Dear John,

It’s back to school season! But as kids return to school, many of them face unsafe conditions that create barriers to learning and harm their health; from old, out of date school buses and school buildings to restrictive bathroom policies.

We all want the very best for our kids, but right now, wealthy investors who prioritize profits over people have defunded our public schools, propped up for-profit alternatives, and left parents, educators, and students to fend for themselves.

Public schools are an important public good, training our children with the skills of the future and keeping our democracy strong by maintaining an educated citizenry. We must organize to protect our public schools from these attacks, and demand our government invest in future generations.

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, and listening to about schools, students, and parents this week.

1. School Closures due to extreme heat

While many schools opened for the new school year over the last couple of weeks, many schools across the South and Midwest faced immediate school closures, due to a brutal heat wave. As the effects of the climate crisis worsen, these conditions will only worsen every year.

Just two years ago, Grist reported that “nearly half needed to fix HVAC systems”, with “older systems leaking and contributing to mold and poor indoor air quality on top of poor cooling on hot days”

2. The Poison in School Water Fountains

It’s been over a decade since the Flint Water crisis, and schools across the country are still facing unacceptable levels of toxicity in their water (isn’t any level unacceptable?).

Check out this Washington Post podcast on how families have continued the fight for clean water.

Thankfully, Minnesota is in the process of taking huge strides towards solving this, with funding in place to replace all lead lines in public drinking water systems by 2033, and also making funding available for Minnesota homeowners to do the same!

3. Parents are more stressed than ever

Surgeon General Vivek Murphy declared parenting stress to be a public health crisis in this op-ed, sharing his experience - both as a parent and a medical professional.

“The stress and mental health challenges faced by parents… constitute a serious public health concern for our country. Parents who feel pushed to the brink deserve more than platitudes. They need tangible support. That’s why I am issuing a surgeon general’s advisory to call attention to the stress and mental health concerns facing parents and caregivers and to lay out what we can do to address them.”

4. When teachers win, students win

When teachers go on strike, they don’t just often win better working conditions and wage increases, they also win better conditions for our students to learn in!

This past year, after St. Paul teachers authorized a strike, the agreement they reached with schools included electric buses, water filtration systems, and solar panels/geothermal energy (Proposal 25).

TakeAction Roundup

That’s why we’ve been organizing with parents, teachers, and students to win investments in our schools that make them clean, safe, and zero-emissions.

For starters, there are millions of federal dollars flowing to schools already, like green infrastructure money from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), or COVID funds in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. 

This money can be used to help schools invest in critical air and power infrastructure:

• HVAC systems that keep students cool during the sweltering summer months, and help prevent kids from passing infectious diseases like COVID around.
• Energy efficiency upgrades and solar panels, decreasing emissions and preventing summers from getting even hotter.

But for our children, there’s so much more we can do. We need a significant investment in every aspect of our schools, from HVAC and water pipes to competitive salaries for teachers to art programs that enrich our children’s lives, to increased funding to prevent school closures.

And of course, we need a universal, public childcare system that ensures children have healthy socialization from an early age, and allows parents the free time to live lives of their own, and those childcare buildings and providers need the same investment and care!

Stay tuned for updates on what our parent and student organizing teams will be up to in the coming year!

Send us what you’re reading, watching and listening to.

Until next time,

Mattias Lehman (he/him)
Narrative and Communications Director