This one billboard says a lot about our current state of polarization.

And it communicates some very

1. Schools are not closed.

School buildings are closed and campuses shut down for convening physical classes.

But “school” is going on.

2. Teachers do not want to always stay in Plan C.

Teachers want school buildings open. They want to see students as much as parents want to send them to school campuses.

They just want them to be safely opened.

This push to go straight to Plan A when schools are not even outfitted for safety with minimal amounts of PPE and other resources for various versions of Plan B.

To equate that teachers wanting schools opened safely and with plans that include teacher and site administrator input with “teachers don’t want schools opened” is erroneous.

3. A higher percentage of teachers are also parents than parents are teachers in public schools.

More teachers can empathize with what many parents are experiencing during the pandemic as far as remote instruction is concerned than the converse. When teachers speak about opening school buildings, MANY of them are speaking as parents as well.

4. If this state is going to push STEM related subjects, it would help if the lawmakers and policy makers who craft the testing mandates and curriculum standards actually believe and listen to science.

Talking to you Dan Forest.

And those people who keep having the CDC change its protocols and information.

5. A hybrid plan (B) many times creates much more work for teachers.

This is especially true if teachers are to give both in-class students and students in remote situations synchronous learning. Think of it as teaching the same numbers of classes virtually as you would in-person.

Without more time and energy and support to do so.

6. To say that learning has not occurred is ludicrous.

Some brilliant teaching has been going on these past few weeks (and last spring). But if someone wants to argue about “measuring” that learning with standardized tests, then they would need to convince a lot of people that those tests were actually accurately measuring student learning when there was no pandemic.

7. This situation is being exacerbated by the fact that it is a BIG ELECTION YEAR.

Public schools and education have always been a hot-button political topic. So has COVID-19.

Just put them together.

Dan Forest has. And he doesn’t even send his school aged-kids to actual schools when there is not a pandemic.