Young Not Stupid: LA Teachers Are Holding Education Hostage to Get Police Defunded
Families nationwide have been dealing with school closures since last year, and frustrated California parents are deciding to take action.
Following a widely circulated social media post, a plurality of students and parents in the Los Angeles Unified School District held a Zoom class “blackout” last week, and protested at the federal building, KTTV-TV reported.
This morning I’m joining LAUSD parents for this “Zoom blackout” to advocate for the reopening of schools. Great real world civics lesson for kids – the power of lifting our collective voices. #openschools #California pic.twitter.com/UZoD8yKkKh
— JohnHCox (@TheRealJohnHCox) February 22, 2021
Unlike many counties throughout the state, Los Angeles has not returned to any form of in-person learning for middle and high schools due to current state guidelines.
For Pre-K to sixth grade, county schools were only allowed the option to return to in person last week. This was the result of not only an impossible bar set by the state, even though a CDC study concluded that schools do not have a higher chance of transmission compared to other places, but also a lack of cooperation from the teachers’ unions.
State legislators came to an agreement with Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom Monday which would give $6.6 billion towards public schools that restart in person instruction before March 31. The state cannot force these schools to reopen, but this would create a hefty incentive for them to do so, according to KTTV-TV.
NEW: Help K-12 schools operate safely. Combine steps to limit spread of #COVID19: Wear a mask. Stay 6 ft away from others. Wash hands often. Learn more: https://t.co/cqJOW6vrmf. pic.twitter.com/5d3MzIXnWU
— CDC (@CDCgov) February 12, 2021
Despite academic performance slipping and youth mental health suffering, teachers’ unions have continued their crusade to put themselves before students.
United Teachers Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified union, has reasonably asked for cleanliness measures before returning. They also compiled a laundry list of ridiculous demands for returning to work in person. A state wealth tax, paid sick leave, a moratorium on charter schools and defunding the local police are all on their wish list — none of which pertain to slowing the transmission of coronavirus in classrooms.
Unfortunately, the Democrat-run state propped up by union money has done next to nothing to pressure these unions in order to allow for in-person instruction to restart.
While California Democrats pretend to care about low-income and minority Californians, they have been hurt the most by the coronavirus management policies for schools. Students continue to struggle with obtaining the proper technology and having internet access to attend their classes, and many still do not have the safety of being somewhere outside of their home for nearly a year. The issue of resources at home seems minimal when compared to the plight of parents who have not had the privilege of working remotely and have had to figure out how to keep school-aged children home during the day.
The only real form of progress that the state is seeing on the education front is the recent decision to clear high school sports for competition. Of course, the catch is that it’s already March, well past the period of time when seniors could get recruited for colleges.
Allowing for sports to resume this late in the school year was also a slap in the face to the youth in the inner cities, who have relied on sports for stability and a path towards a brighter future.
High school sports can now resume, even if their home counties remain in the purple, or widespread, tier of reopening, under new guidelines released by the California Department of Public Health. https://t.co/oPXRhMlrv3
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 28, 2021
Many people understand that the solution to schools reopening is not one-size-fits-all and that some families would prefer to keep their children in a virtual format, but that is certainly not everyone.
Students, parents and teachers have constantly been on their toes since last March as mixed and conflicting messages left school districts confused. This poor communication, mixed with the lofty demands coming from teachers’ unions ended up creating a situation that puts students last.
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