October 7th
Last night, I spent two hours at ChooseDemocracy’s training on How to Beat an Election-Related Power Grab. I took six pages of notes. I came away inspired and hopeful. Yes, you read that right. I will spread out the information and next steps over the coming days. The first step is easy. Go to choosedemocracy.us and read and sign their pledge. This is not an empty gesture. The organization’s work is based on case studies, and massive commitment to a pledge like this one has been effective at deterring government overreach. Then, send the link to family and friends who may not be activists and urge them to sign as well. People long for stability. The current situation is untenable and psychologically taxing, even to people who do not share my views of the president. Stopping a power grab is in the interests of those who want to make money in the stock market and resume the status quo that many of us on the left have been working to change. What I learned is that we need to reach beyond the choir to more centrist voters and get them to commit to stop a coup.
Another important point they emphasized is that deterring a power grab by getting out the vote and creating a climate in which the regime’s efforts to remain in power seem pointless is the best possible way to prevent a coup. One friend told me that she and her family will write their 1000th postcard in the next week. If you have not yet phone-banked or text-banked, there’s still time; it’s a bit late to begin sending postcards for this election, but not too late to send money.
I continue to be deeply troubled by the situation facing school staff, students, and their families. There’s a NYC charter school that has been charting a third way to educate students, which they are calling Distance Teaching:
It involves keeping teachers home and teaching remotely, while opening up the school building as a learning center, so parents can get back to work, while their children can access reliable internet, a dedicated workstation, and free meals….At Launch, which is part of the NYC Outward Bound Schools network, teachers are offering three hours of daily, live lessons. They are becoming experts at remote instruction instead of splitting time between in-person and remote lessons (as “hybrid” plans may now ask of teachers). For remote instruction, [Launch] will soon roll out a single sign-on platform that allows students and families to navigate an online space that mimics [the] school’s look and feel; users can click into classrooms, small group rooms, a main lobby, an auditorium, and the principal’s office, among other spaces. Families will log on for meetings and can pop into their child’s classroom to observe.
New York City has shuttered 100 schools this week. Meanwhile the Administration for Children’s Services has been investigating reports of education neglect because there is no new guidance about monitoring kids who fail to sign on for remote learning. It would seem that the charter school described above has hit on a model that might work for the whole city as we try to contain the virus. Launch is staffing small pods of students at school with staff from the after-school program. The school is also offering weekly outdoor meetings, to which all students are invited; these focus on “social-emotional learning, physical education, and fun,” and 75% of their students have been attending those since they began in early September. Write or call your City Council member to call on them to propose this as a city-wide model. We need as much consistency and safety as we can muster. And I still need someone to explain to me why public school administrators do not have the same flexibility afforded charter schools that use public funding.
Keep your head up. It’s a beautiful day!
with love,
L