By: Mark Glennon*
Gov. JB Pritzker this week released a new 180-page Learning Renewal Resource Guide to help school officials identify and address reopening issues.
Open them, for God’s sake. That should be the priority.
Pritzker’s message should have been much simpler: “Either you reopen in full tomorrow or you get no money.” Problem solved.
In all the insufferable conduct of our government, its failure to reopen schools is perhaps the most vile and inexcusable. Delivering K-12 education is a fundamental obligation of government. Yet, as of April 1, just 20% of Illinois public school students have full, in-person learning. Others are in fully remote or “hybrid” remote, which means fully junk or hybrid junk.
There is no excuse whatsoever, medical or otherwise. The Center for Disease Control says schooling in-person is safe. All teachers who want the vaccine have been offered it.
And what’s the central theme of Illinois’ reopening guide? “Equity,” of course. The guide details 12 topics for schools to consider to “equitably” address the pandemic’s short-term and long-term impacts. State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala, who earlier championed Illinois infamous “culturally responsive teaching standards,” said this:
With the influx of federal funding and the learning renewal resource guide, we are now presented with a unique opportunity to transform systems of learning for students, to reshape our new normal, so that our students return to an education system that is more equitable, more individualized and more responsive to their needs. [Emphasis added.]
Has it occurred to the equity champions that nothing is more inequitable than school closings? Education, it’s often correctly said, is “the great equalizer,” but our own educators and politicians have taken it away. Do they feel no shame that it’s they who are now standing in the school house doors? Most students have permanently lost a year of their education, and the impact has fallen most heavily on poorer, minority areas where participation in remote learning has been lowest.
Me
anwhile, this week, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago released a study on what parents already know about closed schools — the devastating psychological impact on children. From the report:
- Nearly half of Chicago parents had talked with their child’s primary care doctor about mental or behavioral health concerns they had for their child within the last 6 to 12 months.
- Forty-four percent of young children experienced an increase in mental or behavioral health symptoms during the pandemic compared with before.
- Compared with before the pandemic, Chicago children and adolescents are spending less time with friends in person, less time outside and less time being physically active, and they are spending more time using screens and connecting with peers virtually.
Why parents haven’t risen up against so appalling a betrayal by their own government is beyond me. This is stomach-wrenching cruelty to our own children. There is no excuse.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
love it. “Either you open tomorrow or you get no money”. These people have spent more tme writing plans and guides and reports and reviews and opinions about this topic. Meanwhile, they don’t work. Fire them all and start again…how bad could it be? – worse that this?
If I hated public education, which I don’t, and I wanted to destroy schools I would do what is happening in them now. Hire Marxist teachers who don’t send their own kids to these schools. Put in school boards of weenies who go along and don’t send their kids to the schools either. Establish a curriculum that is nothing more than woke indoctrination, not skill or creative learning. Id switch to online classes which waste everyone’s time. Id lower standards in the name of math is racist, objective thinking is racist, etc. Id make the public pay ever higher taxes… Read more »
Each school board, most of which 7 members, has the power to fully restore schools in the district to 100% in-person learning.
If all board members are present for the vote (a full quorum), 4 of the 7 board members must vote in favor of such a resolution.
Very well said, but PLEASE…. Try to understand: THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR KIDS.
All they care is that you keep playing their game and never imagine that anything else is possible.
Open this state you IDIOT , he needs to be stopped and everything needs back to normal with kids in school full time, this has gone on long enough. Someone needs to stop him
Exactly
Furthermore Mr Weight Problem also needs to drop this mask mandate. BREATHE!
Yes he does I’m over this shit, he has to be stopped
That statement is making the assumption that our freedoms are granted by the state. What needs to happen regular people need to start challenging stores en masse first by leaving your nose out, then try upper lip, eventually no mask. My wife and I have begun doing just that, no noses under the mask, so far no problems, people leave us alone. At our breakfast restaurant we’ve stopped wearing them upon entry, no problems so far. Fred Flintstone can do what he wants, its the people who are giving up.
The biggest expense on your property tax bill is schools and school pensions, in many towns it could be 50%. Well off folks can pay the tax and private school. The vast middle class is screwed. Looks like teachers like being semi retired, pre-Wuhan most spent every workday dreaming of retirement, its a dream come true.
