Since our local ‘public’ school system (MPS) is foregoing student testing during the pandemic, I thought I’d fill the void by posing civics question that will assist students in understanding how government works, and for whom: Why is the state teacher’s union lobbying Governor Tony Evers to close private and charter schools offering in-person education, even though the union has no control or vested interest over those educational institutions?
Before you attempt to answer that question, I’ll give you a clue since I’m scoring on a curve:
It has nothing to do with students’ welfare, whether Donald Trump will ever admit he lost the presidential election or the Green Bay Packers will find a Black cheerleader.
Still, confused?
Let me rephrase the question:
Why has the local ‘government’ teacher’s union, MTEA, petition (some say mandated) the Milwaukee Health Department to issue an order restricting all private schools in the city to virtual paradigms?
Like the state union, the MTEA has no statutory authority over private and charter schools, nor are MPS students and staff impacted by what happens in those schools, where most of the students are low-income African Americans.
Oh, that’s not entirely true.
Most educational doyens believe in-person education provides a far superior path to success. Moreover, even the most self-serving special interests admit a large percentage of low-income children are slipping through the virtual cracks. Many will emerge from the pandemic having lost ground they will not be able to make up unless they repeat their respective grades.
The reasons are vast and can’t necessarily be put solely on the ‘eduocracy’ or teachers’ backs. Nor can you blame the students, many of whom are victimized by circumstances and environments that are not conducive to virtual paradigms.
But strangely, this abysmal potential outcome has seemingly been ignored by policymakers and the public in general, as there seems to be only a handful of brave souls who care more about the children served than the servants’ welfare (no pun intended).
Nor have you heard much, if anything, about a startling revelation that could and should alter the existing paradigm: children in K-8 grade are safer in school than at home.
Yeah, you read that right.
One of the foremost authorities on the pandemic, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, revealed recently that the infection risk to students in kindergarten through eighth grade attending school is less than they are if they are forced to stay at home or, more likely, venture throughout the community.
Coronavirus infections originate from homes and the community, not in schools, Dr. Redfield explained in one interview.
Noting that policymakers should not base decisions based on emotionalism, Redfield said, ‘the truth is for kids (K-8), school is one of the safest places they can be from our perspective’.
And in case you think you can summarily dismiss Redfield’s proposition, President-Elect Joe Biden’s special advisor for the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed the physician’s assessment.
Dr. Celine Gonder, President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 transition team leader, said on CNN the new administration will have to reassess its position, acknowledging that data confirms Redfield’s analysis.
Given Biden’s career-long opposition to educational options (another clue for the testers), there is little reason to believe the new president will acknowledge the science he said he will rely upon in making decisions about COVID-19.
Be honest with yourself. The unions are a far more influential special interest than African American voters, even though we determine who sits in the White House.
Consider another clue.
If you need further research before answering the test question, pay heed to the controversy over school openings in New York or live on the southside of Milwaukee. Google what’s happening in Arkansas where Governor Asa Hutchinson is dealing with a comparable controversy.
Better yet, you need to look to the south and west of Milwaukee, where the courts have ruled recently in favor of parents and private schools participating in the school choice program to continue hybrid systems.
In a nutshell, the courts ruled Madison and Racine health officials overstepped their authority by closing non-government schools to in-person paradigms.
As of this writing, the Racine health officials have told the court to go to hell, thus necessitating another trip to court and the possibility of contempt fines, which ironically, will be paid for by taxpayers.
Obviously, this controversy isn’t as one dimensional as it appears on the surface. In fact, strong arguments can be made by both ends.
Many parents, particularly the African American poor, are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. They rely on in-person schooling to free themselves up to work and provide safety, discipline, and entertainment. And let’s not forget meals.
Give MPS credit for trying to accommodate that latter concern. The district has introduced a food pick up service for low-income parents who can navigate the shooting range that has been our community recently; and pandemic infested bus stops to get to the sites.
Imagine you are one of the 27,000 Black families existing on less than $10,000 annually. Chances are you’re uneducated, reliant on a minimum wage paying job, and barely surviving while trying to raise a couple of children.
If you’re lucky enough to be working, do you leave your small children at home? Do you have, or can you afford the internet, or even telephone service to communicate with the schools? Can you help your child navigate through the instruction?
