Governor DeSantis: This governor gets it

Governor DeSantis tells it like it is. Students should have been back at school full-time since August/September. Governor DeSantis epitomizes the concept that Leader’s Lead. Unfortunately, too many of our elected officials would rather be little-Mussolini wannabes. They are drunk with power. We are told to believe in science, yet they have consistently rejected the science particularly when it comes to the virus and how it affects children. They also reject all the data that shows virtual learning is an abject failure. It’s not learning at all.

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Governor DeSantis followed the science.

All of the schools that remain closed are doing a disservice to our children. The next time you hear them say they care about the children know they are lying. They have failed our children and America. The science on school reopening has been in for quite some time. Here is some of the data I pulled in July when I was advocating for the schools to reopen (Click here to listen).

Here was the data with Coronavirus at the beginning of the summer and the data with virtual learning.

Coronavirus/Schools Data

The American Academy of Pediatrics, which is the leading authority on pediatric healthcare and bases all opinions on evidence-based science, states, “the AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.” (AAP)
A study conducted in Iceland could not find one instance where a child, 10 years old or younger, transmitted coronavirus to an adult, and children in this age category are much less likely to be infected or get seriously ill. (Science Museum Group/UK medical Research Council/University of Oxford)
Another study conducted by the National Centre for Immunization Research and Surveillance, which is based in Australia, tracked 15 schools and found coronavirus transmission rates within the schools at .23%. (NCIRS)
Another study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which is one of the most prestigious organizations, issued a report stating that younger children and those with special needs should attend school in person, and schools should prioritize reopening, “especially for grades K-5. (National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine)
The Journal of Pediatrics has stated that the scientific evidence indicates, “children do not tend to spread the novel coronavirus between themselves, nor do they appear to regularly infect adults,” and Dr. William Raszka, a Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist with the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine, stated, “Generally, the younger you are, then the less likely you are to transmit to other children or adults. With precautions, schools should reopen.” (US News)
In fact, studies from Chicago, Massachusetts, Italy, South Korea, Iceland, Australia, Britain, and several other countries all state the same thing- that children are much less susceptible to coronavirus virus, and even when they do have it, the symptoms are not severe and they are unlikely to transmit it to adults. We are not talking about just one or two studies. This encompasses over 700 scientific publications.

When you have all these different studies, in all these different places, saying the same thing, that’s pretty compelling.

Effectiveness of Distance Education Data

Let’s look at more science and data. This time at the effectiveness of distance education.

A comprehensive study conducted by Spiro Protopsaltis and Sandy Baum, uncovered startling results. Students, especially the underprepared, special needs, and disadvantaged students, underperform and experience poor outcomes. More importantly, gaps in educational attainment across socioeconomic groups are even larger. Also, online education is increasingly expensive and does not produce a positive return on investment. (George Mason University)
Another study conducted by Columbia University found that students taking online courses are more likely to fail and drop out. (National Education Association)
The American Institutes for Research and the university of Chicago did a study randomly placing some students in an online course and some in a face-to-face course. All students placed in the online setting scored lower. (EdWeek)
Another study by Karl Alexander at John Hopkins University showed that students learn less when not in the traditional classroom environment.
According to scholars at Brown University and the University of Virginia, the spring school closures will cause the average student to have lost as much as a third of what they were expected to learn throughout the academic year. (Brown University)
Another study from researchers at Harvard examined student achievements in Math. They found that through late April, student progress in math declined by half as opposed to an in-classroom environment, especially in the low-income zip codes. (Opportunity Insights)
Estimates exist that show impacts for the average student could be as much as them falling seven months behind academically.

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