If precautions not taken, back to school ill-advised

We must face reality: If schools go back to normal in the midst of this pandemic, they will eventually have to close intermittently due to eventual outbreaks among students. So, let’s focus on creating a plan.

Virtual school comes with consequences. I don’t want to minimize abuse, hunger, mental and physical wellness, or the economic strains. Again, we will be shutting down intermittently and seeing those effects anyway. Death also shouldn’t be minimized. People not growing up with moms, dads, wives, husbands — or the death of a favorite teacher — is also not something to minimize.

Let’s focus energy on creative solutions that will give students a sense of normalcy even if they have to be educated virtually for a period or for the entire school year.

The first priority should be to collaborate with city officials to create Wi-Fi hot spots in neighborhoods without reliable internet. Schools need to create space for families to collaborate with educators on implementing neighborhood micro-schools, where neighborhoods can create their own social-bubbles to have a routine school schedule. This would allow single parents to have someone watch their child as they work and/or for parents to specialize in subjects and/or activities. The shared caring of the children and the increased social interactions would ease emotional strain. This would all be family led with schools connecting interested volunteer families and providing assistance to foster communication and structure. Facilitators would act as consults to help with the unique needs of the families and partner with teachers.

Micro-schools wouldn’t work for all. However, there are plenty of ideas that would benefit all. We could plan the logistics and create schedules for travelling translators, tutoring groups that assist students and families, meal services that arrive close to vulnerable neighborhoods where transportation is limited, counseling and mental health interventions, a wellness bus with nurses and social workers, P.E. coaches to encourage activity, and libraries that might also include story time. And, yes, socially distanced outdoors would be the main space where all of this would occur with traveling partitions when needed. If a student needed to get on a wellness, counseling or library bus, then masks and limited capacity guidelines would be followed.

Let’s also open in such a way that we can physically be in school for as long as possible.

I work as a teacher in the Springdale School District. A reasonable approach to open school in the fall would be to continue virtual education until positive covid-19 rates in the district, which is in Washington and Benton counties, are 5% or less. If positive rates uptick beyond 5%, we shut down until the rate has been steady at 5% or declined for two weeks. Or, if a student has tested positive for or been exposed to covid-19 in the home, then the student’s individual school should close for two weeks if logistics and/or contact tracing can’t pinpoint others exposed. Then, upon opening, schools would follow these steps:

1. Provide teachers with double-layered surgical masks or N95 masks if the supply has sufficiently increased so that all health care workers’ needs are met. The masks should include a window to show their mouth for students with language

2. Student temperature screens daily.

3. To ensure teachers stay home when sick, if a teacher screens positive for covid-19, the teacher would receive 14 extra sick days with disability starting on 15th day. Districts should offer special long-term disability options.

4. Mandatory masks for all in all indoor spaces and when traveling between buildings for students without sensory issues and those in 5th grade and up, unless data changes and indicates otherwise.

5. Mandatory masks for all outdoor spaces where social distancing may be impeded except for those with sensory issues and in 5th grade and up.

6. Shrink the student body at the school at any given time to ensure social distancing. This would include either a half day schedule, with students split into afternoon and morning sessions, with grab-and-go lunches or an A/B schedule where students go to school 2 days a week, then the other half of students attend a different two days.

7. Decrease class sizes to allow for six feet of social distancing.

8. All bathrooms must have hot water for washing hands or install sanitation stations.

9. Provide teachers with disinfectant supplies.

10. Virtual meetings with families should be the norm with limited exceptions.

These requests don’t address substitutes, ventilation issues, physical class size differences, buses, recess for younger grades, scheduling bathroom breaks, specifics related to structured education classrooms with self-contained students, the logistics of minimizing adult contact between faculty, staff and families, etc. Also, as new data come out it is possible that elementary and older grades will need two different plans if peer-reviewed data indicate elementary schools have low rates of covid-19 transmission.

If these can’t be implemented due to funding, political will, time, or ability, then we can’t do traditional face-to-face school during this global pandemic.

Wars happen, natural disasters happen and global pandemics happen. I know being in classrooms with students is important. However, that won’t happen this year like we want. Let’s face reality and have transparent meetings with all stakeholders so we don’t repeat last spring.

Hannah Mhoon is a National Board-certified social studies teacher at Springdale High School. Her submission does not necessarily represent the views of the school district.