Thinking back to spring 2020: were schools “closed”?  Or did school buildings close and face-to-face education was suspended? Did kids transition from public school to “homeschool”? Does all public school happen in a building? Was it distance learning? Was it homebound learning? Was it unschooling? 

Maybe your school district announced schools were closed. Then maybe you started to get emails about setting up for virtual learning. So… which was it? Were the school buildings closed or were schools closed? Does a school building being closed imply that virtual learning is some kind of afterthought? that virtual learning isn’t really learning? (hashtag yikes) 
It may seem like a little difference, like I’m picking or arguing semantics. You know what, YES. Yes, I am. And here’s why it MATTERS. 
THING ONE
First and foremost, if schools are “open” (offering educational services to children), then those schools must provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education to all residents ages 3-21. Is FAPE new to you? I’ll bet it’s not if you’re are involved in the education of a child with a disability.You know what, if you aren’t involved in the education of a child with a disability, let’s just take a minute. By some estimates, 1 in 5 children have a disability that prevents them from accessing or participating in school. Do you know five kids? Think about it. 
Let’s try this analogy: Have you ever heard somebody say, “Americans don’t have accents”? I’ve said it! I remember the first time I said, “I can’t understand your accent!” and the person replied, “Well, I can’t understand YOUR accent!” I was baffled. I didn’t have an accent! Weirdo. 
  • Let’s sit with that. I perceived myself and my English pronunciation as neutral, as default. I perceived my experiences in the world as neutral, as default. I was the normal (hahahahahaha) center, and other ways of pronouncing English words were outside of me; they were modifications of my own experiences. 

Dear reader, I love you. I will say this as gently as possible, but it’s time that you hear this if you haven’t heard it before: 

  • Americans speak English with American accents. 
  • Canadians speak English with Canadian accents. 
  • Jamaicans speak English with Jamaican accents. 

Is one accent better? Is one normal? Is one the neutral setting and all others are added to or subtracted from this generic setting? Is the Queen’s English the standard to which we should all aspire? 

Let’s keep going.
  • Human bodies exist in all sorts of ways. 
  • Human brains exist in all sorts of ways.  
Is one way better? Is one way normal? Is one way the neutral setting and all other ways are added to or subtracted from the “factory model”? Is there a best way to have a body, to have a brain? Is there some sort of neurotypical normality to which we should all aspire? 
Does my language reveal that I perceive difference as deficit? 
Unfortunately the American educational system developed in a time of colonialism, cultural imperialism, and White Supremacy. In 2020, we are still knocking around in the social structures that were developed when some folks were considered subhuman, when some babies were locked away at birth, when children were raised to work fields, when only certain relationships were honored as sacred. American social structures still carry the echoes of the era in which they were created. Even with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the  Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 (IDEA), we’ve still got a lot of work to do. If you are involved in the education of a child with a disability, if that child is not-White or poor or speaks less English, this is likely not news to you. 
Education in the time of COVID-19 has caused its own problems, but it sure has done a great job of revealing problems that have been around for a long time.  We need to pay attention to how persons with disabilities are included. If people with disabilities are an afterthought, if their needs and access are only considered only after the “normal” kids are sorted, if they are not part of the conversation from the beginning, then we’ve got a problem. Let’s not ignore that. Let’s learn from the past and grow into the best versions of what we can be together.  
THING TWO
In April 2020, Drs. Hilary Hughes and Stephanie Jones gave us guidance about navigating this new-to-us world in this AJC Opinion piece: “Two University of Georgia professors say this is not business as usual and it’s unethical to act as if it could be.” They encouraged us to be careful with how we refer to whatever this thing is we were doing with education. 
  • “What is happening is not home schooling. It is not distance learning. It is not online schooling. There are philosophies and research guiding those ways of teaching and learning; theories and pedagogies that are enacted in intentional ways. So, we need to guard against using language that we already have about education.”
  • “This is not home schooling. And it’s not online schooling. Teaching and learning in a time of Covid-19 is what we’re doing, and we’re figuring it out day by day. We have a collective opportunity to answer the call of our unprecedented time and make today’s education as humane, generous, caring, and yes, even as joyful as we possibly can.”
We were made for these times. All who have come before us have paved the way for us to be right here, right now. Let us not be satisfied with replicating systems of inequity. How different would the word be if we insisted on systemic change? if we moved forward with full inclusion as the norm? if we learn how to leverage existing resources to reallocate resources and insist on joy?
Let’s do this. 
Beth