With all this downtime spent quarantined at home, we all have time to get intimately engaged in civil society. Find out who your state and federal representative are and write to them! Here are ours in Duluth, MN:
And here is today's letter for them:
Hello Senator,
My name is Sarah Lindahl and I am a teacher in Duluth. I am writing today to ask for assistance for me and for my students and fellow colleagues in a few ways in light of the times we are living in now.
The first issue is health care. People need universal health care and we need our leaders to fight for that for us right now. I am on an email chain with other school leaders who are trying to navigate work issues in the time of online education. A few were discussing ways that they could legally lay off an hourly nutrition worker who said he will not be reporting to school to serve lunches because his wife is pregnant and he doesn't want to risk exposing her to the virus. Budgets are so tight that school leaders have to contemplate laying off people who depend on the health benefits provided through their employers for their health care. Often times (as in my case) these health plans are not great. My plan has a 6500 dollar deductible. I have five paid sick days. If I get sick, I understand that the current protocol is to test for every respiratory illness before testing for COVID 19. MPR had an interview with a woman who went through exactly that situation and her medical bills were upwards of 15,000 just for testing and primary care. I can't afford to pay for all kinds of tests right now. We need universal health care.
The second issue is internet. Internet service should be a public utility. I am currently directed to develop online curriculum for my classes and today discovered that my expensive so-called unlimited data plan at home is by no means unlimited (Viasat/Exede), but it could be if I paid even more. How many of our students and other teachers are going to be faced with this in the coming weeks? Will students be penalized for not having adequate internet service? Will teachers be penalized because they are being gouged by internet providers who are leaning on their misleading policies to justify gouging their customers? Is there a law against price gouging in MN? There should be. Internet is now a public utility and our lawmakers should be working to make laws that allow Minnesotans in every tax bracket equal access to the internet.
Finally, I know this may seem forward and perhaps prying, but you work for us so I'm going to ask anyway: What is your health deductible? How many paid sick days do you have? How does your situation compare with most of the people in Minnesota? Is there anything hampering you from meeting minimum requirements at work or for your family? What can your constituents expect from you during this crisis? Do you have measurable goals? We do. You should too. I'd really like to hear about what you are doing for your constituents during this crisis.
Sarah Lindahl
Feel free to copy and paste and use for your representatives too.
And here is today's letter for them:
Hello Senator,
My name is Sarah Lindahl and I am a teacher in Duluth. I am writing today to ask for assistance for me and for my students and fellow colleagues in a few ways in light of the times we are living in now.
The first issue is health care. People need universal health care and we need our leaders to fight for that for us right now. I am on an email chain with other school leaders who are trying to navigate work issues in the time of online education. A few were discussing ways that they could legally lay off an hourly nutrition worker who said he will not be reporting to school to serve lunches because his wife is pregnant and he doesn't want to risk exposing her to the virus. Budgets are so tight that school leaders have to contemplate laying off people who depend on the health benefits provided through their employers for their health care. Often times (as in my case) these health plans are not great. My plan has a 6500 dollar deductible. I have five paid sick days. If I get sick, I understand that the current protocol is to test for every respiratory illness before testing for COVID 19. MPR had an interview with a woman who went through exactly that situation and her medical bills were upwards of 15,000 just for testing and primary care. I can't afford to pay for all kinds of tests right now. We need universal health care.
The second issue is internet. Internet service should be a public utility. I am currently directed to develop online curriculum for my classes and today discovered that my expensive so-called unlimited data plan at home is by no means unlimited (Viasat/Exede), but it could be if I paid even more. How many of our students and other teachers are going to be faced with this in the coming weeks? Will students be penalized for not having adequate internet service? Will teachers be penalized because they are being gouged by internet providers who are leaning on their misleading policies to justify gouging their customers? Is there a law against price gouging in MN? There should be. Internet is now a public utility and our lawmakers should be working to make laws that allow Minnesotans in every tax bracket equal access to the internet.
Finally, I know this may seem forward and perhaps prying, but you work for us so I'm going to ask anyway: What is your health deductible? How many paid sick days do you have? How does your situation compare with most of the people in Minnesota? Is there anything hampering you from meeting minimum requirements at work or for your family? What can your constituents expect from you during this crisis? Do you have measurable goals? We do. You should too. I'd really like to hear about what you are doing for your constituents during this crisis.
Sarah Lindahl
Feel free to copy and paste and use for your representatives too.
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