Up North Progressive

If there has ever been a more irresponsible act during the COVID pandemic it’s attempting to keep Michigan public schools open. The Republicans successfully stripped the Governor of her executive authority to keep the citizens of Michigan safe and cases are on the rise. People refuse to wear masks in enclosed spaces and social distancing is non-existent. As for reporting cases and contact tracing, suppressing real numbers is part of the plan.

The state required school districts in Michigan over the summer to develop reopening plans. Social distancing and mask guidelines along with protocols to prohibit the spread of the virus were adopted. Schools require students and staff to wear masks when in school. Social distancing must be followed at all times for all activities, including in the classroom. Teachers must spray down all surfaces in the classroom with a spray bottle full of chemicals to kill the virus. Emphasis on using technology in lieu of physical textbooks and paper which multiple people have to touch. By now, every Michigan K-12 student has a Chromebook.

With all of these precautions, everything should be just fine, right? There is the theory, and then there is reality.

Masks

Masks are rarely worn properly. They are either hanging below the nose or they’re chin hammocks. Then there are those who assume as long as they’re not talking they don’t have to wear them. It’s hilarious when a student is talking in class and the first thing they do is pull their mask down because they think that little bit of cloth muffles their voice.

State guidelines for masks are not being enforced and students simply refuse to do it. Keep in mind, some homes are anti-mask and the students bring these sentiments into the school with them.

Social Distancing

Remember back in August the pictures of a school in Georgia taken by a student of the hallways crammed full of kids with barely any space between them? That is happening in northern Michigan schools right now. Bell schedules have not changed, which means the entire student population crowds the halls at the same time. Add to that the wait time outside the classroom while the teacher quickly spritzes the table surfaces with chemicals and you have large herds of students standing in close proximity outside the door chatting away with their masks pulled down.

Classroom Seating

The days of individual desks in classrooms are long gone. Most modern classrooms are outfitted with tables that multiple students sit at. Elementary and middle school students may have some space between them, but high school students are often shoulder to shoulder. They sit with no space between them their masks hanging under their chins chatting away and offering sips of their beverage to each other. And then there’s lunch in the cafeteria.

School Sports

Football, soccer, golf, tennis, volleyball, and cross country are all in season right now in our schools. Except for the games and matches that are canceled due to COVID positive tests. These just about happen daily now. Winter sports were just approved, including wrestling! Students sit in vans or buses for hours traveling to other school districts and their COVID outbreaks to play sports and come home after exposing each other.

Testing, Contact Tracing, and the “Mom Code”
It’s hard to say how many cases of COVID enter schools every day because parents don’t want a repeat of last winter when their children were home all day and they had to care for them feed them and try to school them. Parents not wanting to be the ones who shuts down the school because their sick kid tested positive simply to keep their kids at home if they are sick. That way there is no need to test for COVID and the school stays open. The “mom code” first reported in Utah spread quickly through social media and it’s a sure thing it’s happening nationwide.

State Authority to Shut it All Down

Positive COVID cases in northern Michigan schools appeared shortly after the doors opened. School superintendents in Northern Michigan are determined to keep schools open no matter how many staff and students test positive for COVID. The only way these schools will ever shut down is by order of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. As long as they can find enough substitute teachers to cover for the teachers now quarantined due to exposure or a positive test the schools stay open. Our Governor can’t do shut schools down any longer thanks to the Republicans and the state supreme court ruling an executive order that stood on the books for 75 years suddenly unconstitutional. Trumpers can go to Supercuts but what is the cost to our communities?

Meanwhile, teachers, school staff, and students enter these simmering Petri dishes, spray chemicals on every surface of their classroom between classes, and hope it’s enough to protect everyone for another day. The chemicals in these spray bottles are so strong staff are required to wear gloves and face shields every time they use it. And they’re required to use it.

Cases are on the rise and hospitals already say it’s putting a strain on their ability to care for everyone. Michigan Republicans refuse to admit they were wrong to open up the state, preferring more underpaid workers to sacrifice themselves for business and profits. The school experiment failed. It’s time to shut the schools down again before more people get sick and die.