As I was telling my friend, a school teacher, about this politician here in Central Texas, north of Austin (Tim Kelly), who announced on his Facebook page that any teacher who refuses to return to work should be fired, my teacher friend wondered aloud as to why some of these people were treating the intersection of teachers, school staff, children, and parents as the new unregulated focus of a petri-dish virus study gone really bad. “It’s like they are trying to compensate for some sort of developmental failure with the notion of ‘damn the science, full speed ahead’.” As one of the new uncertainties surrounding the opening of our elementary and secondary school systems, maybe, I said, why don’t we think outside the box and physically reopen our schools with a twist: a variation to the old one room schoolhouse, with modifications, like using ad hoc neighborhood locations to expand the reach of our current traditional school structures? In fact, among the important fears that parents have are the following: 1) whether the Corona-19 Virus is going to infest the students and staff with the reopening of schools; 2) when schools do open, and if students and/or staff do get the illness, will they bring that infection home, and thus be an important segue for a resurgence for the virus; 3) will the fact of inefficient or non-existent community internet connections be a limitation for in-home education and/or return to work; and 4) will children be traumatized because of this break in their emotional and psychological development. All of these are real and valid concerns, and in order to deal with them it might be useful to start thinking outside the box and start finding social and governmental structures that we can build for ourselves so that the above issues are remedied by on-going efforts by ourselves. Community empowerment must be an essential part of this equation. We all know parents who have been reaching out to other parents this summer to try and get a shared experience for their children with other children that is safe. We should build on these constructive efforts to build safety and trust, and not react like the Tim Kelly’s of the world. Minimizing Chances that the Corona-19 Virus Might Infest the students and staff with the reopening of schools? This Pandemic could have been handled a lot better. The failure of testing and tracking efforts has resulted in bad data and poorer science. It is no wonder that the uncertainty of the present has profound underpinnings for future uncertainty. Getting it so parents have the confidence to release their children from their home pods to a localized and safe educational pod will go a long way towards building both schooling and community health. The coordination of that geography, as shown by the attitude of the Cedar Park councilmember, needs to be built with a community structure and dialogue. When schools open, if the students and staff do get the illness, will they bring that infection home, and thus be a catalyst for a resurgence for the virus? With community educational pods, parents, children and school staff will have opportunities to know who and what they are dealing with in a localized community. If a virus transmission does occur, that pod community will be better able to demand contact tracing, and efficiently contain an outbreak. If you know and care about those around you, you will care for each other. Will the fact of inefficient or non-existent community internet connections be a limitation for any form of in-home education and/or return to work? The Pandemic would have been much worse without our Internet Community; work from home would have been impossible. We have learned those internet connections are not the same everywhere. There are internet deserts, largely unmapped, where people do not have internet access. Internet connectivity should be recognized as a utility, and therefore we should make sure that we all have internet access. In the short term, building that access through the mapping of the educational needs and where people live would be a start in the right direction. Will Children be traumatized because of this break in their emotional and psychological development? Children’s socialization is an important part of growing up, and the school system has been a way that we have built that community engagement. So yes, our children have been and will continue to be traumatized due to this break in their social and emotional development. Our goal now is to recognize this trauma and continue to support this generation’s healthy development. Getting all working together (the community, including parents, teachers and staff) on building such localized educational pods will be a great step in maximizing opportunities for healthy and happy children. If we are successful, then years from now, history may show that adults were capable of working together and thinking outside the box, to minimize this current childhood trauma. A one-room schoolhouse, a tent placed in the middle of a blocked off street, school facilities repurposed for one-third to one-half their current capacity as resource centers to facilitate the new normal, driven on the trusting relationships between parents, teachers and staff, maybe the best option for our present transition to the future. If we are not able to define our future-selves, our future communities, in this present, then others will define that future for us. This is not a present that has been good for most of us. Certainly, if the City of Austin can block off certain streets for exercise, we can have a temporary reclamation of our urban land for this necessary transition to building community trust from the ground up. Any healthy community understands that a healthy future is built on making a healthy life for our children. Community planning does matter, and if begun with a vision, that includes purpose, structure and trust, we have a better chance for community health and success, now (and in the new future). Investing now in envisioning educational pods can go a long way towards making a healthier future possible. That Cedar Park City Councilmember was “sanctioned” by a 4-3 vote. He responded that the person who sponsored the motion hated him and was involved in a political witch hunt against him. Certainly, most of us in 2020 know what it is like to blame others for our own behavior, but we should fight against that bit of Tim Kelly that remains in all of us. Better community outcomes are the result of mutual respect and dialogue. To explain away bad behavior by blaming others is the childlike behavior of a bully. To that part of Tim Kelly that is in all of us, we need to heal it before we can most powerfully move into the future. Until we can segue into our common futures by building community with trusting relationships, we will be doomed to continuing an ongoing pandemic, both the actual disease and the community dysfunctionality. *Tim Mahoney is an attorney in private practice, and is a former member of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees (2008-2014). He received a Master of Public Affairs degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1983.

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