Just when you think teachers unions can’t go much lower, along comes something so nakedly shameless that it forces you to lower the bar. Again.
Get a load of this from the San Francisco Chronicle last week:
“When the teachers union over the weekend announced the ‘exciting news’ that San Francisco’s high school seniors will get a chance to go back to classrooms starting Friday, it left out details about the plan, including that students might be back for one to three days.
“In addition, the class of 2021 won’t get any in-person instruction while they’re at one of two school sites. Instead, they have ‘in-person supervision.’
“In what some are calling a blatant money grab, the deal between the district and teachers union will bring seniors back ‘for at least one day before the end of the school year’” so the city’s public schools could qualify for $12 million in state reopening funds.”
Confidence in the public education complex is at an all-time low post COVID-19. This won’t help, I’m afraid. California leads the league in NOT getting students back to full-time, in-person schooling. That’s the fact that can’t be spun.
The hand wringing going on now doesn’t begin to address the consequences. If fall doesn’t come back fully, and normally, for public school students, even more families with the means will flee to private schools.
I hope I am wrong.
A DOSE OF REALITY
In case you missed the news, China emitted more greenhouse gases in 2019 than all the other developed nations in the world … combined.
So, while the local effort to convert to electric cars may feel good, it ain’t doin’ jack in the big picture.
The hard truth is that no matter what Marin, or California or the United States does about greenhouse gasses, or heaven forbid, Costco in Novato sells cheaper gasoline, the planet’s climate is worse because of China.
Sorry, but someone has to speak the truth to power.
WORD THAT MUST NOT BE SAID
The N-Word” refers to, well, you know what it refers to. And like the name of the evil character in the Harry Potter novels, it’s the word that no one may speak. EVER.
Yet, that is what Novato Unified School District Board of Trustees President Ross Millerick allegedly did during a recent teleconference with school administrators.
He didn’t use it in a pejorative way, all agree, but he used it to describe what exactly was shouted by students during a San Marin High School basketball game. He was making the point to school administrators that more supervision is needed at basketball games.
Use of the fully articulated “N-Word” upset Novato district administrators so much that they then reported it to the Marin County Office of Education, which then hired a private investigator who then issued a report that said: “Instead of referring to the epithet as ‘the N Word,’ he used the entire word to describe what was said.”
Oh, did I mention that the basketball game in which the word was uttered happened in the last century — 1998?
Looks like a lot of time was spent on all this. In the meanwhile, the Novato Unified School District is still unable to get kids back fulltime for in-person school.
Something seems dreadfully out of whack here.
IN PERSON PUBLIC MEETINGS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Enough with these Zoom public meetings as our only interaction with elected officials. It’s time to get back to in-person meetings. If you give elected leaders and bureaucrats a chance to never rub elbows with the unwashed masses, believe me, they won’t. Let’s get back to conducting the public’s business face-to-face.
Postscript: If you want an example of how badly government bodies can muck up a Zoom meeting, try tuning in to a Novato Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting. It’s just awful.
ONE MORE THING
— The brownies I started in my Easy Bake oven in 1987 are ready. Who wants one?
— Using a flashlight to signal in Morse code is a form of shine language.
— Farting in the elevator is wrong on every level.
— And finally, here’s one last thought for cat owners on Mother’s Day.
No need to get up. I’ll let myself out with the hope I’ll see you next week. In the meanwhile, be well, be generous, be kind.
(You can reach Sherman R. Frederick at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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