Thread by @RheaBoydMD

Public schools are a critical terrain of struggle for equality in the US. They are spaces where kids AND communities access the resources vital to health, mobility, and longer life spans.

Here's what I think it takes to *safely* re-open schools. Thread. thenation.com/article/societ…

1. A robust social safety net.

The US is a deeply unequal country. That inequality is growing and it impacts everyone, including kids. In the face of chasms between the richest and the poorest, schools have served as both a remedy to and a reflection of unchecked inequality.

2. Schools have become depots for basic needs like food, healthcare, and internet because we lack the political will to invest in the safeguards that insulate families and communities from impoverishment and its related poor health effects.

But US schools are also segregated.

3. School segregation ensures that schools with inadequate resources predominantly serve Black and Latinx neighborhoods. So recent threats by @BetsyDeVosED to cut funding for schools unable to safely open will disproportionately affect kids of color.

freep.com/story/opinion/…

4. Instead, to safely reopen, we need a stronger safety net and more funding for schools, especially those affected by segregation.

We need universal healthcare and internet, broad eligibility for federal and state nutrition programs and access to clean water for everyone.

5. These measures, and those outlined below, would make masking, physical distancing, and hand-washing possible for everyone and reduce COVID spread.

And reducing the local burden of COVID infection is the necessary condition for schools (and businesses!) to safely reopen.

6. We have to massively redistribute wealth in the US.

A recent study found that for every dollar of wealth held by a household with white children, households with Black children have just ONE PENNY. One penny yall!

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

7. We need federal financial relief directly to US households (not corporations), indefinitely. Doing so would safeguard families from eviction as current temporary moratoriums on such practices end, and support those newly and chronically unemployed.

8. We need mandated federal worker protections that extend paid sick leave, parental leave, hazard pay, living wages, and access to PPE to ALL laborers. Again, these things help people keep themselves and others more safe. And lower rates of local infections are good for schools.

9. These things enable testing, tracing, and treating at scale; home-based quarantine without threats of bankruptcy; sick leave without the risk of eviction; health care access for parents, students, teachers, and staff, regardless of their exposure status; and distance learning.

End. Controlling the pandemic is possible. It will take enormous federal and state investments.

But aren't our children and youth, our futures, worth it?

Aren't we all worth investing in the supports that keep us well and narrow the deadly inequalities we have in America?