Opening Public Schools is a Distraction

I’m a Vermont public school educator, and I’ve been repeatedly urged to focus on distractions instead of the truth.

I’ve been told that if it isn’t safe to open our schools in Vermont, then it isn’t safe anywhere in the country.

I’ve been told that masked, distanced learning can be an educational experience “that is as good or better than before the pandemic.”

I’ve been told that questions about Vermont’s re-opening plans are nothing more than “political attacks.”

I’ve been told (against the latest evidence) that anyone who isn’t a “close contact,” meaning being within six feet of an infected person for more than fifteen minutes, isn’t in danger of contracting the virus.

I’ve been told that inadequate ventilation systems in schools is “not necessarily” an essential issue.

I’ve been told that the goal is normalcy.

I hate normal.

I hate normal because it implies three main things. First, the word itself creates a subjective binary; if some things are normal, then others are inherently abnormal. Second, it’s a static word. Normal upholds the status-quo. If normal is the goal, I don’t see any room for growth or change. And, third, it insults, harms, and leaves further behind all of the people who are underserved, rejected, and/or disproportionately impacted by “normal.”

The inter-district, inter-community, and inter-identity inequities in Vermont were staggering before the pandemic. Now, with a Republican administration who would rather we don’t look behind the curtain, it’s, as one Vermont lawmaker put it, “our normal set of inequities — on steroids — with a frame of life or death.”

Don’t get me wrong here. I will report to the opening of school on Tuesday, September 8th, and I will work as hard as I can to make the learning experience a positive one for my students, but that solves little more than checking a box that school is happening, while “normal” still rages throughout the state.

Outside of schools, the gender childcare gap will still be at poisonous levels. Vermont still won’t have a universal paid-family leave program because of Governor Scott’s latest veto. Minimum wage workers in the state will have to wait until 2022 to see their salaries reach $12.55/hr, not the $15 that often gets talked about, and far from the $23.36 that the National Low Income Housing Coalition says is necessary to truly be livable. 15% of Vermont children under the age of eighteen will still live in food insecure households. We’ll still be letting the next generation down when it comes to our response to climate change. And, among so many other statistics, data show that Black and Latinx Vermonters are still disproportionately targeted by police in this state, like they are in the rest of the country.

That’s just a sample of the normal I’m being told I should want so badly.

The stats aren’t better when it comes to schools, either. It’s no secret that Vermont schools are not funded in an equitable way, from the ability to pay for bond projects (ventilation during a pandemic comes to mind) to things like library resources (my school has a staff of three and a bookstore-like collection, does yours?) to the salary and experience of the faculty. Because of Act 46, the state’s school governance consolidation law, communities are pitted against each other over potential school closures, and because of our “tradition” of choice towns and voucher programs, affluent Vermonters can “pay for prep school at public expense.” Specifically in regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, some districts are able to afford more nursing staff, more personal protective gear, higher quality ventilation, and the infrastructure for outdoor classrooms, while others can’t. And, to highlight the parallel pandemic that’s been raging in this country for over 400 years, racism; Black, Indigenous, and other students of color — as well as students with physical or neurological differences — are 2–3 times more likely to be suspended from school, expelled from school, and/or referred to law enforcement in Vermont.

Just more of the normal I’m supposed to be excited about.

So, what, right? Is this another complaint post from a cynical educator? No, I don’t think it is. I think it’s me trying to ask for more truth-telling. I think it’s me trying to say that I don’t like it here very much. It’s me saying that I’m ready to share power and resources; me, a white, able-bodied, highly educated, cisgender man am ready to share everything. I don’t want to donate to any more causes or charities. I don’t want to applaud any more organizations who find funding and save the day on their particular issue. I don’t want to vote for any more politicians who sell me compromises or incremental change. I want justice. I want collectivism. I want to pay taxes into a system that provides a robust social foundation for every. single. damn. citizen.

And, yes, right now, I want safe schools for all students and staff.

Now.

No more distractions.