Missouri Gov. Parson says kids ‘gotta get back to school.’ He needs a lesson on risks
Like a canoe in uncharted whitewater, most Missouri schools are barreling recklessly toward reopening as early as a month from now — with no idea what dangerous rapids lie ahead.
Kansas City Public Schools did announce Monday that the district was changing course, delaying a scheduled release of its reopening plans after city health officials resolutely advised against in-person classes.
Indeed, the “Core 4” public health officers and directors in Kansas City and Jackson County, along with Johnson and Wyandotte counties on the Kansas side, issued a joint letter to the Kansas City area admitting that despite some earlier success at mitigating the spread of coronavirus, “we are now again losing the battle with COVID-19.”
The stark assessment coincided with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order Monday shuttering schools until at least after Labor Day.
The question is, when will Missouri and Gov. Mike Parson acknowledge what everyone else seems able to see — that it’s simply too dangerous to reopen schools with coronavirus rampaging through our communities? Just Sunday, the five-county Kansas City metro recorded 485 new cases, the area’s biggest one-day spike yet.
Not only are health professionals having trouble keeping up with new cases and all the investigative and support services they entail, but the Core 4 health officials warn that hospital admissions are at a record high for the pandemic.
Instead of the governor preaching prudence, it’s quite the opposite, with Parson fanning the flames of reopening amid an uncontrolled and uncontrollable COVID-19 and simply shrugging off the risks.
“They’re going to go home, and they’re gonna get over it,” the governor said of the children who inevitably will get infected at school.
But this isn’t the rhinovirus. COVID-19 is a known killer, and even hardy young schoolkids would be taking the coronavirus home to parents and other loved ones at greater risk. And what of the teachers, who’d be presiding over the germ-a-thon all day in school?
Absent some guidance from the governor, most of Missouri’s 518 school districts are scrambling to restart, most commonly by Aug. 24, with a mix of online, hybrid and in-person offerings.
It’s uncertain how many of them will be opening a month from now, but they’re cleared to open for in-person classes, distance learning or a combination of the two.
“They’re just all over the map. These reopening plans are varying widely across the state,” says Brent Gann, Missouri School Boards’ Association communications director. “That’s as it should be, in our opinion.”
Yet it’s likely they would think twice about jumping to in-person schooling if the governor would only encourage them to avoid it.
He needs to: 19 students tested positive for COVID-19 after a Catholic school’s outdoor graduation ceremony and offsite prom earlier this month in suburban St. Louis. Imagine what’s going to happen if schools across the state are actually in session.
Admittedly, advising caution would be an abrupt about-face for Parson, who has maintained, “These kids gotta get back to school.”
Noting that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Health and Senior Services, school administrators, teachers and parents have worked hard to prepare for reopening, Parson told The Star, “There is no one-size-fits-all approach that fits every school district. Each district will look different, but we must never lose focus on what our school systems are all about — the students and their education.
“The safety of all Missouri students, educators and school employees is of utmost important to me. Getting students back to school is a big concern for all of us.”
Certainly, and there’s no doubt that closing down schools has presented an educational crisis of its own. But the public health emergency must take precedence over getting back to the classroom, and the virus’ unpredictability cries out for the kind of nimble leadership that Kansas City leaders have just shown.
Parson’s hands-off approach, born of a principled but uncompromising dedication to limited government, ignores the fact that even the most laissez-faire among us would have to admit that public health and safety are a core function of government.
It’s sure a core function of our schools.
Why is Missouri throwing that out the window?