In New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and other cities and towns across the country where public schools have remained closed for a year, parents gathered this past weekend to demand change.
In D.C., parents held a rally outside Mayor Muriel Bowser’s offices demanding that DCPS offer students the option of some in-person learning with a teacher for the last term of the school year. Those same parents also insisted that D.C.’s teachers should continue to be given priority for vaccination and that schools must keep “sensible” safety precautions in place. These demands are hardly radical; many public schools in states like Florida and private schools (including ones in D.C.) have been safely open since the fall with precautions—even before vaccinations were available.