COVID-19 and K-12: Parents are Back in Charge
by Stephen Frank
Special to the Judeo-Christian Caucus
So far, the virus has cost too many American lives, millions of jobs, caused depression, and loss of homes. Businesses have been shut down. Though you can still get an abortion, buy marijuana and get a tattoo, you can’t go to church, and you could be arrested for holding a meeting. The virus has caused a transformation on how we shop, eat and work. Another area that has also been hit—and hard—is education.
Instead of State-mandated, four hours a day of education, many districts, like Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) give only one hour and that seems to be perfunctory, not real. Most districts have reported large declines in enrollment. Some reports have LAUSD not being in touch with 40% of its students since March. Most districts have lost between 5-10% of its students.
How bad is the education given by LAUSD for example? The parents are suing the District due to its lack of providing quality education to the children.
From LA1st: “Since then, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 98, which set a minimum number of instructional minutes, ranging from three hours a day for kindergarteners, to four hours a day for fourth graders and older. It also called for ‘daily live interaction’ with teachers and classmates.”
So this school year, LAUSD teachers are required to provide at least an hour and a half of "synchronous" instruction - meaning they're interacting live with students—each day. The rest of the "asynchronous" time is supposed to be spent doing independent work or watching pre-recorded lessons.
But, a plaintiff and mother of a sixth grader in the district, “[Keshara] Shaw said in her experience, the fall has been inconsistent, too. She said her son's teacher sometimes experiences internet connectivity problems. At times, her son logs onto Zoom at 9 a.m. and is done by 10 a.m.”
At the same time, homeschooling has exploded. Parents are realizing that when government education is “working,” the children are getting pornographic lessons, teachers are telling young kids they can “choose” their gender—you do not have to be a boy or girl if you don’t want to, or wish to explore differences. Plus, we have the indoctrination of racism and bigotry in our schools as official parts of the curriculum. The governor just signed a bill to mandate a student cannot graduate from high school without taking a course in ethnic studies—classes meant to promote some races and denigrate others. Bigotry and hate in the classroom.
Government-funded public schools are trying to cash in on the homeschooling movement. From EdSource: “San Juan Unified in Sacramento had 38 students in its home-school program in March, when the state closed school campuses because of the spread of Covid-19. Now, it has more than 700. “The home-schooling program, which offers an alternative to the distance learning instruction currently prescribed by the school district, was started five years ago after some parents expressed an interest in teaching their children from home. It serves students in Transitional Kindergarten through eighth grade.”
Organizations like Public School Exit (PSE) give families the tools to take their children out of government schools and provide them with quality educations. I urge parents and legislators to go to that web site. For parents, it provides option to successfully manage your child’s education. For legislators, it gives opportunities to show support to parents. Legislators should not be afraid of homeschooling. At a minimum, it should part of the possibilities for families.
We need to promote the option of homeschooling. The best place for this is the Church. Pastors can organize a traditional school model of separate grades, or around a one-room school method that uses the highly-acclaimed and Christ-centered “Principal Approach®.” Churches can hold training sessions for parents and provide tools, curriculum and support for the homeschool community. Whereas government-schooled kids are being taught pornography, hate and bigotry, church and homeschooled students will learn moral and Biblical values alongside academics.
While the virus has been a tragedy, we can transform education to benefit the students—not special interests. The good news is parents are waking up. The better news is there are tools to provide quality educations. The churches can be the epicenter of the education revolution. Save our future. Save our children.
Stephen Frank is Senior Contributing Editor of California Political Review. Read California news that is incisive, hard-hitting, and solution-oriented with a free subscription to Steve’s daily emails at http://eepurl.com/UAspv
NOTE: Blogs published on the Judeo-Christian Caucus website are the opinions of their authors and not necessarily those of the Judeo-Christian Caucus.
