School hurdles: Districts across U.S. battle reopening problems such as reluctant parents, insufficient space.
Parent fears, distancing, transportation are issues
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The latest federal coronavirus relief package includes $81 billion that began flowing to states this week with the goal of helping schools reopen quickly – with one obstacle being that many of the districts’ problems can’t be solved by money.
Many parents want to keep their children home. Teachers have pushed back at reopening plans. And some districts say state guidelines on social distancing keep them from bringing all students back at once.
The money is welcome assistance for districts that have had to spend enormous sums on ventilation systems, laptops and protective equipment. With the end of the academic year approaching quickly, however, many are looking ahead to how to best spend the new money next fall.
For some districts that have yet to bring large number of students back to classrooms, no amount of money can help in the near term.
The Hillsboro School District, one of Oregon’s largest, planned to begin introducing limited in-person learning for some students this month. It cannot bring all students back full time because of guidelines on issues such as social distancing and bus transportation, said Beth Graser, a district spokesperson.
“There simply aren’t people to hire to drive the buses we have, much less the fact that we would need to go through a purchasing process to secure additional buses if we were to increase our fleet to the point where we could feasibly overcome the transportation constraints,” Graser wrote in an email.
The money released this week is part of $122 billion included for K-12 schools in the $1.9 trillion virus relief bill. Schools are strategizing how to use the money over the next couple of years to undo the pandemic’s damage to the pace of learning and students’ mental well-being.
Nearly half of U.S. elementary schools were open for full-time classroom learning as of last month, according to a survey by the administration of President Joe Biden, who has pledged to have most K-8 schools open full time in his first 100 days in office.
While the administration touted the relief package as a way to help reopen schools, officials in some districts say they won’t tap into the new funding for months.
About 60 of the 77 large urban districts that make up the Council of the Great City Schools are at least partially open, Executive Director Michael Casserly said, and most of the rest already had plans to reopen by the middle of April. The new funding will help with the return to in-person learning, he said.
“There’s a fair amount of money that will go to just efforts to reopen the buildings and make sure that everybody is safe,” he said. “Those will be one-time expenditures that the school districts will make that won’t necessarily build any long-term capacity, but they will help open the doors.”