The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
The city of San Francisco is taking legal action to force the city’s public schools to reopen after they have remained closed due to COVID-19 since last March, Mayor London Breed and City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced Wednesday.
Herrera has filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Board of Education, alleging a plan to reopen from the school district and school board is inadequate and doesn’t meet state guidelines.
The suit is seeking a court order to direct the bodies to come up with a plan to offer in-person learning as safely and as soon as possible.
QUESTION: Would you support a similar type of lawsuit in Contra Costa County?
Talk about it….
Following the lead of San Francisco would be similar to the US following the lead of California – completely asinine…
We should have done it before now!
Not realistic. Which CCC governing board would bring the lawsuit? Mitchoff (or whatever her name is)? She’s already shown she’s not a leader and completely incompetent. The city of Concord? MDUSD spans over a number of cities so no one city could go it alone I’d imagine. Just don’t see it happening as we have no real leadership at all in our area.
Having the Contra Costa Board of Education not even speaking to CC Health to provide a basic foundation of what school districts within our own county should adopt is testament to lack of leadership.
Teachers have been listed as “Essential Workers” on the Contra Costa Health website since March of last year. All other essential workers are working with updated safety guidelines both union and non-union workers but our schools are still stuck in March 2020 time capsule.
While I agree that MDUSD has failed to come up with an actual plan to get kids back in school (and it’s BEYOND aggravating), what this boils down to is using taxpayer funds paid to the County to sue the District, which is also funded by the taxpayers. So basically we the taxpayers would be suing ourselves.
Follow the same district that wants to rename half of its schools? No!
Great point. Where’s that idiot mayor of Concord? Apparently hiding from the truth.
Come on Concord mayor say something. Are you for or against MDUSD reopening. Or are you just a slouch collecting a pay check? Same with the inept Concord City Council. City Council bums doing nothing and getting paid.
City Council folks are you lazy or afraid to speak up? Which one is it? I want to know where you stand so when elections come around we can vote your lazy bums out.
Same goes for the mayor of walnut creek and pleasant hill. Are all you bums in the pockets of MDUSD? Not a peep from the lot. Silence is a form of acceptance. Don’t you lame mayor’s see that your constituents want public schools to reopen. Why do you ignore us?
well the cdc that has the science based on dem political rants
just said teachers can go back to work
i wonder how the newscum will react to that
Maybe. If it actually brings some pressure to bear on the districts and unions, then yeah, I’m all in favor. It might just be a publicity stunt for London Breed, however.
Really we should have citizens suing the districts and the state for not delivering on the right, guaranteed in the state constitution, to a publicly funded education. If the school district can get the pants sued off of them for not accommodating a student’s educational disabilities, for example, they should be liable for unreasonably and blatantly crippling the educational experience of millions of students.
“A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” Ca. Const., art. IX, § 1.
“The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least six months in every year, after the first year in which a school has been established.” Ca. Const., art. IX, § 5.
MDUSD has stated in its board meetings that the status quo is failing a majority of our students. Yet they keep kicking the can waiting for some sort of miracle to appear.
They cannot even bring TK-2 back into the schools to evaluate what needs to be done to create a safe equitable learning environment in a county of a million people that has only had 1 COVID death under 30 years old the past year.
It’s hard to overstate how crazy this is – that TK-2nd grade aren’t even back in the classroom. Mind-blowing. There’s so much confirmation by now that young kids can be brought back safely, and they get nothing out of distance learning but screen addictions, and their parents are heavily burdened with trying to supervise their learning/watch them/ keep them from regressing emotionally/ oh and also work to put food on the table.
Any institution that fails to respond to evidence that it is massively failing its basic mission, for almost a whole year now, is a failed institution. Blow it up and start over, organizationally speaking. It doesn’t serve its purpose anymore.
YES!!! MDUSD has stated in its board meetings that the status quo is failing a majority of our students. Yet they keep kicking the can waiting for some sort of miracle to appear.
They cannot even bring TK-2 back into the schools to evaluate what needs to be done to create a safe equitable learning environment in a county of a million people that has only had 1 COVID death under 30 years old the past year.
No, this is about keeping children safe and not spreading this virus any further. One part of the local government suing another only cost the taxpayers more money. Opening schools too early would make them super spreading locations.
