By the LI Life & Politics Editorial Team
In the good old days, the first day of school on Long Island was all about meeting the teachers and taking photos for posterity. Unfortunately, today, we must also contend with bureaucrats who want to unnecessarily suffocate our kids with unneeded masks, and justice warrior activists who want to indoctrinate our children with theories about race and gender that divide, rather than unite, our kids. And most disturbing is the specter that a mentally disturbed armed individual will seek to breach the Inner sanctum of our classrooms.
Unmask Our Kids
During the pandemic, Long Island did better than many other areas in keeping our public schools open. Yet, due to overzealous state mandates, Long Island school children had to suffer through unnecessarily long periods trapped behind masks. The mandate was totally understandable early on with the uncertainties of the virus. But, as time went by, it was clear that children were the least vulnerable segment of the population. There was a greater chance of being harmed by the regular flu than the coronavirus. It also became clear that those nations and states that kept their kids mask-free suffered no greater infections or fatalities.
Studies confirmed our commonsense beliefs that masking was going to be detrimental to the cognitive and mental development of our students. Let us hope that the education bureaucracy has learned these lessons and will finally start to follow the science.
Stop CRT
Covid also opened the eyes of parents to what is being taught in our schools. The wave of Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been sweeping through thousands of schools across the nation. Most Long Island schools haven’t gone radical as have some city-based districts, but there’s an ominous trend afoot.
Teaching the truth about slavery and Jim Crow is absolutely essential, but tearing down our Founding Fathers and indoctrinating students that we are an inherently racist nation is dangerous stuff. Telling white children they should apologize for their privilege and black children that they are victims who cannot succeed in America is equally alarming.
It’s hard to see at this point how far this type of curriculum has infiltrated our schools, but we best be on the lookout.
Protect Our Kids
Finally, let us resolve that we will never allow a Uvalde, Texas-type mass shooting to happen on Long Island. There’s no way to guarantee 100% avoidance. We can continue to have debates about access to high-powered guns and mental health. But one thing that cannot wait is ensuring that we have trained officers at each of our schools with a firearm who can put down a would-be killer. We saw in Florida and Texas there is no guarantee if the officers will act as trained, but I, for one, feel far more comfortable for the safety of my grandchildren knowing that a highly trained professional is on-site if needed. Schools are awash in funds due to huge federal cash infusions. Put the money to good use by hiring these officers.