The notion that we’re safer keeping schools shut if infection rates aren’t low is based on a middle-class conception of “home.” As I’ve written, a safer crisis policy would have been to keep schools open, perhaps without teaching, to protect families hygenicaly and economically
We tend to have a constructed view of schools as places that impart knowledge. In practice, that’s perhaps their fourth most important function until the last years of secondary. I’ve visited deprived communities that have turned around by making their schools 24-hour hubs
Eg this school in Surrey realized it had a crucial role in rescuing Filipino youth who’d been separated from parents for a decade or more, and stays open til midnight. COVID creates strikingly similar crises for which schools are a solution https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-for-this-generation-of-filipino-canadians-broken-policies-have-left-a/
For this generation of Filipino-Canadians, broken policies have left a scar

To start new lives in Canada, Filipino parents are at the mercy of Kafkaesque and ever-changing policies that often separate them from their children for years – and even for the kids who make it,...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-for-this-generation-of-filipino-canadians-broken-policies-have-left-a/
I've also written about this favela in Sao Paulo that ended its status as the most violent place in the world in large part by turning the school, formerly open 4 hours a day (as is typical in Brazil) into an all-day focal point.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/mud-floor-to-middle-class/article4327172/
"Just stay home" is, for a great many people, an order to be in the most infectious and dangerous place, and avoid actual safety. As I noted in this piece, one of those people was George Floyd, for whom both infection and brutality were a consequence https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-george-floyd-and-the-dangerously-unequal-effects-of-stay-at-home/
Opinion: George Floyd and the dangerously unequal effects of ‘stay at home’ orders

Coronavirus, and lockdowns, do disproportionate harm to racial and ethnic minorities

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-george-floyd-and-the-dangerously-unequal-effects-of-stay-at-home/
(That second tweet should say "constricted" rather than "constructed")
There is a solid body of scholarship on the health, safety and development/integration benefits of using schools beyond their usual hours and purposes

https://twitter.com/ddziewan/status/1281653524254715904?s=21 https://twitter.com/ddziewan/status/1281653524254715904
You can follow @DougSaunders.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:
Those who think consciousness raising & movement building are disconnected, or even a distraction from electoral politics have not paid attention to the history of social change.In this thread, we
Read more
The 2020s will be known as the Remote Work decadeA few predictions of what is likely to emerge[ a thread ] Third Space: Office and Working from Home will
Read more
1/29: Have you ever had a concept explained to you that helps frame complex issues you’ve been wrestling with and opens your eyes to new possibilities? A concept that I
Read more
By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.