FEATURING KEVIN KUMASHIRO – A photo capturing two little girls sitting on the grounds outside a Taco Bell restaurant in Salinas, California in order to use its WiFi for their remote learning has gone viral. The image was captured in Silicon Valley, the heart of the US’s technology sector, indicating that deep income inequality is standing in the way of educational equity – even more so now during the coronavirus pandemic. 

 In a major speech on Wednesday, Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden took aim at President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic and in particular the reopening of schools. While other nations around the world have managed to reopen in-person schools in a safe and organized fashion, in the US, patch work policies have led to uneven, unequal, and unsafe school re-openings.

Kevin Kumashiro, former Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, founding member of several education-related initiatives including EDJE (Education Deans for Justice and Equity), CARE-ED (California Alliance of Researchers for Equity in Education) and more. He is also the Education Correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.