Writing last week in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President Nina Esposito-Visgitis couldn’t resist expressing her indignation when the district voted barely seven days prior to the start of the new school year to adopt a policy that respects science rather than union bluster.
The Pittsburgh School Board voted to classify face coverings as “recommended” rather than “required,” in accordance with unequivocal evidence showing the risk of students getting COVID is minimal while the damage done by distance learning and mask mandates is horrendous.
The Philadelphia School District, however, made face coverings required for the first 10 days of this new school year, and optional thereafter.
These never-ending dystopian mandates are not just confusing. They inflict incalculable damage on our children and their learning outcomes — especially students with mental or hearing challenges, who need to see the mouths of their educators.
Unions have been the source of these ridiculous COVID policies from the beginning because they regard anything that upsets smooth school operations and effective education as an opportunity to exert more influence.
These same teachers’ unions are backing the Commonwealth’s most radical political voices, including Gov. Tom Wolf who, in turn, championed these measures because the unions dumped millions into his campaign coffers.
According to Harvard Medicine, a study released this past June found that the likelihood of students coming down with the virus is very low, and those who do won’t get very sick.
“Children,” the article noted, “including very young children, can develop COVID-19. Many of them have no symptoms. Those that do get sick tend to experience milder symptoms such as low-grade fever, fatigue and cough.”
Parents are standing up and elected officials are finally starting to listen. Bravo to the Pittsburgh School Board for refusing to do the bidding of the unions and, instead, listening to parents (the people who actually vote for them).
It’s long past time to stand up to the labor bosses, and union members are speaking up by leaving their radical union and taking their hard-earned dues dollars with them.
