Since the beginning of Covid, I argued that the closure of schools was a big mistake. Back on 6/18/2020 I wrote the following:
“In March 2020 Congressman Devin Nunes (R; CA) said the following, ‘Look, the schools were just canceled out here in California, which is way overkill. It’s possible kids could have went back to school in two weeks to four weeks, but they just canceled the rest of the schools.’
Our governor’s response:
‘I don’t want to give him much air,’ Newsom said during a remote appearance on The View. ‘I’ve not sourced him for advice on pretty much any issue . . . ‘
That was four years ago and the actual data demonstrate that Congressman Devin Nunes was right while our haughty California Governor was wrong.
From a recent New York Times article:
“The more time students spent in remote instruction, the further they fell behind. And, experts say, extended closures did little to stop the spread of Covid.”
The Times article also acknowledged that the school closures did not accomplish their stated goal of ‘stopping the spread’ of COVID.
In the article, titled ‘What the Data Says About Pandemic School Closures, Four Years Later,” authors Sarah Mervosh, Claire Cain Miller, and Francesca Paris wrote that the “more time students spent in remote instruction, the further they fell behind.’
‘While poverty and other factors also played a role, remote learning was a key driver of academic declines during the pandemic, research shows — a finding that held true across income levels,’ the authors outlined.”
In essence the New York Times article conceded that Democrat-backed COVID school closures harmed children.
My guess would be that Gov. Newsom reads the NYT daily, and yet I have not seen any apology from him on this issue. He owes an apology not only to the children but also to the parents.
Perhaps, if back in 2020, Newsom would have given Nunes “more air,” and “sourced him for advice,” the school children in California would be way better off than they are today!
3/28/24