links (clearing browser tabs) and more about teaching concerns

[rose_griffes]

I've already vented a bit in a locked entry but: whooboy, do I have concerns about school starting up again. I do believe that school--yes, actual face-to-(masked?)face is a reasonable option. Children are far less susceptible to this specific Coronavirus than the elderly, and there's a cost to NOT offering school that is almost certainly much greater than having school.

That being said: I'm worried that the delay in offering concrete information about how schools will operate from day to day is going to mean that teachers with health problems--their own or of those close to them--won't be able to push for safe(r) options. It looks like many school districts will include some form of online learning for children who are in higher risk categories, but I don't see anything so far for teachers in those categories.

So-called distance learning resulted in most teachers working more hours rather than less; will teachers be expected to do two more-than-fulltime jobs, teaching face-to-face and also online?

I've also been thinking about California, and the horror stories I've heard about class sizes there. Forty or fifty students in one room at the high school level: it's an epidemiological nightmare.

Also, back to the idea of distance learning: are school districts going to take steps to ensure that at-risk students staying home have reasonable access to the online resources? How about a general welfare check now and then?

Less than two months before school starts again in my state.

Two fandom-related links:
Pearwaldorf's tumblr post about AO3, its history, racism, and Franzeska.
Saathi1013's post "On White Fear & Creating Diverse Transformative Works"

More links related to police violence:

• Here’s How Many People Police Killed in 2019…We Think
• a Facebook post (I know) by a white woman married to a cop (I KNOW!)
• Google spreadsheet of police abuse incidents caught on photo or video since the protests began (current count close to 700)


• How (Not) to Cross the Street in Jacksonville
• Resisting Arrests stats in NYC (”resisting arrest” is a common way for police to disguise their violence)
• Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex


• former FBI agent speaking about local policing and money 
• Michael Harriot (journalist for The Root, all-around amazing writer) on policing and the media
• Ambulance services in the USA (and how this connects to defunding the police)

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

My thought is that high school students are old enough to be left home alone. It's child care for parents of elementary school kids that is the most critical, and also early childhood education which is time sensitive.

[rose_griffes]

I agree that child care for the youngest is more essential than for high schoolers... but I think there are ways to continue face-to-face teaching for (most) older students without requiring a teacher with comorbidities to either teach (and risk their health) or quit.

[tinny]

Great links, thank you!