Welcome to Friday, folks.
Times are hard right now. Sadly, that seems to be more and more of a statement that requires little in the way of additional explanation these days: One would be very hard-pressed to find a person or line of work that’s been left untouched by the COVID-19 crisis and our country’s failure to protect our most vulnerable.
The plight of teachers and parents to K-12 students has been particularly heartbreaking. As The New Tropic covered previously, Miami-Dade Public Schools were pressured into reopening earlier than planned on October 5 following threats from the state to withhold $300 million in funds.
A little over a week later, things don’t seem to be going great. Several local outlets shared stories this week of the demoralizing circumstances teachers are finding themselves in, to say nothing of the COVID-19 cases being reported among school employees.
There’s an array of fundraisers being organized to support students in accessing the resources they need for a safe, meaningful education, but we can’t help but feel like we can do more. If you’re a teacher, parent, or even a friend of a teacher or parent, please send us a line at [email protected]. We want to know how The New Tropic and readers can help out; whether that’s contacting the right people, broadcasting fundraisers, or simply sharing stories on what’s going on, we want to assist.
A better future begins with our children, and that requires equipping them with the right tools to navigate a world as complex as our own, not to mention leaving them a place worth living in. If we may combine aphorisms for a moment, no man is an island and it takes a village to raise a child: We’re all in this together.
