A teacher lectures the class. (Photo credit: MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)
For the most part, Catholic schools across the nation have opened normally. For the most part, public schools across the nation have opened abnormally (if at all). The contrast in administrative competence could not be more stark. Here is a representative sample.
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Cincinnati
Dallas
The Diocese of Dallas opened to in-person learning Sept. 2, six days prior to a start date that Dallas County health officials had ordered. The public schools did not open to in-person learning until Sept. 8.
Denver
The Archdiocese of Denver started Aug. 24 with in-person learning. The public schools started the same day, but with remote learning; it continues until Oct. 16.
District of Columbia
The Archdiocese of Washington schools opened as early as Aug. 25, roughly half in-person. The public schools opened to distance learning Aug. 31 and will continue that way until Nov. 6.
Houston
Many schools in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston opened Aug. 13 to in-person learning; some elected to open remotely. Public schools opened Sept. 8, all with remote learning. None will open in-person before Oct. 16.
Milwaukee
New York City
The Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn opened to in-person learning five days a week on Sept. 9. New York City public schools will not open until Sept. 21, starting with three days a week. The teachers threatened to strike, which is illegal in New York.
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
San Diego
The teachers’ unions are responsible for the stalling tactics, citing unfounded horror stories about COVID’s effects on kids. Elementary and secondary schools have been opened in Europe for weeks, if not months, without the kinds of calamities that American educrats have been predicting.
Politics is also playing a role. The Los Angeles County Public Health Director reportedly told school officials and medical staff that the public schools will not open “until after the election, in early November.” This is obviously being done to hurt President Donald Trump at the polls.
Meanwhile, Catholic schools have returned to normal in this country, one more reason why school choice makes eminently good sense. As usual, the biggest victims—minority students from low-income families—are the ones being punished. Perversely, those who rhetorically champion their cause are responsible.
Bill Donohue is president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. He was awarded his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University and is the author of eight books and many articles.
