Palmer Events Center
Taking Accountability
RECEIVED Tue., April 9, 2024
Dear Editor,
As an educator, I was disappointed to read about AISD's recovery from the pandemic framed with such rose-colored glasses ["Closing the COVID Gap at AISD," News, March 22]. Why no mention of the extreme efforts (even well into 2022 in some cases) by district leadership and teachers unions across the country to keep kids out of school and learning remotely? AISD now wants to "over-serve the underserved" campuses, but where was that energy during the pandemic? What did they think the effect of their reluctance to teach in-person would be on these same disadvantaged kids (often coming from chaotic home environments with a lack of access to technology and working parents who work classes of jobs that didn't offer a remote option) would be? This oversight would be much more forgivable had these perfectly legitimate concerns for the well-being of our most vulnerable youth not been censored to the extent that they were, oftentimes casting the presenters of said concerns in an extremely unflattering or even dangerous light. The lack of accountability from educators, media, and government for the damage they did to a generation of young people is absolutely unacceptable. If we want to truly serve the children who were deprived of critical stages of their development, I would hope the process would start with taking ownership of past mistakes and responsibility to avoid them moving forward, but all we get in this article is selective memory and avoidance.
As an educator, I was disappointed to read about AISD's recovery from the pandemic framed with such rose-colored glasses ["Closing the COVID Gap at AISD," News, March 22]. Why no mention of the extreme efforts (even well into 2022 in some cases) by district leadership and teachers unions across the country to keep kids out of school and learning remotely? AISD now wants to "over-serve the underserved" campuses, but where was that energy during the pandemic? What did they think the effect of their reluctance to teach in-person would be on these same disadvantaged kids (often coming from chaotic home environments with a lack of access to technology and working parents who work classes of jobs that didn't offer a remote option) would be? This oversight would be much more forgivable had these perfectly legitimate concerns for the well-being of our most vulnerable youth not been censored to the extent that they were, oftentimes casting the presenters of said concerns in an extremely unflattering or even dangerous light. The lack of accountability from educators, media, and government for the damage they did to a generation of young people is absolutely unacceptable. If we want to truly serve the children who were deprived of critical stages of their development, I would hope the process would start with taking ownership of past mistakes and responsibility to avoid them moving forward, but all we get in this article is selective memory and avoidance.
A Disappointed Teacher