Schools Are Like Hospitals, Right?

At least 1,335 people have tested positive for the coronavirus from child care facilities in Texas. Of those, 441 are children https://t.co/F1Kd4teWxG

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) July 7, 2020

Just start there; and then let me say that Texas schools are organized into independent school districts.  Each elects its own school board, and sets its own calendar for the school year.  That calendar is controlled in very broad measure by state law (number of days of instruction, etc.), but schools can choose their own holiday schedule and when they will start the fall semester (again, within some limits) and when they will end the spring semester.  Such state governance as there is of the schools comes through the Texas Education Agency, whose governing members are also publicly elected officials who no more answer to the Governor directly than any other elected office in State government does (not at all, in other words).

When the crisis struck schools in Texas in the spring, each school district reacted as it saw fit for its students and teachers and staff.  The TEA "approved" of each individual action not because it needed to, but because it couldn't do otherwise. And it approved, in almost all cases, after the fact. The "political pressure," in other words, came, if at all, from the parents.  It's still coming from them.  I can't speak to other states, but in the second most populous state in the country, parents don't give a wet snap what Donald Trump wants.  They are concerned for their children's health and safety.  And a lot of that concern is in the suburbs Donald Trump so desperately needs in November.

AZAR says schools can safely reopen. “Health care workers don't get infected because they take appropriate precautions. They engage in social distancing, wear facial covering....This can work. You can do all of this, there's no reason schools have to be in any way any different.” pic.twitter.com/CDJmKnYnd6

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 7, 2020

I'm honestly trying to make sense of how you can compare public school facilities to hospitals.  You might as well analogize grocery stores to slaughter houses.  They serve entirely different purposes in entirely different ways.  In fact, slaughterhouses are more analagous to grocery stores, since both have the same end:  to provide meat for consumption.  I can't say even that much is common about hospitals and schools. Other than being facilities built to accomodate lots of people, what do they have in common?

And I understand one of the best places to catch covid-19 is in a hospital.  That's why they don't let vistors in to the rooms of patients with the disease.

Sec. Azar is a nincompoop.

Trump: "We want to reopen the schools. Everybody wants it. The moms want it. The dads want it. The kids want it. It's time to do it." (Lots of moms, dads and kids are worried about safety.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 7, 2020

Trump, as usual, wants something; and all he can imagine is that the world agrees with Trump.  The people in Texas, looking at that story in the tweet I started with, are very worried about safety.  Our coronavirus caseload is exploding, and schools reopen as soon as six weeks from now.  Nobody sees this problem magically disappearing before then.

Trump on political leaders who won't yet open schools in the fall: "We don't want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons, they think it's gonna be good for them politically so they keep the schools closed. No way." He says he'll put pressure on them.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 7, 2020

As I say:  in some states, maybe.  In Texas?  I think he'll find himself losing support in Texas if he tries that.  Abbott is already facing the disgrace of having his state convention shut down by Houston public health officials.  He's not about to enrage the parents in the cities, some of whom are still stalwart Republicans, but would cross over in November if Abbott pushes them too hard.  Abbott will back off the responsibility for opening schools so he can blame school districts for whatever happens, must as he has mayors and county judges.

Trump says he will be putting pressure on governors to re-open schools, does not want them making decisions to keep them closed for political reasons. pic.twitter.com/CZkiImw7kL

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) July 7, 2020

So public health is now a "political reason"?  George Orwell is screaming "I TOLD YOU SO!"  from his grave.

Schools being closed is a mess at many different levels and it’s not clear how he thinks anyone would benefit politically from that. https://t.co/Td8AjYHJ48

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 7, 2020

"Political reason" is just a scare word to him.  Just like any decrease in unemployment is good, even though it's not nearly enough right now.  He doesn't get concepts, ideas, words:  he just wants responses that he thinks are appropriate to proving his worth and value.  I think he imagines people screaming and clapping when he says these things; it doesn't matter what the words mean, it's the reaction that counts.

Equally, it's not clear how he thinks his words carry any weight, any authority in these matters; especially now, especially about schools.  Schools are not run by the handful of MAGAheads who think wearing a mask is an insult to their manhood or an infringement of their liberties.  In Texas, even if Greg Abbott says the schools must open, the schools can tell him to fuck off.  And across the country, parents can tell the schools "Not for MY kid!"   And even if the state doesn't allow for homeschooling, let's see the states cope with such a mass movement.  As I said, the TEA authorized school closings for the spring semester long after it happened.  They had to get in front of that parade, because they couldn't stop it.  Trump won't even be confused for the drum major.