{"id":1648224,"date":"2022-09-20T07:07:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T11:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1648224"},"modified":"2022-09-20T07:07:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T11:07:53","slug":"lets-celebrate-those-who-fought-to-keep-schools-opening-during-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lets-celebrate-those-who-fought-to-keep-schools-opening-during-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Celebrate Those Who Fought To Keep Schools Opening During Covid"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flets-celebrate-those-who-fought-to-keep-schools-opening-during-covid%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1648224&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>The recently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/education-departments-first-pandemic-era-trend-data-show-worst-reading-math-declines-in-decades-11662004860?page=1&amp;mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released<\/a>\u00a0test scores of our nation\u2019s fourth graders should make anyone who cares about children and our nation\u2019s future weep. The results are the latest proof of the unprecedented learning losses among American children due to extended school closures during the Covid-19 lockdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The tests are part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and were administered to U.S. students age 9. According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/education-departments-first-pandemic-era-trend-data-show-worst-reading-math-declines-in-decades-11662004860?page=1&amp;mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, the NAEP test scores \u201cmark the largest drop in reading scores since 1990 and the first statistically significant decline in math scores since the math portion of the test began in 1973. Math and reading scores for the exam are now at their lowest levels since the 1990s.\u201d Not surprisingly, \u201clearning loss generally is worse in districts that kept classes remote longer, with the effects most pronounced in high-poverty districts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic did not cause American children\u2019s learning loss, but the policy response to the pandemic did \u2014 the extended school closures and remote learning demanded by the teachers unions and supported by public health officials, the Democrats, and their allies in corporate media and Big Tech. Undoubtedly, we should hold these people accountable for their destructive policies. Yet, let\u2019s also celebrate those courageous Americans who did the right thing during the pandemic. They fought to reopen the schools as soon as possible, often under vicious attack, taking personal and professional risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Wise Governors<\/h2>\n<p>Take Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as examples. Despite relentless attacks, they pushed their states to reopen schools and return to in-person classes in the fall of 2020. Teachers unions and their Democrat allies\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/07\/08\/us\/florida-reopening-schools-teacher-responses\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">criticized<\/a>\u00a0these governors\u2019 decisions as \u201cludicrous\u201d and based on \u201cscience fiction\u201d and warned that reopening schools would be \u201cdeadly.\u201d At least one teachers union in Florida tried to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/florida-teachers-union-lawsuit-desantis-school-reopening-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sue<\/a>\u00a0(unsuccessfully) DeSantis to stop his school executive order on reopening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the school reopenings didn\u2019t become a Covid-19 superspreader event as many had warned, and the education outcomes in both states spoke for themselves. Florida\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/newsroom\/latest-news\/florida-moves-up-in-national-ranking.stml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">September 2020 Quality Counts report<\/a> showed the state outperformed the nation in 15 of the 18 K-12 achievement measures and ranked third for improvement in fourth-grade mathematics, among other achievements. The Heritage Foundation ranked Florida\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/educationreportcard\/pages\/states\/fl.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">No. 1 in overall education freedom<\/a>\u00a0in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As for Texas, The Wall Street Journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/schools-are-back-and-confronting-devastating-learning-losses-11662472087?mod=hp_lead_pos5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reports<\/a>\u00a0that it \u201cis a rare example of a state where young students\u2019 reading scores have more than bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, half of Texas third-graders met or exceeded expectations, up from 37% in 2021 and 43% in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>True Professionals Who Followed the Science<\/h2>\n<p>Many people were afraid to speak up during lockdowns because scores of scientists, health professionals, and reputable scientific publications allowed their political disagreement with then-President Trump to cloud their judgment. These \u201cexperts\u201d and their media allies condemned anyone who questioned destructive measures such as lockdowns and school closures as \u201cgrandma killers\u201d and \u201cscience deniers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Harvard\u2019s Martin Kulldorff, Oxford\u2019s Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford\u2019s Jay Bhattacharya spoke out against the herd by posting\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gbdeclaration.