"The Extremism is on one side..."
...said Five Thirty Eight's Senior Political Reporter Perry Bacon, Jr. as he described the debate around re-opening schools.
My best friend is a single mom raising two kids on her own and she needs schools to reopen so she can work. Schools are vital to both the education of our students and a fully functioning economy. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do this and the Republicans are choosing the absolutely wrong way.
The Tallahassee Republicans are trying to go over the heads of our local school board and FORCE schools to reopen fully, without flexibility for social distancing and virtual options.
We are in the middle of a pandemic that cannot be brushed aside or ignored just because it is inconvenient. Extremism is ignoring the thousands of deaths and hospitalizations while refusing to look at any safety precautions that could protect our students and teachers.
Our children are not pawns to be used in a political game or test subjects for some high-stakes epidemiological study.
We need to put safety first and let local health officials, school boards, parents, teachers, and students have a voice in our return-to-school plans. Frankly, the situation in Hillsborough County looks very different than it does in Miami-Dade or Okachobee County and that's exactly why we have local school boards.
We desperately need better representation in Tallahassee to turn things around. I'm running against two Trump-style Republicans who are not even talking about the COVID-19 crisis because they would rather pander to Trump's base than to lead in a time of crisis.
You can help me fight to the finish by signing up for a small monthly contribution now until November here or by clicking a link below to make a one-time contribution.
Thank you for helping me restore some sanity to our state's COVID-19 response. I couldn't do it without you!
