Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

In a post from The Hill that came out yesterday evening, Tal Axelrod quotes Betsy DeVos as claiming that the tracking of COVID cases in public schools is not the responsibility of her Department:

“Well I’m not sure there’s a role for the Department of Education to compile and conduct that research,” DeVos said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Milken Institute in response to a question about the role of the federal government to boost confidence regarding in-person schooling.

“The data is there for those who want it,” she added, referring to figures kept by local and state government.

So like her boss, President Trump, contends, the national government has no role in controlling a pandemic… which, is by definition as disease that is “...prevalent over a whole country or the world.” And, unsurprisingly, neither States nor especially local school districts are capable of collecting the data needed or providing the coordinated management of a disease that is “…prevalent over a whole country.” 

And The Hill, which tends to favor the small government approach advocated by the GOP, seems to think that anyone seeking a unified national approach to a disease that is prevalent over a whole country is an “activist”. Axelrod writes:

President Trump and other administration officials have been bullish that schools should reopen, expressing doubts that the coronavirus could spread among younger students who could more effectively combat the illness.

But that stance has received pushback from top activists across the country, saying the White House is downplaying the risks of reopening and should work more closely with state and local governments regarding how to safely resume schooling.

Because of the President’s intransigence on this issue, our nation has lost months of accurate data collection and probably infected thousands if not tens of thousands of individuals. And should he lose the election, it will be at least a year since the disease began its spread across the country and several weeks if not months before systematic data will be collected.