Interestingly Los Angeles parents are suing school system for not opening. The same needs to happen here
Thankfully most of the country has woke up to this critical race theory crap snd legislatures are banning it from schools along with this sex education nonsense. Glad I moved out of that miserable state of Illinois what a hole. Feel sorry for parents that want better for their children and can’t afford to get their kids out of those miserable schools. That state will never change not enough of you common sense citizens to get these elected and non elected nutjobs out.
And now the federal government is pouring billions of dollars into these school districts with no requirement that they open. It’s completely insane and sick. This really does just make me sick.
If Illinois and Chicago government’s supplication and surrender to the teachers unions during this Wuhan Virus farce won’t inspire the citizenry to rise up and overthrow the evil Democrats that run this mess then I don’t know what will.
Thank you for the dose of sanity Mark.
Spot. On.
If this was March Madness, the teachers unions and the party that caters to them would get a Flagrant 2 and be ejected.
Excellent article, and as difficult as it would be to take a hard stand, I see it as the direction needed for Illinois. This is a war and I don’t think war has ever been easy. Standing for the future of children is a great cause. Their future looks grim at this time.
As a society, we will realize that significant harm caused by 18 months of school absence on children, the absence of both formal education (unsupervised computer learning is ineffective for many kids) and structured socialization offered by 8-3 school day. Many kids will bear the long-term consequences of social isolation, unsupervised days, lack of formal education, delayed academic advancement, etc. Hope Democrats and Teacher Unions are happy that Orange Man is gone, because social-price, and ultimate financial cost and economic impact, of Covid lockdown is extreme. That said, Pritzker is beholden to Unions. Teacher unions enjoyed an enormous victory here,… Read more »
In Chicago, this is all mostly true. In some suburbs, this may have been the case, but local school boards are about to be remade as angry parents vote in anti-union trustees. At least that’s what I plan on doing! But even if my favorite candidates lose, its clear that most parents with means have left Chicago’s school system. The only parents that remain are complete fools, or too poor to leave.
Illinois is using hundreds of thousands of school aged kids as guinea pigs on a “reshape our new normal” experiment. And something that isn’t being measured yet but will be the subject of studies in the future, is the growing anger and rage that many young people feel about the way they have been deprived of so many important social and development activities. Sports, clubs, musical groups, class trips– they are growing up without having those fond memories and they will be angry about the deprivation caused for now good reason.
Dear Folk who would like a better lot for your children: It isn’t the lottery. It isn’t found property. It likely isn’t through being an influencer, musician, artist, or YouTuber… It is likely by investing in yourself by building knowledge, the ability to learn, and a strong work ethic. Those are traits and attributes one can develop IN SCHOOL. Not at home. Stop voting for these infantilized adults who buy your votes with promises of EQUITY and FREEBIES. Good luck. Edited to add: JB is a goof – he inherited everything and this whole vacation through gubmint is a panacea… Read more »
I agree, great article. As a parent of 2 young children in PSD 202 I have spoken out to my superintendent, school board and principals. They can all care less about getting the kids back in school. I admit my children are very behind and I am sure they are not the only ones. I believe the teacher’s union have a big part of not being in person all day 5 days a week. Being on Zoom for 2 hours a day is not an education. I see my children just staring at the screen and barely talking. No writing… Read more »
Amen! Amen! Amen! I was raised in the South and suffered through ‘busing’ being imposed for equality by Leftist Democrats who in this case were from the Federal Government, far away from my county school. Thankfully, my Dad took education very seriously and would have none of that nonsense for his kids. Not being able to afford a proper private education, we moved away. I suffered through one mediocre year in 8th grade – it dogged me right through HS and into college. I had to take make-up classes in community college to ‘true-up’ my education for the normal four-year… Read more »
Mark,i feel it is hopeless,the lazy ass teachers,cpu officials and many other public sector employees dont have to go work yet continue to get paid at the tax payers expense,shame on all of them !-they could care less about the students,its fairly obvious!As for the parents that dont speak out against this silly tomfoolery,i categorize them in the same group of weak cowardly bar and resteraunt owners who did not speak out against governor jelly bellys authorian lock downs.Im frustrated but guess i could really care less cuz i dont live in chicago or Cook county and dont have any… Read more »
Mark, thank you for writing an article that doesn’t pull any punches. You are absolutely correct- open tomorrow or lose funding. Enough of the political woke bs. Thanks for stating it so directly, or as we used to say, telling it like it is.