Trump Administration Trots Out Same Old Failed Playbook on Schools Reopening - Horowitz
Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™
Trump Administration Trots Out Same Old Failed Playbook on Schools Reopening - Horowitz
President Trump is returning to the same failed playbook of pushing for opening without providing a plan to do it safely, threatening states and localities without the real power to back it up, providing blithe reassurances that it will all be just fine, and accusing governors, mayors and local education officials who have a different view of just trying to hurt him politically as if keeping schools partially or fully closed is a winning political play.
With more than 135,000 deaths from Covid-19 and daily cases reaching all-time highs, due in large measure to too rapid economic re-openings without sufficient safeguards, inconsistent and counter-productive public health messaging from the White House, and no effective national strategy, one would think President Trump would have engaged in some learning behavior. But his approach to achieving a goal all Americans share-- the full re-opening of schools--is similar to Bill Belichick employing the exact same game plan in a playoff game as in the regular season when the Patriots lost to that same team by three touchdowns.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTTrump tweeted last week, “In Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if US schools open before the November election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding.” The president also criticized vague CDC guidelines for opening schools--ones that most public health experts don’t believe go far enough--- as ‘very tough and expensive…asking schools to do impractical things.”
The Administration followed-up Trump’s initial announcement on reopening schools with no real specifics and an inability to answer basic questions, such as whether or not more federal resources would be forthcoming to achieve the goal, what are the contingencies if cases spike, and what real authority is there to withhold funds. Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters that children should “Just Go Back to school…It’s not that hard.” Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos provided no satisfactory answers to either Chris Wallace or Dana Bash on Fox News Sunday and CNN’s State of the Union respectively this past Sunday.
It is the case that it is important to have all students fully return to the classroom as soon as it can safely be done. As the American Academy of Pediatrics accurately notes, “The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.” This is especially the case for those of elementary school age for whom online instruction is a poor substitute. Having school-age children at home during the school year also complicates the task of getting people back to work.
This serious subject, however, requires a serious approach which is no at all evident in how the Administration has handled it so far. There is some evidence that younger children in particular are more resistant to the virus and are less likely to spread it than adults. Still, issues such as poor ventilation in many older school buildings which promotes virus spread and the difficulty of social distancing in crowded classrooms must be addressed. Local school districts as they develop fall plans are struggling with these and other issues.
Most importantly, re-opening school safely requires that communities have successfully curbed the spread of the virus over-all. That occurred by and large in the nations who have successfully opened back up their schools. and to which President Trump calls our attention. As former CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden recently tweeted, “States that opened without controlling COVID had to close. It's 100% predictable: schools that open with either extensive spread or without careful planning will have to close. It's SO important that our kids get back to school. That's why it's so important we do so thoughtfully.”
So far, President Trump has spectacularly failed that test, demonstrating again, why 2-out-of-3 Americans disapprove of his response to the coronavirus, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos Poll. Our children deserve better.
