Requiem for A Great School System by Cheryl Gibbs Binkley
There have been 6 Covid cases in schools
since this photo earlier this week.
Donald Trump & the conservatives’ response to coronovirus has been deadly for many things; people, families, mom and pop businesses, concerts, movies, the theatre. But of all the things dying, the one I am mourning this morning is our education system, and though the bigger U.S. education system from PreK-Grad school now needs hospitalization-
Today we are about to take a relatively famous and spectacular school system off life support. Fairfax County Public Schools is the 10th largest school system in the country, serving a sprawling and hugely diverse population that runs from inner urban style communities through the suburbs to still mixed farm and mini-mansions exoburbs. The wealth of it’s cultural diversity and benefits is legendary, rivaled only by a handful of the largest and most densely populated cities.
Fairfax County Public Schools has been the jewel in the crown of Virginia’s status as first in attractiveness to businesses. At least three governors of Virginia have related stories of negotiating with CEOs to come to Virginia, and all three expressed pride that the deal maker companies came for is Virginia’s schools.
After today, that is unlikely to be the reality. We are losing more than most Fairfax residents can possibly imagine.
Fairfax County Public Schools has long had a stunningly skilled teaching force and staff that could do miracles and has had almost unlimited dedication to the welfare and learning of their students. With 70% of teachers holding master’s degrees and many multiple certifications, they still taught even though lower education requirements and higher pay was available to them.
As immigrant populations came to the county, it was the school staffs that enabled them to reach mainstream functioning at almost lightspeed; taking students who spoke no English to 96% pass rates on the barrier English SOL in 3-5 years of instruction, and delivering math scores that monolithic and wealthy communities envied.
The instructional force in FCPS has offered and produced award winning numbers on advanced level courses in every field, from math to civics, theatre and robotics, not just in the star school TJ, but in almost every pyramid in the county, consistently bringing home the kinds of opportunities and launches for their students that only the most privileged of families dream of for their children.
The ratio of students, poor, working class, middle class, and wealthy who have made it to highly competitive universities has been more than impressive.
Today that work force is being dismissed en masse unless they are willing to come in to work- Now; regardless of the numbers, regardless of the risk.
Without evidence that aging ventilations systems have been updated to handle the virus.
Without PPE that was promised to be there
Without testing of students or fellow staff
Without required social distancing or masks for students.
While the school board is still virtual
While central office is still virtual
While numbers are still rising
By the end of day today, most of the staff of FCPS are being forced to take a stand to be available at call to go into buildings now or resign, with no option for change. (the only other options are a year’s LOA without pay or health insurance, or retire).
Even if most of the staff decide to come into the buildings, even if most of them manage to survive the cavalier use of their dedication and lives, the teaching force that made Fairfax County Public Schools great will never be the same, not as the premier place to teach, and likely neither will the great school system it made.
The #OpenFCPS group that is demanding the schools fully open do not care about that though. Using the language and tactics of Trump, passing on misinformation:
Children don’t get it (There have been 3072 of age 0-19 cases in Fairfax and 1943 cases of 70+ age people)
It’s not a serious disease for children (unless the child is immune impaired or get MIS-C)
Children don’t transmit it (both the CDC and Princeton studies say otherwise.)
#OpenFCPS uses the repertoire of Trumpisms like a playbook:
What aboutism (Delivery services are working)
Name calling, accusing, and demeaning (lazy, union thugs, selfish)
threatening (they have already threatened two school board members with recall campaigns if they do not open schools now.)
Which is the tipoff that this is a political game, not a genuine concern for children or our community. The push to open schools is the act of a political minority trying to regain political clout in a county they just lost- and regain that clout by bullying.
So, today the School Board and Dr. Brabrand’s administration will collaboratively kill the goose that laid the golden egg, in nursery rhyme terms, to satisfy them.
In July when school board member Abrar Omeish asked health Department head, Gloria Addo-Ayensu if there’s a guaranteed loss of life if schools reopen, Dr. Addo-Ayensu said the short answer is, “Yes.”
The only question is who: Will it be my child, your child, my child’s teacher or yours. Whose family member: the teacher’s spouse, or parent, the student’s parent or grandparent. It will be more than a few someone’s. And who will represent FCPS at the funerals?
In Memoriam FCPS