Data Matters: School Closures Only Accomplished Harm; Teachers' Unions Must Be Held Accountable

As American taxpayers labor through the holidays to fund another extended paid vacation for public school teachers, it’s rarely been more evident that capricious policies from purported experts and media allies produced a terrifying amount of harmful consequences on the most vulnerable among us. That singular group, which continues to be abused by COVID-19 neurotics, is school children.

Many teachers demanded school closures in exchange for disastrous remote learning. Ignoring data showing that the virus does not significantly impact those who aren’t elderly (nearly all teachers in America are under 60), they were unwilling to assume even a remote risk.

There’s still no evidence that classrooms are vectors of transmission, or that their selfish actions stopped the spread of COVID. A recently-published study of Japanese schoolchildren relays:

“We do not find any evidence that school closures in Japan helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in spring 2020. Among our pairs of similar municipalities, municipalities that closed their schools had very similar levels of COVID-19 as those that kept their schools open. In other words, municipalities that shut down their schools imposed additional costs on their residents without receiving the supposed benefit of limiting the spread of the pandemic. These robustness checks all point to the same conclusion: There is no evidence that shutting down schools had a significant impact on limiting the spread of COVID-19.”

Now the media is finally assessing the damage inflicted upon the children.

Lockdowners need to retire the phrase “kids are resilient.” The crushing wave of children who failed classes, suffered declining mental health, or committed suicide during lockdown didn’t do so because they’re not “resilient” enough.

Reflect on the real reason. https://t.co/ZILxvXmvKn

— Payton Alexander (@AlexanderPayton) December 27, 2021

And even as elected leaders and public health officials in liberal locales finally brought students back to school earlier this year, the focus on having the youngest students return to in-person instruction caused older students to miss most or all of the academic year.

Bottom line: The CDC, teachers’ unions, and leftist politicians pursued lockdown policies, then continued to double down as they failed.

While shutting down schools did show how immaterial physical location is to the fundamental process of instruction (and allowed parents to see how subpar some teachers are), the social contact and interaction part of schooling is important. That’s where children make friends and learn coping skills for when social challenges arrive. Such activities cannot be conducted via Zoom.

The minimal risks for kids associated with COVID did not warrant a lengthy delay at a critical development time. The teachers who pressed for lockdowns are responsible for implementing policies that have arguably resulted in deaths.

The California Department of Health recently reported that the number of suicides among children rose in 2020. Coronavirus policies undeniably precipitated a mental health crisis, fueled by social isolation, the collapse of routines, and increased uncertainty. Schools exacerbated this.

When the damage is assessed, those who pushed for school closures — especially Randi Weingarten, one of the most pernicious and dishonest leftists in America today — should face harsh consequences.

Will there be any accountability for the teacher unions that pushed to keep schools closed? @rweingarten @DeAngelisCorey https://t.co/GjnYdmwZKv

— Heritage Center for Education Policy (@HeritageOnEd) December 26, 2021

Even President Joe Biden, who, along with his former educator wife, is owned by corrupt teachers’ unions, now confesses that we need to keep schools open.

Hopefully, the tremendous damage already done to kids is enough to convince anti-science lefties and selfish unionized teachers to permanently end school closures; if not, in addition to suffering at home, Democrats will suffer at the polls.