There’s a typo on the headline of my last update.  It sucks.. and I can’t seem to change it.  Oh well.

Should  I quit now?   Now that I’ve made a mistake and seemingly won my battle?  No, we shouldn’t.

I teach in Los Angeles-  Substitute teach this year actually-  because I was all but done with teaching full-time when this happened.   
My mark in education-  has or hasn’t been made over the last 30 years or so.   My mark has melted into the collective efforts of 3 million plus teachers in the United States.  

Long suffered by my students, enjoyed by those with a twisted sense of humor or reality- as it were...  And, forgotten, by the rest.  
That’s ok.   I am one of many.  I am happy with that.

”Out of Many: One”-  “E pluribus Unum”..  this is what is supposed to unite us.  It is supposed to be money.  Bankable.  Long-lasting, secure and comforting.

Yet, we’ve seen our money devalued in the last 8 months due to this pandemic and the Trump administrations (with Democratic support of a too corporate friendly stimulus) reaction to it.:  6.  Six.  Seis.  Six..

6 trillion dollars printed and thrown into the system out of nothing.   Have you ever diluted broth?   That’s what’s happening to our money.  Is it too much?  I don’t know.  Did it help?  It helped many I know.  It didn't help my students nearly enough.  

It helped the rich too much.   Annnnnd. I won’t even say it helped Trump..  Trump just plain helped himself to much of it:  As he has been doing for four years as President.. as he did before as a Candidate, as he did before as a private citizen of privilege.

He’s not helping the students I see in Zoom everyday.  Mother- a medical assistant. Running off to work.  Student in zoom in the backseat of a car.. outside a fast food place where mom works.  Or.. simply living in the car with a hotspot from the district and a shared device.

Some fellow teachers and other parents even say,”Why don’t they sign on?  The district gave them a device and a hotspot”

Really?  I requested a device and a hotspot in August- I still don’t have it.  And I have a house.  To live in.

What students who aren’t attending virtual learning need- is the same thing they needed before the pandemic:   Economic stability in the form of :

1). A thriving wage- not just a living wage.

2). Health care-

3). Rental assistance si that when they have 980$ of the 1100$ rent that month— they don’t get thrown out..  they get help.

etc etc etc...

That is what this petition is about.

This, isn’t about me.  Or a generation of teachers like me about to retire pretty well after years of service.  It’s about the future.   And sadly, it’s about correcting the past.  My generation didn’t protest enough.  This generation, is relearning how to.  Bout strike in LA in 2018 was a success.   Yet.. great success needs to be followed up on a constant.

School is virtual now.  In LA.  But the same flawed argument that was used in May to try and push us back is being used today to try and get us back in the Spring.  Or part of us.

How evil is that?  “part of us”...  “the weak”,  “the strong”,   It’s pure evil.. if only because it’s partial..

“Partial”, is the premise of “Divide and Conquer”.

Divide the people against themselves and conquer them.   Don’t let that happen.

That is another thing this petition is about.

A negative Covid test.. is for the moment it was taken.  It carries no lasting guarantee that the person who took that test does not have it.. and is not contagious.

Until, we have minute testing, done daily upon entering school-  there should be no return..  unless..

Unless there’s a vaccine..  and we are 8 months closer to this.   The Trump Administration (we have to say it) and the world seems to have moved fast in this..  one would have to ask how recklessly.  And one would have to guard against aTtump administrations handling and distribution of the vaccine.

Nevertheless..  a vaccine is closer.  Few talk about that in relation to opening schools.  The vaccines in trials could start being given in March of 2021..  so why nit start looking at going back to school in person in the fall of 2021?  And fixing our social safety net in the meantime?

All the talk is about testing.  Ok:  GIVE ME THE NBA bubble-  or stay VIRTUAL! 

The NBA showed us what safe looks like.  Everything we do should look at that model as a baseline- not a max, but a baseline.. for all of us.

it’s not like money is a problem.  We can obviously print that.   The issue is that the rich want us occupied worrying about money so that we don’t realize collectively that we don’t need to work 50 weeks a year-  2 or 3 jobs to survive.

we can live a better, happier life if we restructure how we:

1) work 2) learn 3) procure food.. 4) distribute the wealth.. through taxing the billion and trillion dollar companies and individuals who make all if that money off of :: US!

Thats also what this petition is about.

I’m tired.  I want safety.  I’ve interacted with 6 people the last 8 months.  I miss school and my life.  But I don’t want our safety, our environmental and labor laws decimated.. just to get us back into the classroom 4 to 6 months sooner.

Trump-  massless Trump-  conspiracy theory Trump- mishandled this.

Not Ud.

please sign, donate, share and stay safe!