Poisoned Water in Missouri Public Schools? Let The Kids Eat Cake.

Oof...this one is a doozy.

Let me introduce you to Jean Evans. Jean was elected twice to the Missouri House. During her second term, she left her constituents to run the Missouri Republican Party. She has since left that post as well to become the Missouri Lead for the Federation for Children, a “school choice” advocacy group funded by…Betsy Devos.

As a former public school teacher, with 16 years in the classroom, and an outspoken advocate for rural public schools, I have had more than my fair share of dealings with Jean. A few stand out in particular: one in which she said that “educational freedom” in rural Missouri is not a brick and mortar building staffed with certified teachers, but one in which rural kids could attend online schools and hire private tutors. That sure would free up some time for these kiddos to go to work, am I right?

Yes, she knows there is no school choice in rural Missouri, but our kids don’t deserve it anyway. I mean, we are just hayseeds out here and what do we expect?

That response is very indicative of the thought pattern for the grifters who want to privatize public schools…whose intentions are to siphon taxpayer money to private hands. But, what I loathe, yet enjoy, so much about Jean Evans is her ability — no, her insistence— on saying the quiet part out loud.

Yes, she works for a billionaire to defund Missouri schools. Yes, she is willing to say that defunding rural schools will displace children and close their schools.

But, what else is she willing to say publicly?

She was willing to tell me that the rural kids at my local public school would be deserving of clean drinking water if only Missouri would pass a voucher program. One may wonder if Jean herself snacked on too many lead paint chips as a child?

It all started with a letter from my local school reporting on the findings of lead in the water at the school. Most water sources were within EPA levels of lead in the water—not particularly great news, but I suspect most old schoolhouses reported much of the same. One faucet, in the nurse’s office, reported an elevated level more than four times the recommended limit. The school is addressing the water faucet and is attempting remediation. No children will drink this water.

I tweeted the findings and reminded my Twitter audience that over 80% of Missouri children test positive for lead in their blood. Jean responded by tweeting this:

Yes, if only we would expand Missouri’s current ESA scheme to defund schools and agree to a full-on voucher scheme, maybe the kids in my town wouldn’t be drinking poisoned water? If only rural folks would acquiesce to closing our schools and going along with the plan to keep our rural kids at home for online learning, and the occasional visit from a tutor, our kids wouldn’t be drinking lead.

Great plan, Jean!

Here is the thing, school choice is a scam and those who push the scam know it. There is no choice in my area and thereby no competition. And, who cares if there is competition? Is the choice now to let public schools kids ingest lead because their parents are too poor or too overworked to drive them to a “choice” school?

Jean Evans and her grifting ilk know that the closest private high school who may take vouchers in the future is a Catholic school that is 56 miles one way from my town. Many of us are not Catholic, and most of us don’t have the time or gas money to drive two hours five days a week.

They know this and they don’t care. There is no school choice…there are defunded public schools.

Lead in the water? Let them eat cake!

~Jess