My take on the whole "re-open school" thing is that they are trying to drive a wedge between us...

[C Moon]

using the virus.

First he's claiming the virus is 99% safe, then he says he wants kids back in school by the fall.

Some parents are going to lean on the 99% safe thing, and the fact that they want their kids back in school, so (just like he did with the REOPEN THE COUNTRY), he's going to use that to pressure governors to act on opening schools.

See how governors are scrambling to get the virus back under control since reopening? The same thing will happen when the schools reopen. In fact, that will be the 2nd wave and we haven't even gotten through the first wave yet.

It is going to get very bad if we reopen schools in our current state...and it's all about his election.

[soothsayer]

1. Not a wedge so much as a gaslight

[Faux pas]

2. Of course

it's all about him and if we all die, all the better for him. He just doesn't get is that he is part of the we all die.

[LakeVermilion]

3. My take is a little different...

All of the schools in America have been working to make schools ready to open this fall. I think that the administration just tried to take credit for all of the work that has gone on already. That school district in Virginia that DeVos ripped spent a lot of time and effort to get their plan out to the community. At the last minute, DeVos comes in and rips them for not having everyone in the buildings.

It might be something to set up the administration versus the teacher unions, since its obvious that the first victims of Covid-19 are going to be the adults in schools.

[C Moon]

7. Great point!

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. I think school reopenings will be on a county-by-county basis by the time fall rolls around.

It's impossible to say today which parts of the country will be hot spots in September.

Dump and the governors can try to force parents to send their kids to school all they want, but ultimately, it's gonna' come down to what parents feel comfortable with in terms of the safety of their kids and their own personal work situation.

Trying to mandate it at the federal level is complete bullshit, especially since Dump abdicated all responsibility.

[stopdiggin]

5. It is of course a wedge issue

Unfortunately, quite apart from the parents interests -- there are a good number of educators and psychologists out there that are voicing concerns about "home schooling" a whole generation of students over an extended period. Our kids are suffering real damage as this thing rolls on. As any reasoning individual can see -- there are legitimate trade offs involved. What's the answer here? Quite sure I don't know. But it's not just a one sided debate (despite the fact that Trump will be using it to cynical advantage).

[Mike 03]

6. What I hope doesn't happen is that Trump incites his deplorables to

get involved in this fight, protesting and harassing educators, school districts, school boards, so that we see a repeat of the Reopen protests aimed at schools.

You can bet the protesters will be people who don't have kids in school, just like a huge majority of the "Reopen" protesters had not been laid off or in any way affected by the lockdowns.

[C Moon]

8. That's what I was thinking was going to happen. He will do that, of course.