{"id":4423,"date":"2022-01-17T03:41:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T03:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/?p=4423"},"modified":"2024-10-15T22:01:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:01:38","slug":"despite-the-known-harm-schools-shutdown-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/2022\/01\/17\/despite-the-known-harm-schools-shutdown-yet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite the Known Harm, Schools Shutdown Yet Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As 2022 gets underway, students are sidelined in their learning yet again due to school closures. According to Burbio\u2019s K-12 School Opening Tracker, 5,506 schools<\/a> nationwide opted not to provide students with in-person learning when schools were set to resume the week of January 3. With closures primarily occurring in large urban districts, the number of students and families negatively impacted by this latest disruption to education is enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few of the largest districts keeping their doors shut include Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. Additionally, Los Angeles Unified School District<\/a>, the second-largest in the nation with roughly 655,000 students, won\u2019t allow students and staff to return to campus until January 11, and then only with proof of a negative Covid test. Chalk up another week of lost learning and supervision. Newark School District<\/a>, the second-largest in New Jersey, plans to keep their 40,000 students remote through January 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since schools were already closed for the two-week winter break, it made it easy, if not inevitable, for many to delay resuming in-person in the new year. This flies in the face of the Biden administration\u2019s view on the issue, despite its past equivocations on the issue. On December 21, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona opined, <\/a>\u201cI don\u2019t think we should be considering remote options.\u201d He went on to contend that \u201cOur students deserve more, not less, and our parents have done enough to help balance school closures the first year of the pandemic.\u201d In surprising fashion (due to its opposition to the teacher union position), on January 5, President Biden also stated<\/a>, \u201cI believe schools should stay open.\u201d Alas however, his involvement on the issue was limited to his verbal statement, as he continued to sit idle as teacher unions call the shots in our nation, at the expense of students and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chicago, roughly 340,000 children and their parents went to bed on January 4, not knowing if school would open in the morning. A late-night teacher union vote revealed that 73 percent<\/a> (91 percent<\/a> by other reports) of teachers favored remote instruction. The result was a teacher union staged strike \u2014 a strike they planned to continue until January 18<\/a>. Adding to the drama, the next morning the Chicago Teachers Union accused<\/a> Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot of locking teachers out of remote instruction. As teachers failed to report to work for a second straight day, Lightfoot called<\/a> the strike an \u201cillegal work stoppage\u201d and described the closed schools as keeping kids hostage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Chicago, teacher union walkouts<\/a> also occurred in Maryland, New Jersey, and California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arizona\u2019s Governor Doug Ducey is creatively blocking teacher unions\u2019 power grabs and empowering parents, so the promise of education can be fulfilled \u2014 without excuse.<\/p>Keri D. Ingraham<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some are fighting back. Arizona\u2019s Governor Doug Ducey has managed to stay two steps ahead of union tactics. On January 4, Ducey announced<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re making sure in-person learning remains an option for all Arizona families and students\u2026.With the new Open for Learning Recovery Benefit program, if a school closes for even one day, students and families who meet the income requirements will have access to instruction that best meets their needs. It funds up to $7,000 for needs related to Arizona Department of Economic Security approved child care, school-coordinated transportation, online tutoring and school tuition.\u201d In stark contrast to the philosophy of teacher unions, Ducey<\/a> underscored that \u201cparents have a choice \u2014 always.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, public schools continue to receive taxpayer funding regardless of whether they offer in-person learning, remote instruction, or no learning at all. Not surprisingly, 2020 data indicated the school districts with the strongest teacher unions were less likely<\/a> to open for in-person learning. Teacher unions seem keenly aware that keeping schools closed gives them leverage as they exercise their power to achieve their political and economic demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic, the public is becoming more and more aware of the harm to our students\u2019 mental well-being, development, and academic learning caused by ongoing school closures. Parents too are inflicted with stress and negative financial impacts (to say nothing about the negative impacts on employers). The continued disruptions must end. We need more courageous leaders like Gov. Ducey to creatively block teacher unions\u2019 power grabs and empower parents, so the promise of education can be fulfilled \u2014 without excuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 5,506 schools opted not to provide in-person learning when schools resumed the week of January 3. With closures primarily occurring in large urban districts, the number of students and families negatively impacted by this latest disruption to education is enormous. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":4426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":3,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[52,56],"tags":[816,821,336,814,822,142,815,78,205,813,820,812,823,825,819,817,824,72,74,68,439,818,83],"coauthors":[1073],"class_list":["post-4423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educational-leadership","category-unions","tag-arizona-governor","tag-atlanta-school-district","tag-biden","tag-chicago-teachers-union","tag-cleveland-school-district","tag-closed-school","tag-doug-ducey","tag-k-12","tag-k-12-education","tag-lori-lightfoot","tag-los-angeles-unified-school-district","tag-miguel-cardona","tag-milwaukee-school-district","tag-newark-school-district","tag-open-for-learning-recovery-benefit-program","tag-parental-choice","tag-philadelphia-school-district","tag-public-schools","tag-school-choice","tag-school-closures","tag-student-mental-health","tag-student-mental-well-being","tag-teacher-unions"],"acf":[],"author_names":["Keri D. Ingraham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4423"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4423"}],"wp:action-assign-author":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post\/4423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}