encouragement.
Kids needs the in-person
experience.
But, some need it
more than most – specifically the special needs students.
Even if mainstream
students are denied that physical schooling, districts really have to figure
out how to deliver on-site education to those who need a little extra help, support
and love. Distance and virtual learning are both impractical and ineffectual to
students with developmental and physical disabilities. We as a society are
doing a great disservice to them if we deny them the incredible benefits that
the human experience provides them.
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My 8-year old
daughter did quite well with e-learning last semester but that doesn’t mean it
wasn’t a frustration.
We live in a
neighborhood that is rural, but nowhere near remote. In a four minute drive I
can make it into the hamlets of Gasport and Wright’s Corners, eight minutes
gets me into downtown Lockport. Despite that, we literally have a third world
internet connection.
Our internet bogs
down and makes Zoom and Google Hangouts difficult if not impossible. Many times
she got booted off virtual classes because of our connection. It was
heartbreaking for her. Tears would flow from the frustration of not being able
to learn, see her teacher or interact with her friends.
Mind you, just a
couple years ago Cuomo’s office said we were leading the nation in high speed
internet and 2018’s “last mile funding” would finally ensure high-speed
internet access for all New Yorkers.
It hasn’t. Visit any rural town in WNY or the
Adirondacks – families, students and businesses have only rudimentary
connections if any at all.
What’s happening to my family – and thousands of
more across the state -- should encourage Albany to immediately refocus and
rethink its efforts with broadband infrastructure, whether over the air or
through cables.
Will it happen? During the spring Governor Cuomo
claimed to understand the internet woes faced by students but he’s the same guy
who just 5 months earlier vetoed a bill that would have studied the feasibility
of state-owned internet to provide it to underserved communities.
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The last 3 months of the 2019-2020 school year gave
everyone a taste, just a taste, of homeschooling.
You have to admit it was difficult -- and that was
with substantial resources provide by schools.
So, now, can we finally cast aside the insidious and
unfounded stereotypes that traditionally-schooled families hold towards homeschool
families?
The Covid crisis can help you understand the
incredible investment of time, mind, money, and patience that homeschool
parents invest in their kids. It’s not easy.
Through the years, in Scouting and various plant
tours at Confer Plastics I’ve interacted with many homeschoolers. All of them
have been incredible students with high levels of inquisitiveness, focus and
discipline. I even had a college professor tell me that he knows when he has a
homeschooled student in his class because of that student’s brilliance.
I think we can now all agree that homeschoolers really
are “different”…but “different” in very good ways.
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If in-person
education is not a thing in the coming school year, superintendents and schools
boards have to be ready to quell a revolt.
It’s common water
cooler and social media talk that taxpayers will be enraged if they don’t get a
refund on their taxes. They have a point – no busing, sports, arts, full food
service, maximum use of HVAC, general maintenance and so much more.
Districts will
have to be ready to explain if that budgeted money is coming back and, if not,
what it is being used for – whether it’s “a rainy day fund” or it’s being
reinvested in the physical plant of the campus to be ready for Covid protocols.
From the 20 July 2020 Greater Niagara
Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
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