PPU POSITION STATEMENT (Starting July 20, 2020 Presented as a Living Document)

REOPENING OF PUBLIC PREK-12 SCHOOLS FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR

Portland Parent Union supports the National PTA statement/plan but we add, "only if it is 100% safe to reopen".

PTA writes: "The reopening of our nation’s PreK-12 schools during the COVID19 pandemic is vital to ensure the continuity of education". National PTA believes that states and school districts must plan and align logistics, educational strategies and public health approaches into one coherent response.

PPU says no reopening until it is 100% safe and not during the COVID Pandemic confusion. Plans are all over the place mainly because of no leadership at the top. The states have by default, because of no federal participation, to figure it out for themselves. Some have been defiant of scientific evidence and aired on the side of their civil rights.

People have been defiant, themselves, not wearing a mask or gathering with no distancing! Think about our children living in this mess. Especially those who are most vulnerable! Sending kids to school will just add to the confusion and layers more opportunities to get sick. Think about the history of the education system. It has a strong track record for confusion and no order(out of order), no money, never enough resources. Already we distrust the education system will not provide enough safety measures, equipment, masks, and tools, etc. in a timely manner. Nor do they have safe buildings, some are sick buildings and most do not have proper ventilation or enough room to do ample social distancing. We guarantee that this will be another way to exclude those who need the most support.

The politics will show up as well as the astute defiant parents who will dictate, distract, and take up valuable time? Teachers have enough of that dealing in normal circumstances. Where are our children coming from and going back to? Some households have multiple generations of people. Children could be living with those who have compromised immune systems? Living with those who are the high-riskers and most vulnerable to infections!. The homeless families who don't have households and will need special places to maintain social distancing and sanitizing. What about those who are especially undocumented immigrants who support multiple families living in one household. Distancing and the ability to cumulate masks, food, resources, necessities can be difficult to acquire because of those not feeling safe due to the scrutiny of the police, racists, and ICE.

We are "double-minded" people at this moment in time. How do we expect teachers, parents, and children to lockstep to confusion? Remember we have never been through this before and we are trying to figure it out as we go along but COVID is winning and piling up bodies.

No concrete habits or solid plans as to what health and safety look like because this is new territory. Our children will be the experiments and some will fall through the cracks? Teachers will be the experiments used as the frontliners similar to nurses and doctors sacrificing their bodies, depending on help and support with very little coming or arriving to late! It is our belief that our teachers, families, and children will be forced into a "burning building".

Argument: Consequently many souls contracted COVID and many died who didn't have to but because of the lack of knowledge, defiance, in-fighting, time-lapses, competition, lack of leadership, partisan defiance, premature openings, and self absorbance. These indicators helped to contribute to 162K +1,287 deaths. Yes, ego, confusion, and non-participation are the main issues that helped spread the COVID Pandemic wildfire. (make sure you vote)

It is said there is not enough testing and if you are tested, it is our understanding, the results can take up to two weeks to come back. COVID itself takes up to two weeks or more to manifest itself?

Position: This gives us pause and confirms our concerns!

Disclaimer: Information is changing daily our statements reflect what we gathered on the date of this report and with the best of our knowledge!

Vaccines and other alternatives are being created and tested but the word of these hopeful notifications has not shown up in most of the impacted communities. These communities will be the last to know.

The danger is we don't know who is carrying or contracted COVID because of the limited testing and testing only available to certain groups of people: astute people, those who can pay, have influence, or have good insurance?

Greed and panic have deprived and created shortages of, safety measures, equipment, testing, masks, and tools, etc. for our low paid frontline workers who are made up of mostly black people and people of color who need their jobs! As well as poor communities, Native Indian communities/reservations, black and people of color communities. These communities are overlooked but infected more. Medical care, services, food, masks, and paper goods, etc., have been especially scarce for these families.

Example: In Memphis, a heat map shows where coronavirus testing is taking place. It reveals that most screening is happening in the predominantly white and well-off suburbs, not the majority black, lower-income neighborhoods.

