When Congressman Crenshaw’s email with capital letters “SCHOOL CLOSURES: The Path Forward on School Reopenings” hit my Inbox, this anxious teacher was ready for updates of substance.
Instead, my Congressman’s email exposed that he is dangerously misinformed about the issues affecting his constituents, mainly, the students and educators from Houston and Humble ISD.
The Congressman’s email, which insists “its time we reopen,” is riddled with mistakes.
My virtual red pen first circles where Crenshaw encourages his constituents to visit the Texas Education Agency’s website.
Gerry Brooks is a hysterical YouTube comedian who happens to be an educator. He did not exaggerate when he mocked the decisions of education state departments across the country by asking questions into the camera like, “Will staff and students have to wear masks to get into the school building?”
“The answer is..,” Brooks says as a magic eight ball enters the screen, “most likely so.”
He shakes his magic eight ball again and continues asking the obvious questions educators have asked for weeks which leaders have failed to answer with certainty.
TEA lives up to this caricature with its incessant changes to policies and expectations for districts. It wouldn’t surprise educators to find a magic eight ball on Commissioner Mike Morath’s desk. The department has provided nothing but new obstacles and insults.
Last week, TEA’s helpful suggestion to anxious educators included a tweet to “breathing deeply” and “try to relax.” As if the attack on proper grammar wasn’t enough, TEA must’ve recognized its tone deaf suggestion was inappropriate and took down the post within the day.
Congressman Crenshaw, the Texas Education Agency is not a source for consistency or comfort. Please revise your notes for class.
The Congressman continues his email by referencing an outdated statement made by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Though the academy does point out the drawbacks to keeping children out of schools for so long, they reversed their support for the White House explaining that “schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be compelled to reopen against the judgment of local experts.” Furthermore, the academy stressed that public health agencies “must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics.”
Local doctors recently castigated Crenshaw because he “spewed lies for the past four months — minimizing the threat we face and spreading dangerous disinformation for self-indulgent headlines.”
Indeed, the Congressman’s Twitter feed is an enigma. On March 7th, Crenshaw’s “truth” post insisted that masks do not help protect us from the coronavirus. This fallacy was reinforced by his inconsiderate actions just a few weeks ago at a packed Tin Roof Restaurant in my neighborhood without a mask in sight.
But — just yesterday — Crenshaw posted that “we still need to take precautions — like wearing masks and social distancing — but the data show that our hospitals are not being overrun.”
Congressman Crenshaw, you are not a healthcare professional and should not perpetuate misinformation about this virus. Please revise your notes for class.
Most alarming is Crenshaw’s complete ignorance to the fate of the CARES Act money passed by Congress.
The Congressman erroneously explains in his email that “schools can utilize these funds to meet the requirements of social distancing guidelines.”
But the Austin-American Stateman clarified back in June that TEA re-appropriated Texans’ property taxes and investments to local schools to pay some other bill, and they used the CARES Act money to pay the basic funds for the end of the school year.
“Although some school district leaders were banking on getting a piece of $1.2 billion in supplemental federal aid under the CARES Act, the state plans to reduce its share of public school funding, effectively creating a financial wash for districts.”
Congressman Crenshaw, the CARES Act money in no way supplements our schools’ funds to prepare for the in person teaching you continue to demand. Kindly update your notes for class.
The Congressman should get his facts straight about education and health recommendations from professionals. Until then, educators and doctors will continue to use our pens to grade your performance.
So far, we agree you’re going to need to re-test.