The Battle Rages On

The Battle Rages On

It is hard not to think of what is happening today in all the media as a battle over the future of public education.  Yesterday's Globe & Mail (Toronto) had a headline screaming out that Premier Doug Ford thinks that the teacher unions are being inflexible.  President Donald Trump stamps his feet and yells just to open the schools.  High schools open only to be closed again, universities and colleges open and to be closed again.  Teachers have been polled and administrations in various states are informing the reading public that it cannot guarantee enough teachers in classrooms to cover the student body and that is without accounting for increased teacher needs due to lowering class sizes.  Public health agencies are pointing out the the physical structures of too many schools just are not equipped with the proper ventilation equipment to facilitate proper air circulation.  No one though starts from the assumption that classrooms have to be envisaged from scratch.  Parents and administrators think of school and classrooms through their own experiences from, sometimes decades ago.  In order to move forward safely, everything has to be put on the table.  There just is no way around that.  WE have to think about students and their needs in order to move forward safely.  We have to think about where students are coming from and where they go when they go home. Administration and government has to realize schools are filled not just by students but by a myriad of adults who help keep kids in school and learning.  WE have to remember that public health issues have to be paramount. If any child, sadly, had to deal with special needs due to medical issues........wheelchairs, special hearing accommodations, drugs for diseases, and so forth, the path is set as to how schools have to be run to deal with those kinds of things.  Now, it is EVERY child that needs special things.  Every school needs special things.  Every teacher has his or her own needs.  Teachers have not been trained to be very flexible either.  Having taught so many of them, it is amazing how many come with preconceived notions of what they are entitled to and who has to deliver on those entitlements.  Sadly, everyone involved will have to give up on some things in order to get through this. But, we have to remember, school by school, that we are families in those buildings and good schools see their teachers, their parents AND their students as ONE community and so we have to deal with that one community in the same way.  Sadly the bottom line is that if we don't....people are going to get very sick in some cases and more than a few are going to die and NO ONE wants that on his or her shoulders.  So.....we better all cool it.  If our goal is the good of the kids, then we need to remember this one fact.  Children do not fare well at all when the adults in their world are fighting.  Children, to learn properly, need safe and calm environments, no matter all the other extraneous issues in their lives.