“We can always catch up on ABCs, but we can never bring someone back from the dead… so why take the risk?”
This is the question raised by Devin Del Palacio, Black Chair of the National School Board Association. Del Palacio and Dr. Dionne Mills, an OB/GYN from Gilbert, Arizona’s Chandler Regional Medical Center and Mercy Gilbert Medical Center — both public education advocates — join Our Future Now co-hosts, Natalie Mebane and Jonah Gottlieb, to look at the risks involved with going back to school with COVID remaining such a huge health threat.
“The CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have made it very clear that each state needs to meet certain criteria in order to even be considered to reopen schools.”
Yet, many schools are opening across the US. As Mebane says, “To purposely put ourselves in this situation across the country seems unimaginable.”
“All of this is preventable,” Mills confirms. One of the main reasons COVID has yet to get under control per Mills, “America doesn’t like to be uncomfortable for the sake of the greater good. For the sake of the better good, for the sake of other people, for the sake of health, for the sake of well-being.”
Arizona has seen the death of several students due to COVID. Of this, Del Palacio asks,”How many more teachers, how many more staff members, do we have to lose before we say it’s not worth the risk?”
Risks and whether possible solutions will waylay the risk are discussed.
Back to School COVID: Sources
School Decision-Making Resource from CDC
WHO’s Q&A regarding Schools and COVID-19
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PODCAST: Is Defunding the Police the Answer
PODCAST: Black Youth Share Experiences with Police
PODCAST: Our World’s New Leaders — Kids
PODCAST: Racial Injustice — Our World Is At a Precipice
PODCAST: Senate’s Stall of HEROES Act Will Hurt Education
PODCAST: Exploitation of CARES Act Could Harm Families
PODCAST: COVID’s Impact on Environmental Health and Our Health, Too
PODCAST: Teens Fight For Family Members on Frontlines #YourWorkersMyFamily
PODCAST: How COVID-19 Is Harming College Students
The Our Future Now Collaboration
Our Future Now, a National Children’s Campaign Podcast is co-hosted by Jonah Gottlieb and Natalie Mebane. Gottlieb and Mebane are also co-founders of NCC. Gottlieb, a high school senior from Petaluma, California, is also the captain of One Planet Living and the co-founder and president of Global Awareness. Mebane is the Associate Director of US Policy for 350, an international movement looking to end the use of fossil fuels while promoting renewable energy.
Our Future Now is a collaboration between Parentology, the National Children’s Campaign and Goal 17 Media.
The National Children’s Campaign (NCC) is a national nonprofit organization that amplifies the voices of America’s 74 million children and youth, making sure our nation’s political leaders prioritize issues –health, education, climate and environment, child welfare, gun violence, child immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and youth civic engagement — that matter to those who are too young to vote. You can read more about today’s episode on the NCC blog here.
Goal 17 Media is a media network producing podcasts, videos and documentaries that inspire individuals and contribute to the common good.