Grim Reapers Join Protesting "Karens" Who Want To Send Their Kids Back To School

While the debate about sending kids back to school is still raging, the federal government has given schools guidelines for reopening as scheduled this fall. With back-to-school day closer than ever, many parents and teachers have openly expressed their skepticism. Read about more about what people have to say on the matter in our previous posts here and here.

But some parents are more than eager to send their kids back to school amid the pandemic. Moms who were not happy with Houston ISD's decision to switch to online classes for fall gathered for a Red Apple protest to make their voices heard. And they were not the only ones.

Right next to them, two pitch-dark grim reapers were holding their signs asking to “Open Schools Now!” in a satirical move that meant exactly the opposite. The all-telling picture was shared by Twitter user Atro Spell with the caption “Grim Reapers protesting with Karens to open schools in Houston.” It quickly blew up on social media with 72K retweets and comments as well as 270.5K likes, with many praising the reapers not only for wearing black cloaks in Houston in summer, but also that.

Houston ISD has decided that students will return to school in the fall, but virtually. Lydia Zatopek of Harris County Department of Education commented on its decision to ABC News: "Let's try this out. Hopefully, this isn't going to last very long. If things improve, there will be some opportunities for back to face-to-face learning. We'll see how it goes."

However, a group of parents from West University Elementary School were far from happy with the decision. One of them, mom Christine Flood said: “Children thrive from social interaction, learning from their peers, competing with their peers, comparing themselves to their peers, putting on clothes and presenting themselves, and learning manners each day inside the classroom."

While parents claim to understand the threat of Covid-19, they feel like there shouldn’t be a "one size fits all” approach applied to their children. As a result, they are said to be gathering for Red Apple protests every Monday at West University Elementary School at 8 a.m. “until their request is taken seriously or HISD reverses its decision,” reports ABC News.