Nonessential Service

A recent post over at Stan The Man's Actual Factual blog is ostensibly about DCSD reopening plan but the comments are the real story [and no, TOD is NOT going to allow comments]. If you read them all and try to absorb the chatter it is as if your head fills with an explosive word map with biggest bubbles around things like "no furlough" and "daycare" but "learning" not so much. Of course this speaks to a growing realization that parents rely on schools for daycare and teachers rely on the paycheck with neither actually that concerned about real learning---actual academic performance. Throw SARS-CoV2 terror into the mix and there is a widening rift. 

At one point the moderator posed an important but seemingly innocuous question: is education an essential service? Some reflexively responded in the affirmative mistakenly thinking this would support the notion that not only should furlough days be banned but that perhaps pay increases could be justified. The more circumspect remained silent (the question was asked more than once) or noted that teachers have not signed up to go into harm's way. This is in contrast with others providing essential services in hospitals, as first responders or even at the grocery checkout. But not teachers. 

Education may not be an essential service, but it is mandated by Georgia's Constitution which requires that the state provide an "adequate education" to all residents. Because DCSD has diverted so much of the budget and efforts away from the classroom to admin and wraparound services their definition of "adequate" is a very low bar indeed. That becomes important as parents investigate their options. 

Since teachers, fearing for their health, are at the brink of mutiny (some expect to break their contract without penalty) parents who are presented with "virtual learning" delivered by ill-equipped and unenthusiastic classroom teachers are investigating other, better established options. And there are multiple choices.

First DeKalb Schools run their own Virtual Academy but this only covers upper level classes. 

The most obvious is the appropriately named K12 which covers all of K-12. Another K-12 option is Georgia Cyber Academy. If you are not interested in elementary school Georgia Connections Academy handles 5-12. Another option for middle and high school is Georgia Virtual School. These are organizations built from the ground up with the staffing, the training, the technology and the pedagogy for distance learning. If your children are learning online shouldn't it be from capable educators? These options also offer the advantage of "the money follows the student" which may free up some DCSD teachers to work for Instacart.