The Chicago Teachers Union’s effort to go remote across the district is rooted in racism. Asking members to force a work stoppage without acknowledging the critical state of our babies is wrong. It ignores the fact that large numbers of children suffered the last time academically, physically and emotionally. Remote learning hurt Black and brown…
New year, same pandemic. While many had high hopes that 2022 would present a brighter chapter of the COVID-19 crisis, the highly-transmissible Omicron variant had other plans. For those in cities, school closures may be the worst among them. More Than 330,000 of Chicago’s Children Didn’t Learn Today Because of CPS’s Staggering Lack of Planning Before winter…
If there is one thing we know for sure about this pandemic, it’s that interest in homeschooling has been on the rise as families search for a learning environment that meets all their childrens’ needs. In fact, the number of families choosing to homeschool has more than doubled since 2020! As families took control of…
As we enter the second winter of COVID, we know that cases will rise as people spend more time indoors and gather for the holidays. Even with extremely effective vaccines and booster doses widely available, and even though kids five years and older are now eligible to get the vaccine, elected officials and public health…
“The wolf took one last look at his mother and father…” My son is reading aloud in the other room. I hear his little voice recounting the story of a wolf who became the first wild wolf in California in a very long time. He reads with expression—exclamation points invoke excitement in his voice, question…
Just a glance at student attendance rates confirms what many have suspected for a while now: The pandemic had a profound impact on public school enrollment — and not in a good way. Across the country, enrollment in public schools declined by over a million students during the 2000-2021 school year. And this year enrollment…
Months after issuing a letter that called on President Biden to use federal agencies to stop “threats and acts of violence” at school board meetings, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is walking it back. It’s the latest update in a debacle that has been brewing since the letter’s publication last month, in which the…
Arianne Craig Jolla had the dream of teaching since she was in fourth grade. But after getting her bachelor’s in education, teaching wasn’t what she expected at all. School after school leadership pushed teachers to teach to the test and that just wasn’t working for students that lacked basic math and reading skills. After having…
We do the heavy lifting. We support our children. One speech from a teacher union leader will not make us forget their role in this entire year of educators’ abandonment of American children. Yesterday, AFT President Randi Weingarten gave a very motivational speech encouraging the nation about school reopening and reimagining education. Motivation is good,…
My husband is a teacher. He’s back at work five days a week. My oldest son is a junior in college. They sent him home back in March, and already informed us they’ll be remote for the entire 2020-2021 academic year. My younger son is a junior in high school. He has opted for all…
“I really like paper and pencils,” my son recently told his fourth grade teacher during a Zoom call. He’d asked if he could complete a math worksheet on paper rather than on the computer. Instead of providing a printable worksheet, the teacher offered to guide him through the online process. I was too tired to…