The all-Democrat Albemarle County School Board is in a world of hurt.
Hundreds of fear-paralyzed government-school teachers have demanded physical shut-down of the Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS).
Hundreds of concerned local parents have expressed desire for at least a partial schools’ reopening this fall, as they are either unwilling or unable to make alternate plans for the education of their children.
Q: What’s an all-Democrat school board to do when two overwhelming Democrat constituencies are at odds with one another?
A: Punt (to the all-Democrat Albemarle County Board of Supervisors)
Seemingly, it was a brilliant move, as the School Board was certain to alienate a huge swath of fellow travelers no matter the Board’s direction.
Now, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has picked up the ball and are running with it.
In the name of “promoting health,” the Supervisors are planning an immediate reversion to “Phase 2” COVID “guidance,” which almost certainly will shutter the ACPS (and perhaps private schools, as well).
But the damage does not stop at the Albemarle County line.
Supervisors’ Chair, Ned Gallaway, expressed desire to collude with Charlottesville City Council (and by extension, Charlottesville City Schools), to coordinate the Phase 2 reversion amongst the two localities:
“We’re obviously interested in having regional coordination, so they’ll have the opportunity to see it and see if they would like to go along, so that there can be some parallel ordinance,” Board Chair Ned Gallaway said after the meeting.
The politicians and “educators” have conspired. And to them, killing two birds with a single stone seems politically brilliant. But will their deception unfurl seamlessly or will it unravel chaotically?
While many local teachers have become accustomed to working limited hours for a full-day’s pay, desire for the new status quo does not well-convey to parents—desperate to see the schools resume at least their day-care functionality.
Following a weekend of negotiations with Charlottesville government, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will convene electronically on July 27 to seal the deal.
Your “Conspiracy 101” commentary is the kind of speculative story that Sarah McConnell loved when I was part of her fully-staffed WINA newsroom back in the late 80s and early 90s. I like your piece here also. Some of your wording might have been a bit too inflammatory for a news story without sourcing being mentioned, but again this is a good piece of news-based commentary. I have some disagreement with some of your stances on masks and distancing and I also have some differences with the Albemarle BOS’s thinking on Covid-19 phasing. Ann Mallek said on WINA this morning that 47 new positive cases yesterday prompted her to call other Supervisors to get the Special Meeting moved to July 27 from August 5. She also said City Council now has scheduled a meeting for Monday night on the same topic. I’m betting a stricter Covid-19 crackdown is in the tea leaves for this coming Monday. Ann said Greg Kamptner is drafting an “improved” ordinance. Will be interesting to see what that euphemism actually means. Hope the public gets a chance to see the draft before the actual start of Monday’s meeting at 3 p.m.
I have to say that using inflammatory wording like “ conspiracy” is irresponsible —as everyone, including school boards, teachers, leaders, parents and grandparents struggle with the realities of Covid. Our children are our most precious and innocent treasures and being “overly” cautious is wise and prudent. We do not want to look back in hindsight and realize we’ve all made mistakes that risks their health in the short or long term! There are far too many unknowns about children and Covid to move forward in any way but the very most cautious way. Please—investigative journalism doesn’t mean pushing an agenda or being inflammatory when what we need is facts and rationale thinking! Support those who have to make the tough calls.
There is a lot of truth to this article. However as a teacher I fully disagree with the statement about working a few hours with a full days pay. That was not the case. Most teachers were working 12 hour days. It took hours to investigate the best platforms for specific groups of children. It took hours just to get certain children connected. The entire class may not have been served the entire day, but some children in that class were. Yet, given all the extra worked hours I know of no teacher who was pleased with the results. Teachers are accustomed to seeing children move ahead. We did not see that happening and it was painful. Teachers do strive to have no child left behind.
I hope in the fall the school divisions have a plan to better serve all children. Implementation will require much training. There is little time in the calendar for that. Reversion to Phase 2 would make this training even more limited. No one wants to revert to the situation in the spring.
The VDH site indicates that the percent positive cases (number positive per number tested) has gone down in Virginia. In central Virginia, according to the VDH, there are 5 hospitalizations. Nationally, the fatality rate dropped from 4% early on to 0.5%. This seemingly is due to more testing yielding more data. Increase in cases alone, thus may be due to more testing. Severity seems to be going down. Percent positive cases seem to be going down. For good decision making that affects so many, verified data, used to drive decisions, should be published and subject to public scrutiny. The science and data can best be verified that way. Decisions based on verified and public data can be made.
Data is Key: Interesting analysis. Would you please provide a link to verify the 5 hospitalizations number?
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