Must be a teacher…. “super spreader locations” Where is your science on that? 43 other states have shown us it can be done. I doubt suing the school district will do any good so I can’t say I am in favor of that when Newsom won’t even put the pressure on them. Regardless schools should have opened at the normal start of this past school year.
WAKE UP………..
My 3 year old is able to go to preschool, yet my 3rd grader cannot attend a public school. At the preschool there has not been one COVID-19 case since this pandemic started. If you can keep 2 and 3 year olds and their teachers safe, I’m fairly certain that a 3rd grader can wear a mask, gel/wash their hands and keep away from others.
This is a Union issue!!
I can’t believe you had the nerve to ask for the science behind that assertion!
@Doh, you’re totally wrong, and all the evidence confirms that. Spend a little time reading what pediatrics experts say about it, or the studies that compare regions where schools closed to those where they stayed open. Read about the difference in incidence between young kids and young adults. It’s all out there. The teachers’ unions just refuse to inform themselves. For them any risk is too great – everybody else must bear all the burden: kids, parents, the rest of society. They’re gonna look out for #1, and they have more leverage than everybody else.
@ Doh
I’d rather die from Covid than live like this bc this is no real life .
Get it?
The antidote for fear is faith.
Open Cali NOW
@Doh
What does Fauci say?
“Fauci said authorities should ‘close the bars and keep the schools open’ to cut down on coronavirus infection spread”
https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-fauci-close-bars-school-instruction-coronavirus-infections-health-2020-11
As far as I know, his opinion has not changed.
Do you believe Fauci is unqualified to make that statement?
I think we should be credited back on the past year for property tax money we’ve paid going towards our school Districts.
My second rant is that MDUSD will allegedly talk about a plan next month regarding reopening. That means it has taken an entire YEAR to even get that conversation going and shared with families/caregivers in the district. I know I won’t be holding my breath on a plan. We’ve already heard it before.
While our kids are struggling in school in this new normal, many of the higher-ups are collecting six-figure salaries twiddling their thumbs writing feel good buzzword newsletters like they have really made a contribution to society. Someone pass the Pepto-Bismol.
This school district is the definition of amateur hour.
Agreed!!!
How about the people that got richer during this … like umm bEzos throw a few billion our way hmmm?
Zuckerberg? Dorsey? Where are you? Help us out?
You’ve been so interested in controlling us give us some dough
@Puffandstuff
I completely agree! They have more money than anyone could possibly spend or need in a lifetime and it is still is never enough for them. Just imagine what they could do for schools and the homeless crisis and probably still manage to write it all off as a charitable deduction.
No only will line the pockets of lawyers and elites
@doh
Can you give a example with verifiable links to factual statements that a school in the United States became a super spreader location after they reopened?
Assuming not since you did not link any articles or known locations.
I’ve heard that Lie before. It remains nothing more than a lie as no one can provide proof that it has happened. Strange, in a country of more than 300 million people not once has any major news organization spoke of schools being a super spreader.
Parties, yes
Church, yes
Retirement homes, yes
Schools, haven’t heard a peep, beyond the occasional college…where parties are common.
But this discussion is not about high Ed learning.
Yes. I think there needs to be some political pressure for the union to realize that they are losing public support for their position and come to the table. And not just younger grades! They are important but middle and high school kids are struggling A LOT with mental health issues and they need to be back too. The data supports a safe return and not waiting until everyone is vaccinated
the cdc says schools can open, or that racist to say?
Yes! Please!!!
Don’t you hate when someone tells you how to do your job when they have no idea what it even is?
I know nothing about flying, let me tell you how to land an airliner.
I know nothing about math, let me build a suspension bridge.
I know nothing about cars, let me fix yours.
I know nothing about how to teach children, let me decide how your schools should work.
I know nothing about public health, let me whine because the pandemic is boring.
The City of San Francisco has no business deciding how SFUSD should operate, and they lack the expertise. Maybe they should try solving urban problems without dumping them on other cities.
Wrong! Who is paying them for doing little. I would say the city has a big voice in opening schools.
Yeah, how dare a municipality have something to say about public schools! What planet are you on? Schools (supposedly) provide a public service. Is it not a matter of public concern when they decide that they don’t need to do that anymore?
And let’s consider this supposed respect for expert views. The public health people and child development experts think schools should be open, or at least that they should be the last to close, first to reopen. Who thinks otherwise? Epidemiologists? Nope – public sector unions. You know, the experts in infectious disease.
