The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant

The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant: The Atlantic offers a thought-provoking article about reopening schools within a pandemic and the specific, often ignored, and almost insurmountable challenge of staffing challenges that were tough before the pandemic began. The most salient take away might be the following:

“The staffing shortages should, to be blunt, change the entire conversation. The issue should lead off every opinion piece on schools and every school-board meeting, be part of every vaccination discussion. Parents have to grasp how rapidly the shortages can and will disrupt their expectations of where and how their children are educated. Those who support in-person instruction—including many Republican leaders—must understand that relief dollars are a prerequisite. There is no in-person school without staff. Until we reckon with that simple, vital truth, the rest of the schooling debate is but sound and fury, signifying nothing and helping no one.”

ACS has been working on K-12 policy issues for over 20 years and in 2021  will include State budget advocacy, strategic planning, monitoring of Federal policy and media relations for clients like The Ohio 8 Coalition and the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio. The topic of staffing will no doubt remain on the radar.