How the wealthy, powerful, and connected are exploiting the loopholes in our health-care system

The Coronavirus Doesn't Discriminate, But U.S. Health Care Showing Familiar Biases

Our conclusions: things are to unstable to believe that children will be safe in buildings that are already unsafe! There cannot be a precise comprehensive safety plan because there has been no model yet. Following a pioneering plan will be left up to the interpretation of those individuals it applies to, but with many different approaches. Communication chaos, the rigorous expectations from the top, along with the worries, stress, and paranoid fear of children and teachers getting sick and dying will wear down people's coping skills. The teachers will be made the scapegoats!

Our Statement: PORTLAND PARENT UNION SAYS: WE ARE AGAINST OUR CHILDREN GOING BACK TO SCHOOL UNTIL 100% THOROUGH TESTING OF EVERYONE. THERE MUST BE A CLEAR SIGN OF CONTROL!

100% SAFETY

PPU's position says plans of reopening must have the best available information and the safest plan from the most reputable scientist. Ample testing for 100% of the students, teachers, families, etc. We do not follow closely the guidelines of the CDC because our President controls the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Their current recommendations are to reopen, lock stepping to the Presidents' dangerous demands. We will follow the Guidelines of a reputable scientist, doctors, infectious disease experts. We will follow the rules that will make us the safest.

We believe that social distancing, wearing a mask, washing hands and routine sanitizing as well as social distancing isolation for the high-risk souls are excellent safety practices but we believe that this routine could take a while to become precisioned in an indoor setting with teachers and children who are extra creative and rambunctious. Children are coming from a safe home and are used to that exclusive and safe home routine. It will take a while to undo their home habits they have been practicing for months, in exchange for a group routine.

This new normal no one has experienced before and all are scrambling to come up with a new narrative and a new plan. Lots of missteps will happen which will put everyone in the building in jeopardy. Enforcing safety will be taxing to Teachers who will have enough to enforce. When is the last time anyone had 100% of children's compliance in a classroom especially the younger ones and those with special needs? PPU works with a special needs child and the mask has been a trigger?

Demands

PPU No reopening until the scientific data supports it. 100% testing 100% safe

PPU Safe conditions including distance class sizes, PPE, sanitizing, testing, and other safety protocols if open.

PPU Families need critical social needs, food, jobs, rent, computers for online learning, wifi, and financial assistance. Programs to address those supports immediately needs to be included in reopening.

PPU Moratorium on new charter or voucher programs and standardized testing. These programs cannot take advantage of reopening.

PPU Massive infusion of federal money to support the reopening. We recommend that the billionaires, wall street, and corporations who pay no taxes or very little are taxed.

PPU Equitable access to online learning (must promote a moratorium on virtual learning, and be developed by the teachers)

PPU Schools must be prepared to strategically address the transportation to school when it opens. Some children take the public bus.

PPU is concerned about screen time and the impacts to much screen time has on a student's health. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx Include the safe hours of screen time in the plan as well as alternatives!

YES! We want safe and healthy and we have that in our homes!

Addressing Learning loss and virtual schools. Resources and money have been sketchy. Services and tools for virtual learning for some families have been unequal. Teachers are doing the best they can but there is no experience. They are being forced into something they have never done before. Families with English as a second language find it hard to comply. Other families/students, as well, find it very hard and are confused by the process see https://simplysheilas.wixsite.com/ppustatement/online-learning-push-out . The virtual pushout spillover continues from the push-out in schools but seems to be 10 times worse. https://www.achieve3000.com/about/press-room/press-releases/new-national-online-learning-study-predicts-widening-achievement-gap/

https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/coronavirus-and-schools/index.html

Serious gaps in learning and retention social-emotional needs were already in place but this COVID dilemma widens the gap catastrophically. See https://simplysheilas.wixsite.com/ppustatement?pgid=kbb08urq-0989b968-e260-4926-a092-6beb6c7b4048 from https://simplysheilas.wixsite.com/ppustatement

It seems Black families are taking matters in their own hands and starting their own virtual/homeschool hubs. We speak against the reopening of schools as well as virtual learning because both actions are premature, selective, and discriminatory. They did not include the input of teachers and families as well as students. Programs can be better when involving the most impacted in the decision making. This means in this case the teachers and the families/students. Virtual learning could be good when carefully thought out. Teachers with family input are the ones that can do this! Trust them when they say yes or no?'

