C/P from a Chicago parent. (But I’ll note that all the way back in April, I had one Black student who had already lost four relatives to Covid-19.)
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“Reasonable people can disagree on the risk/benefit of re-opening schools. But just do me one favor please: don’t claim you’re advocating re-opening for the benefit of low-income children of color, unless you’re willing to face head-on the crowded conditions and lack of resources (including soap!) already in these inner city public schools, the healthcare infrastructure already overloaded with COVID cases, and the appalling COVID death rates already in Communities of Color.
This isn’t about some abstract, ideal scenario under which we’ve suddenly reduced class sizes and adequately resourced the schools. This isn’t about fantasy scenarios where we create satellite pods in vacant buildings. None of that is happening. Nowhere that I know of has there been the influx of resources needed to actually do this safely. This isn’t about hypotheticals. This is about how COVID will spread in the schools as they actually exist right now. And the prospects are terrifying.”