Fully Educated

 

A word about yesterday. I wrote a post objecting to the use of a photo containing Howard County students to accompany an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun. I still stand by that opinion. However, the piece was perceived by some to be a personal attack on the teacher involved. That was absolutely not my intent. After some thought I decided to take the post down. I’m not here to be hurting people. 

So, that’s that.

*****

In other news, I saw a post on Twitter this morning that indicates that there will be a protest this evening at the Board of Education. The post is a screenshot from a private Facebook group called “Fully Educate All HoCo Kids”. As I don’t know whether this was posted with the group’s permission, I’ll refrain from sharing the screenshot.

Here’s the gist of it: they’re protesting against wearing masks at school.

Friends, I am tired. And depressed. We are dealing right now with a variant that is highly contagious. We are only beginning to understand the long term damage that Long COVID can do to both adults and children. This is not a case of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

And one more thing: families. Every child, every teacher, every staff member goes home to a family every night. What we do in our schools during a pandemic impacts them as well. Wearing masks at school is something we do not only to protect those at school, but also those at home.

Take a look at this:

Children are losing parents and primary caregivers all over this country. This is a traumatic loss that will forever alter these young lives, including their educational lives. Why shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to cut down on the number of cases of COVID generated in schools and going out into the community?

Almost every family unit contains someone whose health is more precarious than the rest. It could be due to age, or poverty, or illness. When people say that all they care about is whether kids can be unmasked at school they propose putting all those other people at risk. Is it necessary to sacrifice them in order for our children to be “fully educated”?

That’s not what fully educated means. 

Of course these parents have the right to protest. The BOE/Central Office has been the site of any number of demonstrations in the past. I do hope that members of the Board are influenced more by public health recommendations than by disgruntled parents.

And, about having a group called  “Fully Educate All HoCo Kids”? I have some opinions about that, too. More on that soon.