“There are places where educators have already forged ahead in the past months with creative plans for remote learning.”
-Dana Goldstein, NYT
The places that have forged ahead are models, whereas the countless missed opportunities keep stacking up everywhere you look this summer.
From Trump and Congressional negotiators not beginning the process of negotiating when House Democrats passed their stimulus bill in May.
To school districts not better preparing for both remote and in person education over the summer, mostly because there has been no national strategy, funding or programs to implement nor assistance to back up teachers and school districts.
America has a crisis of leadership. It’s not just Trump.
It’s not that ideas on remote learning haven’t been known prior to COVID-19. Rep. Grace Meng has been leading the charge on bringing hotspots to our nation’s public schools for years.
Closing the Homework Gap legislation, HR 5243, got stuck in subcommittee in 2019. HR 5243 would have brought hotspot grant funding to low income schools nationwide.
We’ve known how valuable being connected to the internet can be to a student when finishing homework.
The Emergency Connectivity Fund is within the Heroes Act, which the House Democratic caucus passed back in May, and would disburse $1.5 to 2 billion to fund schools and libraries.
Now nearly 3 months later, we’re still waiting on the Republican Senate and President Trump to get their acts together on funding public schools to open safely and to give them the tools where they cannot do so and must use remote learning.
It seems Republicans are winning by not working to pass legislation that would help fight a virus Trump supporters don’t want to help fight and who don’t hold Trump responsible for negative outcomes, like high unemployment and business closures.
Missed opportunities . . .
Elected Republicans are not giving workers, businesses and our communities the opportunities we deserve to make it through this pandemic.
I’m not standing by while these failures continue.
I know others are not either.
(Featured Image: Pew Research Center)
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