If Opening Schools Is About Equity, Why Aren’t We Listening to Those Most Impacted?
Low-income, Black and Latinx parents are saying what they want, but their voices are missing from the discussion
Hey friends,
Things are busy around here so this is just a brief note to share a few things. In this newsletter you’ll find:
A free link to my new essay, If Opening Schools Is About Equity, Why Aren’t We Listening to Those Most Impacted?, and some context for why I wrote it
Stories highlighting the voices and perspectives of Black and Latinx educators and parents in the discussion of school openings
Some organizing resources for teachers, parents, and activists fighting for a safe, equitable and racially just approach to opening schools
I’ve been struck by how persistent the media narrative is that school openings are for the benefit of the most vulnerable families who need them to open both for childcare reasons and so their kids don’t fall behind. Of course, I’m always suspicious when politicians who’ve systematically underfunded our schools say that a policy is for the benefit of poor kids. But the idea that more vulnerable families were the ones who supported opening schools also didn’t ring true to me from my personal experience.
I had seen some polls suggesting that Black and Latinx families opposed opening schools by higher margins. So I decided to really dig into the polling and surveys. I looked at national, state, and local polling data. The pattern was clear and consistent: families most impacted by educational and economic inequality have the greatest opposition to reopening while white and affluent parents have the highest levels of support. 90% of Black people say opening schools is a risk to their health and well-being.
I wrote this story to try to compile the data all in one place—but also to look at reasons Black, Latinx and low-income families might have good reasons to oppose opening schools, to expose some of the problematic assumptions that are made about families marginalized by our public education system, and to make a case for the kinds of measures that could protect both the safety and the economic and educational opportunities of families. I hope you’ll read the full story and share it widely. Remember to use the friend link I provide here when sharing so no one ever hits a paywall.
Speaking of listening to Black, Latinx and low-income families
I ended my story by saying that the children of families who’ve been impacted by inequality and structural inequality “do not need to be rescued from the presumed deficits of their home environments. They need the structural barriers that our system has erected to exclude them dismantled. And, perhaps first and foremost, they and their families need to be heard.”
In that spirit, I wanted to draw attention to and amplify some of the stories and initiatives that are highlighting the voices of those most affected.
This Democracy Now! interview with Jesse Hagopian and Jitu Brown highlights the need for an antiracist approach to decisions about how and when to open schools.
As Brown says in the interview:
We’re very clear that in a system that has never even reached the mandate of Brown v. Board, that has never even reached equality, let alone equity, that has never — to make it plain, that has never shown Black and Brown children and Indigenous children love, we would be crazy to just send our children back into a system that has been carnivorous towards our young people.
Brown is the National Director of Journey for Justice Alliance, which has put out a petition of 14 demands that they argue must be met before schools can reopen. In addition to being on the Editorial Board of Rethinking Schools, Hagopian helped launch the Black Lives Matter at School initiative.
This Minnesota Public Radio segment is a rare story focusing on how the decision to open schools might impact communities of color.
This piece is well worth reading for the amount of detail it provides and the numerous quotes from families who describe how they’ve been placed in an impossible situation. It also argues for more resources to be directed towards under-resourced schools and to communities of color. Refreshingly, it also contains an important criticism from a MN member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) of the AAP guidelines:
For Dr. Nathan Chomilo, a pediatrician and board member of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, agrees that decision-makers should use science to guide their decisions. But he said he is concerned that the AAP failed to figure into its recommendations the effects that in-person schooling would have on communities of color.
(I have also criticized the AAP guidelines here.)
This interview with Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamontes Brown shows a deep understanding of the real challenges facing Baltimore youth.
Brown is the head of a growing number of teachers’ unions who have called for a virtual start to the school year. Like unions such as the CTU and UTLA, she points to the crises of over-policing and trauma of Black and Brown youth that won’t be solved by a return to the status quo.
Panel: Racism is a Public Health Crisis
It is impossible to talk about whether we should open schools without talking about the fact that Black people have experienced death rates from COVID-19 at 4-10 times the rate of white people. This panel brings together community and labor activists, including the Chicago Teachers’ Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, to talk about the racism of our public health crisis. It will be held July 29th at 6:30pm online and you can register for it here.
Finally, some organizing resources
The conversation around schools has shifted dramatically in the last 2 weeks—with teachers, parents, and community members demanding that their lives be protected.
On August 3rd, there will be a National Day of Resistance to Demand Safe Schools. A coalition of more than 15 teachers’ unions and community organizations has come together to link the fights for a racial justice agenda and a safe and equitable reopening:
In this movement moment, our organizations have come together to unite students, educators, parents and community to advance a racial justice agenda in public education, in particular by organizing for police-free schools. We’re working to galvanize a strong and growing student/educator/parent/community voice; a voice that says the government must go much further to provide the resources to ensure a safe and equitable school reopening and must provide for our communities and working families through transformational Common Good demands.
You can find flyers, a full list of demands and other resources on their website. In addition, National Educators United will be hosting a Town Hall organizing call on July 24th at 4pm, which you can register for here.
I’ll close by sharing two inspiring and helpful articles about the role that teachers can play in leading a fight for themselves and their students and their families and communities. In Rethinking Schools Jia Lee and Ronnie Almonte describe the organizing for a sickout of educators that helped pressure NYC to finally close its schools in March. And in Labor Notes Monique Dols and Peter Lamphere make the case against opening schools during the pandemic and describe the organizing happening in teachers’ unions across the country.
To everyone who’s subscribed in the last week, which is almost all of you, thank you so much! I’d love to hear from you. Please drop me a note in the comments if you have thoughts, ideas, or things you’d like me to explore. If you’ve stumbled on this by other means, you can make sure to never miss a post by subscribing here. And I’d greatly appreciate it if you could help me get the word out by sharing it with others:
Until next time,
Jen