Thread by @RickSmithShow

Jeff Bryant: The idea that public schools have failed us is a propaganda campaign. Right now we see a lot of parents being upset at school districts & teachers, wondering why they can't send their children back to school.
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Jeff Bryant:This is being egged on by people who blame teachers' unions for the problems, but really it's the people in charge of policies who are to blame.
Rick: I want to make it clear I'm not blaming teachers or unions but the people who run schools
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Jeff Bryant: Schools aren't equipped to reopen during the pandemic. We have teachers who have to buy their own PPE; some even buy it for their students, too. That's a failure of policy.
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Jeff Bryant: Teachers are told they need to keep students socially distanced, even though classrooms are small. Learning spaces need to be safe, yet ventilation systems are antiquated. We have schools that have been underfunded for decades.
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Jeff Bryant: Black and brown students are especially in need of more funding. This is a chronic problem we've known about for years, but it's become more apparent now.
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Jeff Bryant: Betsy DeVos & others who want to privatize schools are touting what charter schools can do during this pandemic. It's interesting that the largest charter school in NYC...
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Jeff Bryant: It's interesting that the largest charter school in NYC isn't reopening for in-person instruction while public schools are at least reopening on a hybrid plan.
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Jeff Bryant: Schools are being overwhelmed by community spread of the virus. Schools in Philly, Anchorage, San Diego, Sacramento, & other areas are shelving plans to bring students back to school full-time.
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Jeff Bryant: There's a lack of gov't leadership dealing w/ fundamental problems of a pandemic, causing community spread that's out of control. Until we get rid of the spike in infections, we can't leave it up to the schools to control it.
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Jeff Bryant: Communities in red states, like the deep south, midwest, and plains states, where they see family members being infected due to a lack of public health policy, you would think reality would change their minds.
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Jeff Bryant: Public schools need to be lifted up as the way for us to resolve what has become this horrible crisis.
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Jeff Bryant: We need to reinforce the Democratic process. What I see happening with the advocacy for reopening schools is people lifting up policies from think tanks. We need to instead listen to the teachers & the local public health advocates.
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Jeff Bryant:There's some validity to the point that students need to be in class for in-person instruction, that online learning isn't as good & can even be detrimental. However, that doesn't mean we can't do online learning better, esp. during pandemic
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Jeff Bryant: Class sizes in an online situation should be smaller; instead, we're seeing the opposite. The school day needs to vary--you can't have students sit in front of a computer for 6-7 hrs/day; it's just not healthy.
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Jeff Bryant: Teachers need to be trained in using online technology. We have teachers who've been in the profession for 20-30 years who never foresaw a situation like we have today.
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Jeff Bryant:Our new Pres has committed himself to significantly increasing federal funding for public schools, for this crisis as well as for schools that serve the most struggling communities. He's going to have a challenge to get that through Congress
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Check out Jeff Bryant's article here, Bad Leadership Is Plunging Public Schools into a Crisis:
progressive.org/public-school-…
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