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How the Trump Administration's Data Failure Has Kept Schools Closed
The Trump administration's refusal to lead, because they did not want to take the blame for school closures, is the reason why many schools had to once again close late last year. I guess DeVos was too busy watering down safeguards against rape in colleges.
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-03-12/how-the-trump-administrations-data-failure-has-kept-schools-closed
IN JANUARY 2017, MERE days before former President Donald Trump's inauguration, the outgoing cabinet secretaries of the Obama administration sat beside the incoming cabinet secretaries – many still in the confirmation process – for a joint cabinet meeting that had become an important tradition to ensure a smooth transition of power from one administration to the next.
The lengthy meeting was designed as a sort of role-playing exercise, in which they were given a series of potential national crises. The soon-to-be former secretaries huddled with their replacements and outlined how they dealt with similar situations during their tenure, what issues might arise and what protocols were in place to ensure each part of the federal government could tackle the crisis effectively.
* * *
Now, a year into the pandemic, school leaders, policy makers and education researchers reflecting on the unprecedented upheaval in the U.S. public education system point to that lack of federal data collection and dissemination as the reason the majority of children in the country aren't back learning in classrooms full-time, five days a week. It's also, they say, one of the biggest reasons why the question of when and how to reopen schools for in-person learning is the most politically toxic debate to spiral out of the pandemic.
The Trump administration didn't simply shy away from tracking school districts, their coronavirus infection rates and their reopening strategies. DeVos and White House officials said it was not her responsibility or that of the federal government – even though education leaders across the country had been all but begging for a comprehensive database to help them navigate the pandemic.
The lengthy meeting was designed as a sort of role-playing exercise, in which they were given a series of potential national crises. The soon-to-be former secretaries huddled with their replacements and outlined how they dealt with similar situations during their tenure, what issues might arise and what protocols were in place to ensure each part of the federal government could tackle the crisis effectively.
* * *
Now, a year into the pandemic, school leaders, policy makers and education researchers reflecting on the unprecedented upheaval in the U.S. public education system point to that lack of federal data collection and dissemination as the reason the majority of children in the country aren't back learning in classrooms full-time, five days a week. It's also, they say, one of the biggest reasons why the question of when and how to reopen schools for in-person learning is the most politically toxic debate to spiral out of the pandemic.
The Trump administration didn't simply shy away from tracking school districts, their coronavirus infection rates and their reopening strategies. DeVos and White House officials said it was not her responsibility or that of the federal government – even though education leaders across the country had been all but begging for a comprehensive database to help them navigate the pandemic.
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