In the news recently, it was reported that Governor Kemp has considered imposing a ban that would prohibit local school districts from adopting face covering mandates.
There could not be a more Republican in Name Only (RINO) thing to do than to take local control from school districts and impose large government overreach into local decisions.
Though it can be difficult to decipher exactly what Republicans stand for anymore (they’re both for Trump getting credit for the creation of the vaccine while simultaneously being opposed to getting the vaccine themselves), one tenet of Republican politics that seems consistent is they’re absolute love of “local control,” especially when it comes to what happens in our schools.
For a group of people that so vehemently oppose the “big-bad government” from imposing “common core” or “Critical Race Theory,” lately conservatives seem all about ripping the decisions about student and staff safety from the hands of local administrators.
Common core is merely a set of minimum standards developed to determine what every American child should be taught in Mathematics and English. Critical race theory is not taught in our schools, never has been, and has nothing to do with your whiteness. However, it’s natural to assume that much like their flawed understanding of both those theories, Republicans have no notion of concepts like “local control.”
So, let me spell it out to the governor and Republicans whining about school districts adopting common sense and scientifically-proven safety measures to keep our children safe from a virus that has killed over 600,000 Americans: local control means that school districts decide.
So, Republicans and Governor Kemp: Stay out of our local politics! Let our local administrators and school boards make the decision!
Bryce Remkes
Brooks, Ga
I agree. The virus has changed. It is more transmissible and kids are getting sick just as much as adults. Sending kids back to school with masks optional with the Delta variant is going to be like a covid bomb going off in this county. Arguments about masks lowering oxygen levels and making people sick are nonsense. Healthcare workers wear N95 masks for 12+ hours continuously sometimes many days a week. Surgeons wear masks during long surgeries. Many of them have asthma. Healthcare workers are exhausted and burned out. So many are still susceptible to this deadly virus-kids under 12 cannot get vaccinated yet and those with compromised immune systems don’t adequately respond to the vaccine. Please wear a mask and consider a vaccine.
“…kids are getting sick just as much as adults…sending kids back to school with masks optional with the Delta variant is going to be like a covid bomb going off in this county”. –Dandelion77
FALSE.
1. According to the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), “the rate of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations is about the same as it has been for earlier variants, varying between 0.1% and 1.9% depending on the state”.
2. The AAP has stated on July 26th, 2021 “at this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is uncommon among children.”
Reference:
American Academy of Pediatrics. “Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report”. July 26, 2021
First off…
My whiteness?
Surely that was not what you actually said?
Now… wait Im confused… I have a Confederate flag on my porch… and I don’t choose to use race as either an advantage or any sort of superiority…
But… it’s ok if you do that to me?
Tell you what… how bout you keep your mouth shut in my hometown… my family has been in a Fayette County since my Revolutionary veteran ancestor took his draw in the veterans land lottery…
That gives me a vested interest in the direction the county goes…my blood built this town…
Did yours?
Then keep your opinion to yourself
Bryce,
Let me start off with your first retort about President Trump and the vaccine. The reality is he IS the reason the vaccine was developed in such a timely manner and he rightly deserves all of the praise. Secondly, any child 12 and over can receive the vaccine, if they do they’re protected and should not be required to wear a sweaty mask for 8-10 hrs (including bus rides) a day. Thirdly, have you ever tried to solve a math problem using commoner core? Guess what, not all universities use common core math and therefore, our children are set up to fail. How about you stay out of the schools? You have your opinion, you may choose where your children go to school, they’re are several private schools through out Fayette and Coweta counties if you don’t like the decisions being made for the public schools. You don’t speak for everyone and their children going to these schools. I am a mother who did not get to see her first born go to the prom, finish his senior volleyball year, nor did I get to see him walk across the stage & hear his name being called with “honors” and a scholarship he won to college because of parents like you! So do us all a favor, speak for your children not the children of Fayette County! Leave your opinion about politics out if you want to be taken seriously!
Bryce,
You have a valid point, buried beneath a heap of partisan noise that likely distracted the audience with a sample of your emotionally charged hostility towards a particular political party. I’ll put aside 95 percent of your letter to this fine editor and agree with your core argument: let local school boards make their own decisions pursuant to state law.
The Georgia Department of Education rule number 160-1-3-.03 entitled “Infectious Diseases” paragraph 2(a) states: “[Local Education Agencies] shall develop polices, regulations, and procedures related to the impact of infectious diseases on school system management and operations”.
A Local Education Agency (LEA) is defined within the same rule as “a local school system pursuant to local board of education control and management”. LEAs originate from the Georgia Constitution, Article VIII, section V.
So why then does Governor Kemp find it necessary to overstep his bounds? Existing legal provisions vest power in local boards of education to manage school system operations in response to infectious diseases.
Furthermore, members of the local boards of education “shall be elected as provided by law” (GA Const, Art VIII, Sec V, para 2). If the citizens of Cobb County want mask mandates, fine, they can vote for board members likely to support such action. If citizens of Fayette County do not want mask mandates, fine, let us vote for our own board members most likely to support our desire.
Bryce, make this a Republican issue? Look at the true science with kids getting or transmitting this virus. It doesn’t happen. It’s proven science. If you don’t like it, stay at home.
The Governor has every right to dictate or not dictate the use of masks.
Also if you were at the most recent BOE meeting 97% of parents that attended did not want masks back in school. We have to learn to move on in life and live normally with covid.
The American thing to do is let parents decide what their kids should do and not the state or local city/school boards. If you are worried about contracting covid…sign up for the online virtual academy…no cost and you can stay safe in your home.
But most parents don’t want to have to stay home with their kids, they want government to mandate what everyone should do.
We you give up freedoms to government you rarely give them back.
Also, look at recent medical articles talking about the lowering of immune system due to masks and the effect they are having on O2 levels in kids and adults. Do your research first and stop listening to CDC and State health because they can’t even agree on what should be done they only listen to elected officials to say what they wanna hear