So I woke up today to learn that the @A2SchoolsSuper has called a snow day. After a four-day weekend. And with tomorrow an "asynchronous" day (i.e., no real school again).

Which might sound reasonable after a storm, except -- there IS no in-person school in Ann Arbor.

In her email, @A2SchoolsSuper said that COVID-19 means "we have missed many of the simple joys that make our time together memorable."

Simple joys? You mean, like seeing friends? Actually learning in a classroom? Heck, like learning at all?
Or having your parents not be quivering messes because they haven't had their kids in school for nearly a year and are at the ends of their ropes? Or not waking up in the middle of the night worrying if the district is ALSO going to limit or suspend in-person school for the fall?
She writes: "Snow days are opportunities for children, young people, and adults to play in the snow, read books, take a break, and enjoy the winter season." You know what adults can't do that? Adults who work. And yes, this burden fall primarily on moms.
Also, we just had a four day weekend! My kids have played in the snow! They've read books! THEY'VE HAD A BREAK.

They don't need those things right now. They need school. We need school.
This email has broken me. I don't even know what to say. It's basically a big middle finger to working parents. And it's a mark of how unimportant Ann Arbor seems to regard the basic job of teaching kids.
We know that schools can be reopened safely. CDC has said they can be reopened. @GovWhitmer has begged that they be reopened.

But the schools remain closed. There is no date for reopening.
In her email, @A2SchoolsSuper can write, with apparent lack of irony, that "stress is high and wellness is more important than ever" during COVID.

Does she have any idea how that sounds to parents who are desperate to get their kids back into a classroom?
I'm angry and sad and scared about what this might mean for the fall. Will the union insist that its teachers can't go back until COVID is eradicated? Or that we've got to insist on six feet distancing even if all the teachers are vaccinated, so my kids go in twice a week?
School is not optional. It's not a luxury. It's the most important gift we can give our kids. We need to find a way to get back to school immediately. We shouldn't be looking for excuses to take what little school exists away. /fin

More from Education

Chicago Public Schools are supposed to open for some special needs and pre-K students Monday

The Chicago Teachers Union is now threatening to refuse to return to work in person.

https://t.co/MgDgNe6REj


Meanwhile
https://t.co/FIij8J3r7z

Dr. Fauci: "The default position should be to try as best as possible within reason to keep the children in school or to get them back to school [...] if you look at the data the spread among children and from children is not really big at


UNICEF: "Data from 191 countries shows no consistent link between reopening schools and increased rates of coronavirus

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I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.