It’s infuriating.
Last year, the federal government offered up $123 billion to state and local schools to help make sure schools stayed open with in-person classes as our options for managing COVID-19 advance.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Western world has kept schools open since the fall of 2020 – with many countries choosing to let students attend in-person classes without mask requirements.
And we have known since 2020 that keeping schools closed is child abuse – pure and simple. The rate of suicide attempts by school-aged children has risen by as much as 50% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic statistics. Children in America have been just as likely to die from suicide as they are to die from COVID-19.
And despite all of that, hundreds of thousands of American children are still being abused by politicians and teachers’ unions who say they are following the science— but are hopelessly stuck in 2020.
In Chicago, America’s Second City, public schools are closed today because the teachers’ union voted to have their members not show up for work in an illegal strike.
In New Jersey, as many as half of the state’s school-aged children are taking classes remotely.
In New York City and the suburbs of Washington, DC, schools may be open for in-person learning, but children are being forced to wear masks for 8 hours a day, are starting to be forced to wear N95 masks, are prohibited from talking to their classmates during lunch breaks, and are being forced to eat their lunches outside. In January.
And that $123 billion in money – your taxpayer money – that was supposed to go towards keeping kids in schools?
These liberal states and school districts spent that money on keeping critical race theory programs in schools instead of your kids.
Seriously.
According to Daily Wire, states and school districts that are keeping children out of the classroom right now took money from Joe Biden’s COVID response bill and used it on racist CRT programs instead of putting kids back in the classroom:
In August, the Department of Education published strategies for using the money. “Rebuilding from COVID-19 is an opportunity,” the document said, for a “culture shift” and the “establishment of equitable practices… One example of how a district is using a performance assessment in a culturally and linguistically responsive way is the Chicago Public School’s Curriculum Equity Initiative.”
Chicago earmarked $32 million of ARP money to a “comprehensive, culturally responsive curriculum” developed “through the Curriculum Equity Initiative.”
Chicago’s Public Schools got $32 million from a program that was supposed to be used to keep kids in schools, and they used it on racist curriculum programs instead.
And Chicago wasn’t alone:
Milwaukee allocated $24 million of its ARP money to “Social Emotional Learning,” including $100,000 for “Anti-Racism and Bias Professional Development.” It will not be conducting classes in person until at least January 10…
…Michigan promoted using an “equity lens” to apportion money, including spending it on “professional development for all staff members in social emotional learning, trauma-informed care, and implicit bias.”
It said it would spend it on a Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute Academies (CRSLIA) program that “challenges Whiteness and hegemonic epistemologies in school.”
Michigan schools that will open the 2022 year — the third year of coronavirus — online include Detroit, Ann Arbor, Oak Park, Lansing, Pontiac, and Southfield.
When it comes to our schools, these politicians are putting power ahead of doing what’s right. They’re stealing money to pursue their goals while ignoring the will of the people who elected them and pay their salaries.
We The People need to stand up to end this abuse and stop the insanity. Say NO to closing our schools and using taxpayer dollars on CRT.