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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you want your kids at hime forever, that’s fine. That option has always existed — it’s called homeschooling.  The local school system should not have to continue to pour resources into online learning after this school year because some parents want to keep their kids home. There are virtual schools and many states have their own virtual public school. The local district should not have to spend money to keep providing this.[/quote]
This is what it has always been about. Wealthier white families who are afraid that the minority kids at home are siphoning resources from their own kids. 
There are kids in my class who have lost multiple family members to COVID. They have parents who don’t speak English, who work in fast food and public transit and in housekeeping. Some of these kids have parents who are illiterate even in their own language. You have absolutely no right to dictate how funds are allocated to students like this. Do you understand how devastating it will be to these families if their child brings home COVID to grandma and an infant? They don’t have insurance. Some live in shelters or in crowded low income housing. They can’t isolate a sick family member in a cozy bedroom like you can.

I’m embarrassed for the people who pretended to care about these children months ago. They pretended to advocate for these families until they finally realized that they don’t, in fact, want to send their kids back to school mid pandemic. They were always a prop, and now they’re back to being an obstacle to Charlotte’s flute lessons. Vile. [/quote]

I'm embarrassed for you that you think keeping schools closed is the best education environment for your most at-risk students. If distance learning is the best for these students, why isn't distance learning the best for all students? Why have in person school for anyone?[/quote]
You’re simply pretending that the pandemic doesn’t exist, which is convenient. Of course in school learning is best for them under normal circumstances. It is NOT the best for them (or for their families) during a pandemic. They’ve told you this, many times. The death rates for these communities support this. What makes you think you’re in a better position to make decisions for their children during a pandemic than their own parents? Oh right, racism and classism. [/quote]

DP. You are speaking for these communities as well, in a very problematic manner, just to serve your own goals. The communities you reference are complex and are not nearly as single-minded in favor of DL as you claim. You talk about them like they are a monolith who all agree with your position on DL, but that's inaccurate. The reality is more nuanced (some want DL, some for hybrid, some for in person) and that is shown by the limited studies that exist. You act offensively when you set yourself up as the spokesperson for complex communities. [b]One of the troubling aspects of all of this has been watching unions that are 80% or more made of white women speak over community members who can speak more eloquently about their own lives and communities.[/b] [/quote]

SO much the bolded.  "Stop using Black children to open up schools!"

Uh, stop using Black children to keep them closed.  It's so much more complex than any white person hiding behind minority groups likes to claim.[/quote]
You realize that this person is arguing that we should stop "pouring resources" into providing an OPTION for high risk families to choose remote learning? I work in a district where all my students have been offered full time, 5 day a week in person schooling and the vast majority of my students' families (who are ALL minorities) have elected to stay remote? White parents are literally arguing that we should divert resources from lower income communities because they feel that taxpayer money should only support THEIR preferred method of pandemic schooling. Don't try to pretend that the original post I responded to was advocating for something else.[/quote]

Actually, given how many wealthy white families I know opting to stay virtual due to their overwhelming anxiety and/or control issues, it's not at all clear that's what the PP was talking about.  That's your interpretation.

The unfortunate truth is that the pandemic isn't solely about preventing COVID.  It's also one thing to have had robust online instruction, as we've had this year, and another to stand it up indefinitely.  All adults who want a vaccine will have access to one by, what, June?  And now teenagers likely by late summer?  At that point, opting to remain virtual *at SUBSTANTIAL cost* to students choosing in-person, many of whom are also racial and/or ethnic minorities, is less defensible, absent specific medical conditions (that people acknowledge are a unique case).  Plenty of people make uninformed choices that are not in their or society's best interest (vaccine refusal, anyone?).  That doesn't mean we shrug our shoulders and drain resources accordingly.  Of course we need to do better at making schools safer for people with a compelling reason to believe they're unsafe.  I don't think anyone is arguing that.  But, you have your biases, too, and it would be great if you could own them.[/quote]

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