BACK TO SCHOOL

Drastic safety measures are needed

If schools are to open next month, we’ve got to find a way to protect students and teachers from the novel coronavirus. School leaders need to listen to public health experts. Politicians calling for schools to open regardless of the severity of a community’s outbreak need to put testing and personal protective equipment where their words are.

Gov. Jared Polis drew the ire of teachers across Colorado last week by implying during an interview on Colorado Public Radio that teachers were at the same risk for contracting the virus as other front-line workers, like grocery store clerks. But he’s redeeming himself by pledging to provide every teacher in the state with one K95 masks — a step above surgical masks and below N95 masks — per week for at least the first eight weeks of school. Polis said on Thursday he hopes to be able to extend that commitment for another eight weeks.

Supplying teachers with masks is a start — some might say it’s the bare minimum. Real ingenuity is needed at this juncture in history to protect teachers, students, parents and the broader community.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos are using their platform to insist students go back to school like normal but neither have stepped up to offer constructive solutions. Instead of threatening to cut federal funds if schools don’t hold in-person education, Trump should be pledging additional federal funds (over and above what states have received in COVID disaster relief) to help schools open safely.

School districts are talking about staggering start times and limiting interactions among students, but we don’t think they’ve gone far enough. Districts need to look at finding alternative sites for additional classrooms to reduce the occupancy of school buildings. Class sizes need to be smaller than ever and in high schools and middle schools, traditional passing periods between classes need to be eliminated. That may mean high school students have fewer course options, take some classes online only and eat lunch in their classroom just like elementary school students.

The weakest part of the Denver Public Schools plan is the testing and contact tracing element, which could prove to be the most important element in a sound plan to reopen. We think school districts should ask employees and parents to waive their HIPPA rights and those of their children when it comes to sharing a positive coronavirus diagnosis with other parents and teachers. We’re not suggesting that schools should send out mass emails naming students with the virus, but schools also shouldn’t fear a lawsuit if the information they send allows someone to piece together which student tested positive.

Teachers frequently joke about the germs their kids share with them. But this year, it’s no joking matter. That’s because the coronavirus is much deadlier than the seasonal influenza viruses that circulate; there’s no vaccine for it and older teachers will face an even greater risk of severe illness. Teachers with increased risk factors for sever illness must be accommodated and moved to an online course setting if requested.

Children are at a much lower risk of developing serious complications with COVID-19, but that risk is not zero. Thousands of children in America have needed hospital care to recover from their coronavirus symptoms. In Colorado, the state is reporting that three children have died between the ages of 10 and 19.

Sending kids back to school without drastic protective measures in place could be disastrous for Colorado’s public health.

Members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are Megan Schrader, editor of the editorial pages; Lee Ann Colacioppo, editor; Justin Mock, CFO; Bill Reynolds, general manager/ senior vp circulation and production; Bob Kinney, vice president of information technology; and TJ Hutchinson, systems editor.