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Great Barrington Declaration<\/a> in October 2020. They called for an end to the lockdowns and a return of life to its pre-pandemic norm, except for the most vulnerable segments of our population. They especially pointed out that \u201ckeeping students out of school is a grave injustice\u201d because \u201cfor children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rather than listening to this sound advice, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Francis Collins, then-director of the National Institutes of Health, worked with their media allies to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/fauci-collins-emails-great-barrington-declaration-covid-pandemic-lockdown-11640129116\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">trash<\/a>\u00a0the authors of the declaration as \u201cfringe epidemiologists who really did not have the credentials,\u201d and said that \u201chundreds of thousands of people would have died if we had followed that strategy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite Collins and Fauci\u2019s fear-mongering, hundreds and thousands of people signed the declaration online. They and the authors belong on the list of people we should celebrate. We should also honor those school administrators, teachers, and parents who fought to keep schools open.<\/p>\n<h2>Teachers and Parents Who Fought for Kids<\/h2>\n<p>In my home state of Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis\u2019s \u201cshelter at home\u201d order shut down schools and sent students to remote learning from March to May 2020. Many public schools reopened at the beginning of the fall semester in 2020, only to shut down and go back to virtual learning after the number of Covid-19 cases surged in November that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Dr. Robert Garrow, principal of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goldenviewclassical.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Golden View Classical Academy<\/a>, a charter school in Jefferson County, refused to close his school again. He told me that for a while during this second Covid-19 surge, Golden View was likely the only public school in Jefferson County that remained open, and out of the 70,000 students in the school district, the 700-plus students at Golden View probably were the only ones who attended classes in person. He said Golden View followed all the health protocols and never experienced the Covid-19 outbreak that many had predicted.<\/p>\n<p>Garrow pointed out that school closures were a terrible idea because plenty of evidence since the early days of the pandemic showed Covid-19 wasn\u2019t a big threat to children. He also learned from his own children and his students\u2019 experiences that at-home school was ineffective and disruptive to a natural pace of learning for children. He said effective learning, especially for subjects such as math, could only occur in a classroom when the teacher and her students can interact, so the teacher can easily adjust her material and pace based on verbal and nonverbal cues from her students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Garrow, keeping a school open from fall 2020 to 2021 in Jefferson County was a Herculean effort. He often had to go back and forth with the county health department to clarify various confusing Covid-19 rules. The county regularly sent inspectors to Golden View to enforce the mask mandate by counting how many students wore masks in a classroom. Although county health officials never found any reason to shut down Golden View, they sued three Christian schools in the fall of 2021, alleging they failed to follow Covid-19 mask mandates in their classrooms. Golden View joined the legal battle to help defend these schools, and the lawsuit was eventually\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lamarledger.com\/2021\/09\/22\/jefferson-county-mask-mandate-lawsuit-christian-schools-settle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissed<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When I asked Garrow for his reaction to our nation\u2019s fourth graders\u2019 significant decline in test scores, he felt both sad and angry because the learning loss could have been prevented. But too many adults in charge, driven by either fear or ideology, chose to sacrifice American children\u2019s education and well-being instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It has become increasingly risky to speak truth to power in this country because those in power ensure whoever disagrees with them pays steep personal and professional prices. This is why we must celebrate those who spoke up and acted courageously in the last two years. Only by holding accountable those who pushed for and enforced bad policies and honoring those who did the right thing can we ensure our nation will never again harm our children as it did during the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She&#8217;s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.  Helen is the author of several books, including &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-Never-Said-Helen-Raleigh\/dp\/1499185278\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Helen+Raleigh+Confucius+Never+Said&amp;qid=1606079469&amp;sr=8-1\">Confucius Never Said<\/a>&#8221; and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Backlash-How-Chinas-Aggression-Backfired\/dp\/1736008501\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1606006113&amp;sr=8-1\">Backlash: How Communist China&#8217;s Aggression Has Backfired<\/a>.&#8221; Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recently\u00a0released\u00a0test scores of our nation\u2019s fourth graders should make anyone who cares about children and our nation\u2019s future weep. The results are the latest proof of the unprecedented learning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1648224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1648224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1648224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1648224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}