The emergence of the Omicron variant has driven some educators absolutely batty with COVID paranoia. Over the past few months, we have seen multiple news stories discussing how schools are subjecting students to borderline abusive treatment, ostensibly to protect them from the coronavirus. Unfortunately, these people’s actions are shaping up to be even worse than the pandemic itself.
One of the most recent examples involves a Boston Public Schools mandate requiring classroom windows to be left open, supposedly to hamper the spread of the virus. The weather in Massachusetts this time of year is cold enough to require students to bundle up in winter clothing, even while they are indoors. The Boston Herald reported that one school sent a message to parents explaining the policy:
It is still very cold. Remember the windows in our classrooms have to be open. I suggest layering your child’s clothes (2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a sweater, 2 pairs of socks, etc. (Plus all their outerwear (hat, glove, scarf, etc.).
As you might expect, parents are not happy about this measure, and some have lashed out at the school district for enacting the policy. “These are the notifications I get from a BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL … in the 21st century,” one parent posted on Twitter. “I hate this so much. How is my 4yr old to concentrate on learning trying to keep warm?!? An adult has trouble in the cold these kids are enduring so much.”
A spokeswoman for Boston Public Schools insisted the measures are “the protocol for each school to mitigate COVID risks.” She continued:
“Temperatures in school buildings have been adjusted to 76 degrees to help combat the required window ventilation, and teachers/staff are urged to contact their school leader if they are experiencing issues with heat or cold.”
This story is the latest in a series of examples of schools implementing these types of policies. But Boston Public Schools isn’t even the worst offender in this regard. RedState’s Joe Cunningham in December reported on schools in New York and Oregon forcing children to eat lunch on the ground outdoors in frigid weather.
CHILD ABUSE: Kindergartners are forced to eat lunch outside in 40 degree weather at Capitol Hill Elementary School in Portland, Oregon.
They sit on buckets to social distance from their classmates. pic.twitter.com/KqFcliTFYf
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) December 8, 2021
What makes this situation even more egregious is the fact that these actions fly in the face of the science the left claims to hold sacred. It has been shown frequently that schools are not super-spreaders of COVID-19. The CDC has acknowledged on numerous occasions that the virus is not typically deadly for the vast majority of children. To put it simply, there is no valid reason for these extreme measures.
It is possible that some of these schools are simply flexing their power. Cunningham noted:
School systems and teachers unions, meanwhile, see parents supporting them less and less and so they want to tighten their grip. Even the major health organizations have said that masking and mitigation issues should not interfere with the education of the students, but that hasn’t stopped the unions from being part of the wildly irresponsible school closures in 2020 and 2021, nor did it stop school systems from implementing harsh mitigation efforts that had no basis in science. Hell, some are outright vaccinating kids without parental consent.
This assessment is spot on.
Far too many schools are going overboard in their supposed effort to safeguard children. The left is supporting wholesale school closures — despite the fact that the inconsistency that comes with opening, then closing, then opening again has been shown to have a pernicious effect on the children’s mental health. Moreover, it has placed many students – especially minorities – behind academically.
Given what the science tells us, it is not hard to see that the actions of these schools could be having a worse impact on America’s children than the virus itself. The Omicron variant is more transmissible than its predecessors, but all indications suggest it is not nearly as deadly.
But this has not stopped Democratic politicians and members of the activist media from continuing to fearmonger. Apparently, their fear campaign has worked to a certain extent. Hopefully, America will finally start seeing through the deception and realize it is more dangerous to continue reacting in fear than it is to move back toward normalcy.
