Los Angeles has preemptively decided not to allow students to return to school this fall, citing concerns about the coronavirus and its spread. These concerns might be reasonable were it not for the ridiculous demands being made by the massive teacher’s union.
United Teachers Los Angeles, which is made up of more than 35,000 teachers, has been pushing county officials to delay reopening its schools, arguing that “safety has to be the priority.” But in a new research paper released by the union this week, Los Angeles teachers proved that the safety, physical health, and mental well-being of their students isn’t the top priority at all.
In the paper, the union calls for the defunding of the Los Angeles Police Department, though it doesn’t specify how much must be cut from the police. The report also blasts charter schools, calling them a “drain” on “resources from district schools,” and demands the implementation of a federal “Medicare for all” program, as well as several new wealth taxes, since the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minorities.
Until these policy provisions are put in place, a “safe” reopening cannot occur, the union said.
This is shameful. Our students are facing serious setbacks due to the shutdown, and it will take months, and maybe even years, for schools to make up for the lost time. And distance learning is simply not an acceptable alternative. A Reuters analysis last month found that fewer than half of 57 public school districts were taking attendance. And in Los Angeles, United Teachers made it so that schools could not require face-to-face online instruction. There is no accountability, no growth, and no learning taking place in America’s schools.
And as a result, children will suffer. In-person instruction and social interaction are paramount to students’ mental development and physical health, as the American Academy of Pediatrics argued last week. By refusing to advocate for a return of both, the United Teachers Los Angeles union is setting its students up for failure.
Luckily, the union does not speak for every single teacher in Los Angeles County. Teachers outside of the union’s grasp should speak up for what’s right and do what they were hired to do: fight for the education and achievements of their students. Because at the end of the day, a teacher’s responsibility lies not with a union, or with a social justice initiative, but with the individual children entrusted to him.
