>Once again I believe net/net the beer virus will be positive for America in the long run - even if only on the educational level.

I'm a parent with children that are five, seven and nine.

I don't think this at all. Basically what happens is that I'm able to afford to pay tutors and nannies and therapists to help with schooling during the day, but most parents are not. This means my kids have a massive advantage that may never be caught up.

Things would be much worse if my children were in their final two years of high school, where college applications are going to be based on "performance" which basically means "did my parents have enough money to continue giving me a decent education when the state failed to do so".

At the same time, I'm also aware of what is happening from the other side of things. One of my children has fairly severe autism and is supposed to have a full-time para-educator assigned to them to help him cope with school. I say "supposed" because it's not happened yet (since late February/ early March) and looks very unlikely to happen for the school year coming in September, no matter how many people I harrass. I also want to add that they have an IEP that is legally binding, and failing to provide services is literally illegal, yet nothing has been done to help with this.

In my case, I (again, insane privilege levels here) can cause enough problems with lawyers and talking to school board members directly that my own son will hopefully be okay but I really worry about any child that has special needs right now and is being ignored or underserved because no one seems to make them a priority.

It's honestly heartbreaking. My son still sets his alarm clock every single day to get up for a school that doesn't exist. He doesn't understand why all of his teachers just stopped teaching him one day and he asks all the time when he will be able to go back.

Just imagine a seven year old autistic kid setting his own alarm and trying to make tomorrow be like the days he remembers. He doesn't understand that things have changed. He completely lost not just his teacher and support staff, but his private therapists and everyone else that he relied upon and that spent years convincing him they would be there to help him and that he should trust them.

The district expects him to be on a computer watching live instruction for 5.5 hours every day. He is seven. He can't manage twenty minutes. He needs someone full-time every day to help him stay on track and yet nothing has been provided and I strongly doubt anything will.

Again, I have backup plans involving hiring someone full-time to teach him. We are insanely, ridiculously lucky to be able to do this. My concern is for all of the other kids who don't have parents that can spend tens of thousands of dollars on teachers and lawyers to fight for their own children. It's so, so wrong that these children, the most vulnerable of all, are being so neglected by the system.

Fuck. That was a rant. My inclination is to delete everything I said here but I think it's important. This virus (and more importantly, the utterly inept, almost criminal lack of response and leadership) is causing enormous, potentially-permanent damage to many, many students, and the only kids that are going to improve are those with parents with plenty of money to shield them.