Yes, students need to be back on campus. I’ve been subbing in MDUSD high schools for over a decade. The ventilation in all of the schools is awful. Some of the schools are dirty. Many of the students live in homes with essential workers who, through no fault of their own, expose them to increased risk of illness, including the CORONAVIRUS. Some are in group homes or are homeless. In a normal academic year, the students bring colds and flu to campus. During a pandemic, things would be worse. Until all the schools can be better ventilated and cleaned and the campus adults all vaccinated, how can we expect the adults to return to the workplace?
Step 1: prop open classroom door, open classroom windows
Optional step 2: add an electric fan.
Circulation solved. Covid19 wiped out.
Yes the increased heating/cooling costs are a substantial concern, but, meh.
Yeah, must be impossible to prop open a door or window and add some $40 air purifiers where needed. We better study that for a year or so to find out if we might be able to propose a plan to the union in 2025 or so.
It’s a rare bright spot in this whole thing that young children are not only mildly affected by the virus, but they don’t even spread it wildly (as they do with flu, for example). But good luck getting school districts and unions to act accordingly in “pro-science” California.
Teachers want to stay at home, put their feet up, do less work while sitting in their underwear, all while collecting extra cash. Can’t blame them, I just don’t have a corrupt and powerful union to make it happen for me 🙁
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/school-districts/contra-costa/lafayette-elementary/
Check out some of the huge 6 figure salaries these people are making while sitting at their homes, doing absolutely nothing, while you slave for a stray shekel.
HOLY SMOKES!! Those elementary school teacher salaries are astronomical!?! Most of them making over $75,000 BEFORE benefits are included! Almost all of them are making over $100K with their Benefits. Unbelievable. I was raised in the Lafayette School system back in the 50s and 60s; when teachers were happy to be making less than $20K. Where do I sign up??
The base pay of those elementary school teachers ranges from $18k to $94k. They don’t list the hours worked, so it’s difficult to tell the whole story. I suspect the teachers making $94k base have been there forever.
Sure, whatever it takes, they need to get something going. Every other state in the nation has figured it out, except ours.
Many schools are open-they are private. Parents should sue to allow their student’s dollars to be used at the school of their choice. It’s probably a winning class action case, because the alternative seems to be no school at all.
Why is everyone so afraid to say how stupid all these people are? All of this COVID has been so obnoxious. All the gaslighting and lying has been so flagrant. We all know what’s going on now.
Normal people being gaslit nonstop about masks, overflowing hospitals, death counts, lockdowns, race, girls sports, testing, schools, now vaccines. When will you guys have the courage to tell these idiots exactly this:
“NO, you suck, you are stupid. I don’t care, you are stupid”? And not care what the blue hairs think. Ever?
Like I said months ago, have some self respect, stick up for your lives and your kids lives for god sakes.
Sue Greasy Gavin.
Teachers should have been among the first to be immunized. However, Gavin would and could never think of that. Gavin is merely an actor. He’s a self serving caricature for the liberal dimwits, who appear to make up the majority of voting Californians.
YES!
SF schools spending $1,000,000+ to rename schools. Money much better spent on planning and implementation of safety measures to open schools.
What a waste of taxpayer money. Suing them may get them to better understand their role in educating children instead BS Liberal politics.
I can understand the response from “anon” and “LED” and others who feel that opening the windows and doors in a classroom will provide the needed ventilation to combat CORONAVIRUS. This solution suggests that CORONAVIRUS is the only threat to classrooms, though it is one I addressed because it is the subject of the original question. I am a retired airline worker and have other safety concerns, based on my own experience with domestic terrorists and the truth of school shootings in this country. When I sub, the classroom doors are locked as mandated by the district to protect from possible bad actors, If someone knocks, I do not allow students to open the door. I insist that I be the one to check who is knocking and whether it should be opened to allow that person entrance. As we could see on 06 January 2021, the violent bad actors who murder and threaten did not go away just because we are suffering a worldwide pandemic.
Absolutely YES, get rid of all of them.
No. If schools are opened without proper precautions it will result in the “super spreader” of super spreaders, and I won’t subject my teacher wife (or any students) to that possibility.
Get help for your paranoia. Your acting like a jazz baby not a jazz man. You people have been so traumatized. Will you ever come back?