I don’t necessarily agree with the way Shipley is choosing to go all in person in the COVID19 world in which we live, but I do respect that they are trying. It means they plan for things, which is something a lot of schools can’t necessarily do. Why? Schools public, private, parochial, charter struggle because of the politics that always get in the way. You know, kind of like how politics is getting in everyone’s way in life in general with regard to COVID19?
Right or wrong that is how I feel.
However, in spite of my occasional issues with my alma mater, I am somewhat uncomfortable with the sharp edges of portrayal in this opinion piece.
The very sarcastic “God bless Shipley” comment and the mis-portrayal of the school as utterly and ONLY as in solely elitist. That is not fair.
Not all of us who went there way back when, nor every student today is born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Not all of us are trust fund babies. And those who came from family money aren’t bad people because their families have money.
I get tired of the us versus them mentality. There are always going to be people with more money than you. Shocking as it may sound, a lot of us (myself included) worked summer jobs and part time jobs during the school year whether it was in a store, a fast food joint, or in my case, babysitting. Not all of us drove around in BMWs sporting expensive accessories. We weren’t cast members from the O.C. or Clueless.
But the tone of this opinion piece sets my teeth on edge and it starts with the title. Does the writer think it was easy for the school to spend this reserve money or to develop a plan? It wasn’t. And as I said, I don’t necessarily agree with it, but they are trying. And also don’t assume all of the students are Richy Rich, because they aren’t. And if I had to hazard a guess that is part of the reason why they are trying to get kids back in school.
I also have yet to see a re-opening plan anywhere that I actually think will work and that is because of the behaviors out in the real world we see. The people who won’t do their part and even wear a damn mask to the grocery store. Or those who thought and still think “Covid parties” are a great idea. Or those who think a global pandemic is a political conspiracy.
Maybe just maybe if more people were just trying a little harder to do their part to slow the pace of this virus by making better decisions we wouldn’t have to have all these damn conflicting and heated conversations about schools reopening or not reopening or going partially or short term virtual?
And then of course there is the conversation that no one wants to have in public which is how many people out there depend on so many others to raise their children in the first place. Oh I am quite sure the knives will come out for that but is it completely untrue? This global pandemic has stripped us back to basics quite a bit. And it will continue to do so until they find a medical treatment to combat it. And maybe the life lessons we take away from COVID19 are something the universe needs us to learn or re-learn?
Read the article. My alma mater is far from perfect, but why private school bashing? What does it achieve? What issues does it resolve? No one knows what the hell they are doing right now.
📌”For the price of $24,000 to $40,000 per child in tuition, here is how one of the most prestigious private schools in suburban Philadelphia is planning to get around the problem of a coronavirus pandemic that is forcing the shutdown of in-class instruction at many public schools this fall.
Spoiler alert: The kids get to go to class. Every single day of the week…..The Shipley School is aiming for this lofty outcome through a flabbergasting array of if-then statements and contingency plans shared with me a few days ago by head of school Michael Turner. By the end of our one-hour-long talk, it felt as though I had just interviewed the logistics chief of a major corporation rather than an education guy….In just the past couple of weeks, a number of districts as prominent as Lower Merion have told parents their children will start the school year at home. So what if you and your husband work? So what if the kids are 9 and 10 years old or in kindergarten? Details are scant and have been all summer.
Shipley, meanwhile, is sparing no expense to do the opposite…God bless Shipley. Money, as we know, fixes a lot of problems in this country, and Shipley’s got it. Its board even put together a fund to help students whose parents may have fallen on hard times with the pandemic recession.”📌