Disclaimer: Information is changing daily our statements reflect what we gathered on the date of this report and with the best of our knowledge!

We are grateful as well that the PPS District has decided not to open schools at this time. We are expecting PPS to keep us in the loop as well as us keeping them in the loop. Honoring the agreement we had in February to confirm trust circles which got delayed the same week as the COVID shut down. We are now asking for virtual trust circles?

We are Grateful!

Portland Parent Union

503-880-9145

ppuportlandparentunion@gmail.com

UPDATE JANUARY 5, 2021 : To PPS Board, we have not changed our position on sending our children back to school.

Again our conclusions: things are to unstable to believe that children will be safe in buildings that are already unsafe! There cannot be a precise comprehensive safety plan because there has been no model yet. Following a pioneering plan will be left up to the interpretation of those individuals it applies to, but with many different approaches. Communication chaos, the rigorous expectations from the top, along with the worries, stress, and paranoid fear of children and teachers getting sick and dying will wear down people's coping skills. The teachers will be made the scapegoats!

Our Statement: PORTLAND PARENT UNION SAYS: WE ARE AGAINST OUR CHILDREN GOING BACK TO SCHOOL UNTIL 100% THOROUGH TESTING OF EVERYONE. THERE MUST BE A CLEAR SIGN OF CONTROL!

100% SAFETY and now 100% Vacinations and clear data that they work. Black bodies may react differently to medication.

Our position on Vaccines: (When Black people are wary of vaccine, it's important to listen and understand why) https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/opinions/african-americans-covid-vaccine-sacks/index.html

(The Racial Impacts of COVID) https://www.embracerace.org/resources/disproportionate-racial-impacts-of-covid#blackamericans

January 11, 2021: There is a level of anxiety among us that comes from distrust of systems that have not done a good job for our people especially our Black Children and our Elders, rather it be the Healthcare System, Justice System and the less humanity support of anyone in the Educational System that are of color or poor! https://www.brookings.edu/articles/unequal-opportunity-race-and-education/

We love the idea of being back in school but what kind of impact will it have on our children?

October 3, 2021 Update

WE ARE still AGAINST OUR CHILDREN GOING BACK TO SCHOOL.

UNTIL 100% THOROUGH TESTING OF EVERYONE
100% SAFETY
100% CONTROL
100% VACCINATIONS (Update Dec 2020)

Sat 10:32 PM

We been out of the loop for a long while. Because of Illness. Folks want us in the middle. When asked the questions about our position we were just getting back in the loop. PPU needed to make a statement. We have some understanding of both sides because we are mothers and Grandmothers but also a believer of a good education who puts life first.

We believe in safety. That is what drives our decisions. Schools weren't safe before the pandemic and surely not safe after. Reassurance, data, measures, cautions do not a safe classroom make. To many folks going in different directions in the system. To many who are anti everything. I cannot support anyone going back in a school environment because that environment has a reputation of never being safe.

We do not judge anyone else who wants to do that. We just know what is safe for our family and our constituents.

Sat 11:20 PM

We think we should have put science in its place when school opened, anyway, when a new, more deadly, variance was on the rising. Killing children this time.

Science does say this time the variance goes after children. Science does say the vaccination is not ready for children under a certain age. Are we keeping up with the data to see how many children are impacted. Have we seen how many families have to quarantine because someone tested positive in school.

To many ups and downs and to many ins and outs. We believe in the science but we also believe in logic. If a more deadly variance and children are dying now wouldn't that be enough not to open schools. Education can be done many other ways if we all put our heads together. Some of us in our communities are doing that! Online is not trustworthy either for everyone. PPU is recommending homeschooling like many others.

Indications of why schools should not open yet: