This is probably the hardest part of the series for me to write, because it takes a great deal of empathy. I know that some will have a hardened heart against these decision makers right away, and I understand that choice. Some of the decisions are indefensible to me too. But, many of the decisions are being made above their heads as well. Their very lives could be at stake. Remember that as you read.
Oh, and lest I forget, here’s my stance on pie, including educational pie…
Let’s look at some of the hot potatoes that your local school board may have been handed this year.
- Fully re-open schools v. ‘hybrid on Covid’ v. fully virtual Zoom education.
- Find funding for each of the models above.
- Mask mandate v. no mask mandate.
- Standardized testing v. cancelling the tests.
- Losing funding due to loss of students OR in person education mandate.
- A chronic and critical teacher shortage made worse by the pandemic.
- Finally: when to close schools due to Covid outbreaks.
Yes, our local school boards were elected to make these very decisions. However, the decisions were never meant to be this politicized. Their decisions, while powerful at a local level, can be undone with the stroke of a pen due to federalism. There are often protests, and it has gotten WORSE with the pandemic.
Let’s look at the politics behind each of the seven critical decisions school boards have had to make this year.
To Open Or Not to Open… That IS the Question!
Remember that in-person instruction is the only proven model that works for public schools. Both virtual Zoom instruction and ‘hybrid on Covid’ models suffer from teething problems and are unproven strategies that need work. This is at the back of the minds of every school superintendent and thus every school board who actually is taking their role seriously.
Even the Center for American Progress says that there needs to be guidelines for opening safely. Here are there THREE guidelines for making proper decisions on school reopening (this is rather old). The Trump regime has been full tilt reopen all the schools for in-person instruction, while I am more of a person who wishes them closed, especially after I came to this eye-opening conclusion.
Such decisions a a microcosm of our federalist system. They need proper federal guidance and the big picture vision. They need the proper funding from the federal and state governments. Finally, they need to listen to their constituents at a local level. This is educational politics at its rawest level, and this year has been the absolute worst time for it with everything else being politicized.
This survey breaks down the aggregate decisions made by school boards through the lens of the people most impacted: our public school teachers. As expected, in person is the most popular still, and fully virtual is the least popular. But no vision has a majority support in the country, so we truly have three education systems in public schools right now, and the ability to shift between them based upon circumstances. More on that later.
Who Finds the Money, When You Pay the Rent?
All of this preparation for this Year from HELL costs money outside the normal operations of a public school budget. So far, the worst has been avoided. Congress through the CARES Act gave a lot of earmarked money for these concerns. Was it enough? NO. But Any money that is set aside for schools during this year is welcome. Schools need about THIS MUCH to function properly in the era of Covid. How districts spent that money depends on how they prioritized it.
Floating bonds is still an option. However, in an era where people are counting every penny, schools might be hesitant to float public measures such as mills, levies, and bonds in fear of them being rejected. About HALF were rejected in California last year. So school boards may be stuck upon relying upon the state and federal government in the near future to stay afloat. That is always a risky proposition. Biden luckily has a PLAN.
The question becomes who spends the money when gaps appear? You know the answer deep down. It is the teacher, the whipping post profession right now. I spent around $2000 per year on school supplies for my classroom, with a $500 tax credit. I haven’t seen a top dollar figure, but I could easily see my budget go up an additional $1000 to $2000 based upon which method of learning I was required to do.
The controversy and tough decisions do not end here, however.
A Simple Mask is Controversial These Days
You would think this one would be the easiest decision out of the seven decisions. If you want to go to school, you need a mask! Simple, right? Not so fast my friends! Just like mask mandates elsewhere, this has become polarized. Expect a group of parents to be enraged no matter WHAT you rule. It is a no-win situation.
If your state or local school board votes yes, there could be protests. There could be death threats in some areas. Even in Cobb County, Georgia, a school district that has done most things correct, has had pushback on a mask mandate. The risk for issuing a mask mandate is REAL. Do NOT dismiss this.
Plus, you have the issue of noncompliance. What do you do with THAT parent and THAT student who prides themselves on not wearing a mask? Without enforcement, the mask mandate is pointless. But it is a delicate dance, as this school district shows. You risk injuring the educational opportunities of these noncompliant students too!
With no mask mandate, you have a different set of parents irate at you. But as far as I can find, those parents aren’t issuing protests or death threats. Mostly, it is compliance with masks combined with disgust at neighbors refusing to do so. Some with the means may choose to join a learning pod or hire private tutors/nannies or even homeschool/unschool their children. That is their form of protest of the system this year.
This has severe repercussions, as an issue below will discuss.