And those concerns are but the tip of the iceberg.
Many can’t answer the questions posed by children who don’t understand or are confused by the computer screen’s images.
Worse still, they don’t know where to turn or have the financial resources to pay for tutoring or literacy services like the teachers and government school administrators who control their lives. Or would like to.
True enough, there are those parent(s) who don’t care, or whom the school is a baby sitter or a warehouse; a pipeline to the ‘penal warehouse.’
There is also those naïve parent(s) with low expectations, or worse, who believe the eduocracy always has their children’s best interest at heart.
Most of them will be surprised when they discover their children are failing, drop out, or graduate unable to read their diploma, let alone able to write.
Yet, even if the parents don’t care or know better, you should.
Not just because we’re a tribe and all children belong to the community. But also, because the thousands of wayward children will either become terrorists, end up in prison or welfare lines, or stain your street and sidewalk with their blood…or yours.
Conversely, teachers are an invaluable asset that must be respected and protected.
I get that.
If they don’t feel safe in the classroom, who should force them?
If they decide to leave or terminate employment out of safety concerns, who could blame them?
How much of that safety concern can be attributed to a private school decision across town to remain open?
How is a school offering direct instruction a threat?
In other words, why in hell would MPS teachers—or the union that represents them– want private schools closed?
A former teacher I asked that question provided an unbelievable answer, which I could only assume was not among the ‘media talking points’ supplied by the MTEA.
She said students attending private schools will ultimately infect those in government schools.
Huh?…SAY WHAT?
I won’t delve into my response, but the fact that she couldn’t elaborate or provide any shred of data to suggest such an absurd conclusion spoke volumes.
This takes me back to my original test question. (Extra points to those who answered before my background information and clues).
The answer?
Because the unions fear the loss of students to private and charter institutions. It’s simple.
They rightfully believe educational options introduced by the late state legislator Annette Polly ‘Harriet Tubman’ Williams will motivate the field Negroes to escape what they believe is the ‘new plantation.’
Over 2,000 did just that this semester alone, transferring from MPS to various private schools offering in-person education. Add their numbers to the thousands who now make up the second-largest school district in the state, and you recognize the real issue.
And apparently, to the dismay of the union, there has been only one infection incident, temporarily prompting the school to close on its own initiative.
The school has since reopened, with little impact on the children, teachers, or neighborhood residents.
Just like opposition to the school choice program, and non-instrumentality charters, union opposition to private schools offering hybrid paradigms is premised on job security and control of resources (tax money they feel belongs to them, versus the parents).
It has nothing to do with the health or academic welfare of children.
But if you believe there’s more to this than that, I have a ‘stolen’ Trump ‘Make America Great Again!’ poster and a worn-out copy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s ‘Miseducation of the Negro,’ I like to sell you! Actually, I’ll give you that book along with a copy of mine, ‘Not Yet Free at Last.’ But don’t let union officials see you with either, as they have been outlawed, boycotted, and burned in censorship.
Several months ago, I predicted that the state teacher’s union would pressure Evers to use his executive privilege to close down the ‘opposition.’ I should have expected they would also make demands on the city health department since they couldn’t get support from the mayor.
For extra credit, why would the union be confident that Evers would respond affirmatively to their plea?
You need but read his resume to answer that question.
Evers is a former teacher, principal, and superintendent of Public Instruction who did not make secret his support for the unions and disdain for educational options for poor families.
He has also sided with unions in opposition to parents and educational czars’ reforms that diminish the union stranglehold.
The result has been a government school system in Milwaukee which hosts the worse reading proficiency rates of Black fourth and eighth-graders in the country and one of the broadest academic achievement gaps north of Cuba.
So, give yourself an ‘A’ if you answered the questions correctly. And add bonus points if you recognize the history behind the decision of thousands upon thousands of low income and minority families who have sought alternatives to government schools they felt were failing their children.
I’m not advising anyone to make decisions for their children based on this civics test. But I believe parents should be the penultimate decision-makers for their children and not bureaucrats, educrats, or janitors. And those decisions should be based on educated analysis and information.
That’s not just a civics lesson, but a civil and human rights postulation.
Hotep.
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