The enraging time in which we live

I’ve been teaching a data driven government class as part of Syracuse University’s Executive MPA curriculum. Every unit, there are countless examples of how the situation we find ourselves in thanks to COVID-19 has highlighted and accelerated the challenges that had been festering over previous years or decades.

Then, this morning, I read an article by Marnie Eisenstadt entitled School, coronavirus, risk: In Syracuse, they don’t have the suburbanites’ confidence. This article in combination with Tim Knauss’ How a pandemic laid bare CNY’s health crisis just completely infuriated me. To understand so starkly how this pandemic has hurt the community in which I live is enraging.

My wife and I have three kids, two of whom are school-aged. Since last March, we’ve been struggling to figure out how to give them the care they need and deserve while also balancing the demands of two full time jobs (my wife is an Executive Director of a non-profit). We’ve been fortunate to have somewhat flexible work schedules, we haven’t had to go into the office, and in July my in-laws started to help with the kids and will continue to through some time in September. But it still feels almost impossible.

Eisenstadt details the choices we as parents need to make for the coming school year. Despite what has surely been hundreds or thousands of hours of logistical planning from the Syracuse City School District, the decision to offer two days per week of in person schooling did not seem like a good option for us. We would still need to find some kind of child care for the other three days and we would be sending our kids into a potentially risky situation. We also still are not clear what the curriculum will look like for online or in-person learning. So, we’ve decided to keep them home full time, just like about half of the rest of the school district’s students reportedly plan to do, according to Eisenstadt’s article. The teachers, similarly, seem uncomfortable with in-person options, with reportedly 96% favoring fully online learning according to a survey done by the teacher’s union, and then more than 75% favoring online learning in a subsequent school district poll.

Contrast this concern from city school families to those of suburban families. In the surrounding areas, reportedly 90% of students will go back to in-person learning. The discrepancy is due to a lack of funding for city schools and older buildings that don’t always allow for safe ventilation or even the ability to open windows (some schools have few windows at all).

The discrepancy between city and suburban school districts has always been a challenge, and that challenge is consistent with other communities around the country. The Consensus Report, created to try to find opportunities for shared services between the city and county which attempted to find increased efficiencies and save money, did not attempt to merge school districts because the disagreements and challenges would have been too great.

While in-person schooling will be significantly different this year no matter where you live, the fact that city students who have less access to the technology and connectivity required for online learning will be forced to accept less ideal circumstances for education or risk their health to go into a school building that may not be able to provide the resources that they need will only increase the inequities between city and suburban schools. And to be clear, I do not fault families who live in the suburbs living there or sending their kids to school in a way they feel is safe. This situation just highlights the challenges that have actually been present for decades.

My family is very fortunate. We will likely hire someone to help care for our kids during the day while my wife and I continue to work. If we had to, my wife or I could leave a job and continue to care for our kids without it bankrupting us. But, even given that privilege, we are now being asked to either spend or sacrifice thousands of dollars over the course of the next however many months to provide a service we would have gotten through our public school system. In fact, every family in the Syracuse City School District will have to contend with these extra expenses in some way because there is no option for in-person schooling every day. These unexpected costs, in one of the most impoverished cities in the country, will be devastating for some, and will have some kind of long-term impact for all.

Pair the additional costs with the announcement yesterday that due to massive budget shortfalls due to COVID-19 shutdowns, the City government will cut services and start furloughing many of its employees. These are cuts to the budget of an organization, but that “savings” is really only passed on to the rest of us. Furloughed employees, who largely are required to live in the City, may need unemployment benefits or other social services due to a loss of wages. Those services are still paid for by us. The cuts in services may help the City government’s bottom line for today, but in the long term it will cost us all more. The Department of Public Works will delay yard waste pickup. Some may choose to pay for that yard waste to be picked up by a private hauler — another unplanned for cost.

This transfer or cost and responsibility is not what government is supposed to be about. At a minimum, government should be there to help resolve market failures. None of us could afford or have the expertise to create and deliver curriculum to our children. It is why our public education system is there. We can’t afford to provide books to anyone in the community who wants one. It is why we have public libraries. We can’t afford to buy the equipment to fix our streets or pick up our garbage. It is why we have Public Works.

The failures of the federal government to navigate this crisis and support those who are most in need will have devastating effects on all of us in the short, medium, and long term. Less access to education, fewer services provided, more demands on families to figure things out on their own even when there are no good solutions.

I have been able to find some silver linings over the last 6 months. I get to see my kids every day at any time of day. We don’t have the crazy morning routines where we are all trying to get to our respective destinations at the same time. We get to enjoy some quiet without the competing demands of social schedules and after work events. But I also recognize this is our own privilege and many others do not have those same options. That there are differences because of a made up border in a community are so clearly highlighted is what enrages me so much.