The “Lost Year” and Standardized Tests
Here’s a secret that most schools don’t want you to know. There are often layers of standardized tests below the “official” standardized test mandated by the state you live in. I cannot speak for every district in American education, but in the 4 that I was a preferred sub and taught in, this was true. I had to waste three ADDITIONAL weeks of instructional time every year doing Galileo benchmark assessments. We are so drowning in assessments, it is a miracle teachers have time to teach their students these days.
Even Betsy DeVos, the NAEP and most states have cancelled or downplayed “official” standardized tests during this pandemic. The pressure will be on Biden to do the same this year. It is the chance those who hate the Bush/Obama standardized testing policies have been waiting for to blow up that entire system. THAT IS A DEBATE FOR ANOTHER TIME! But what about the unofficial tests I outlined above?
Often, these districts pay out a hefty contract and a fee for these Galileo type assessments. Not giving them may be seen as a breach of contract. Giving them may be logistically impossible because of the strict standardized testing environment needed. Given the disruption to education this pandemic has caused, there is a real risk of “garbage in, garbage out” with this data anyways.
The truth is that the last year and a half of education will be forever known as the “Lost Year”. Part 7 will explore the repercussions of this “Lost Year” on your child and on the system in general.
Lost Students, Funding Cut Threats
If you are not aware, there is a reason why school boards are being so cautious with what type of school and whether or not to follow through with a mask mandate or not. Almost every district has seen enrollment declines this school year. There are thousands and thousands of missing kids this year unaccounted for. Every student lost is a certain amount of money out the door, because state/federal funding is often on a per pupil basis.
That becomes a problem when you need more funds to operate, as outlined above. When your incoming revenue goes down and your expenses go up, you get trapped in a death spiral economically because more pupils flee, leading to more losses, and so on. You get left with the relatively “worst” and actually most underprivileged students, and you become a “failing” school in the eyes of educational reform world.
It doesn’t help when the state and federal government can override your most carefully laid plans and your careful response to the pandemic by cutting off your funding, even if you choose “hybrid on Covid” or Zoom virtual models. It doesn’t help when your plan can be overridden by states such as Texas, Florida, Iowa, and Arkansas. Other states have been MUCH more accommodating, as the previous link shows. It doesn’t help when local pressure is on to fully reopen schools.
If you thought the tough decisions were done, there are two more of them to go!
A Chronic Teacher Crisis Made WORSE This Year
Here’s another secret: schools have had a problem with staffing for a couple years now. It started as a substitute teacher shortage about in 2014. Think of your preferred subs as your feeder program — those interested in working in the profession (perhaps) that train when the main teacher is out. It is also your pool of student teachers looking to gain experience. Now, it is often retired teachers that are double dipping technically, doing enough to make income but flying under the state retirement radar.
This shortage has percolated into a full blown staffing crisis this year. Seriously, any warm body will do. They are looking for subs, recess supervisors, parents, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers. Anything to fill in the gaps caused by quarantines and early retirements and FMLA. Hell, I am surprised they haven’t come begging on hands and knees for ME yet, as I’d be overqualified. (Answer is NO). They are that desperate. This shortage will have consequences in a few years, as Part 7 will cover.
This has led some districts (looking at Chicago Public Schools or CPS) to be… aggressive… in their means of retaining teachers. I cannot endorse what CPS has chosen to do to combat a real problem. They have chosen to weaponize Covid against teachers with ailments or special permissions in lieu of targeting the true deadbeats. That makes me froth at the mouth. Problem is, there isn’t a good solution because the teaching profession is the whipping post profession and at the most unattractive it has ever been. So, the vultures elsewhere continue to pick at the carcass.
Closing Time (Redux)
Something that NO school district wants is further disruption. That’s why in-person options never made sense to me. All it would take is one outbreak and you are resorting to virtual Zoom classes. It was better to bite the bullet, do virtual Zoom from the get go, figure out how to make it work, and ride out the pandemic. Now, with the B117 (UK) variant due in March, we are looking at mass school closures (I was hoping people would read that one) again. It has already started in DC, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico for the Christmas surge. I expect a LOT more decisions like this once B117 becomes the dominant strain here.
Plus, Part 8 will be the TRULY frightening conclusion I have come to. Even with this vaccine, we may not be out of the woods.
In Conclusion
I hope that this diary has opened your eyes. Doing the research has certainly opened my own eyes as well! I wouldn’t say that I am hopping up and down to defend each and every decision every school board has made, but it certainly isn’t fair to cast them (and your admins) as the villain this year. They are “Under Pressure” just like the rest of us!
Do know that most school board members and even some superintendents do NOT have much of an education background. This exacerbates the difficulties of making sound educational decisions this year. Almost NONE of them are epidemiologists, so making sound scientific decisions on what saves lives is difficult. What they are is the lowest rung of the vast federalist political ladder, and they are most open to local pressure and liability based upon circumstances. Remember that there are two Americas, and their decisions reflect that!