I got a call from the Kansas City area. I met the caller and his wife in their driveway when I was delivering flyers a few days ago.
His wife is a teacher. He called me because he is scared for her. He wanted to know what I'll do as Missouri's Attorney General.
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His wife is a teacher. He called me because he is scared for her. He wanted to know what I'll do as Missouri's Attorney General.
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He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand why there's little leadership in our state. He doesn't understand why there's almost no direction from our government.
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He doesn't understand why his wife, why our kids, why so many folks have to live with the uncertainty of danger, why there isn't a plan. "These teachers aren't getting paid enough to do this." He's right.
He asked me if I could do anything. We talked for a while.
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He asked me if I could do anything. We talked for a while.
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I've thought about that conversation a lot over the last several hours. I've read pieces by teachers, looked at photos of proposed plastic bubbles at the front of classrooms, seen some districts do it right and others do it wrong.
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As your Attorney General, I will start Missouri's first Civil Rights Division. That Division, as one of its core functions, will uphold Missouri's Human Rights Act, a law that prohibits discrimination because of age, disability, race, national origin, religion, sex.
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The virus is a serious threat to our teachers, especially those with more vulnerable health histories and those who are older.
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I hope that by the time January rolls around, we'll have a vaccine, or we'll find an effective classroom setup to avoid spread, or we'll discover that child-to-adult transmission is not a big threat when we take smart steps.
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We need more than just hope, and I want you to know I will stand with our families and our teachers.
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I'm one of the few candidates for statewide office with extensive experience working with school districts. As Attorney General, I will collaborate with districts on policies and procedures to ensure we are protecting our teachers and families.
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I know the vast majority will be ready and willing to take any help they can get. For those districts that fail to do their jobs and follow the law, I will take legal action, just as I would to protect our rights in any workplace setting.
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I will uphold Missouri's constitutional requirement to provide free education to all children. That includes children and families who have their own health conditions, children who are cared for by grandparents, and children who don't have access to internet at home.
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Early on in this crisis, I proposed starting a volunteer corps in Missouri to ask folks to step up and serve. We can defeat this threat with each other.
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As Attorney General, I will take a lead on asking Missourians to serve, whether that be as substitute teachers or in-class aides or tech support or whatever our families and teachers need, especially those who need to learn or teach remotely.
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I will advocate for effective use of the CARES Act emergency education funding and take legal action if necessary to ensure it's distributed to our schools. Our schools need help, especially in our state where we again slashed the education budget. We must invest in our kids.
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And I will fight to end the inequities in our state, the ones that leave huge swaths of rural Missouri in technology dead zones, that require schools to have 30 or more kids in a classroom, that leave families dependent on local schools for food and so many other resources.
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As Attorney General, I won't leave any of us behind.
I know this is a scary time. It's scary for all of us. That's why it's so important that we have smart, responsive, and accountable leadership in Missouri as soon as we can get it.
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I know this is a scary time. It's scary for all of us. That's why it's so important that we have smart, responsive, and accountable leadership in Missouri as soon as we can get it.
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We need a fighter in that office. We need someone with the experience to lead in this crucial time. We need someone who gets it.
I'll be there for you. And I'll be ready to go to work for our state on day one.
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I'll be there for you. And I'll be ready to go to work for our state on day one.
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On August 4 and again on November 3, we can vote for real leadership in Missouri. I hope to have your vote.
More importantly, I want you to know you have me. You can contact me any time, offer your frustrations and ideas, and, soon, we'll all get to see our ideas in action.
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More importantly, I want you to know you have me. You can contact me any time, offer your frustrations and ideas, and, soon, we'll all get to see our ideas in action.
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To all of our state's teachers, I thank you for your service to the People of the State of Missouri.
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