Reopening schools will be a huge undertaking. It must be done.

The New York Times editorial (Last of two parts)

Officials need to think outside the building. Some fall classes could be held in the open air, or under tents with no walls — spaces in which the available evidence suggests transmission risks also are much lower. In Denmark, schools held spring classes on playgrounds, in public parks and even in the stands of the national soccer stadium.

Some states, including Florida, Minnesota and Connecticut, have encouraged schools to use available outdoor space. Particularly in cities, where space is scarce, officials should give serious consideration to closing streets around schools and holding classes there.

Under the circumstances, public education is surely the best use of those public spaces.

Outdoor education is not a cure-all. Students still would need to use shared bathrooms. Equipment still would need to be stored in buildings. Environmental conditions also are a limiting factor: heat, rain, high winds — and air pollution.

But American communities need to choose among the available options.

The limits of virtual classrooms were on painful display this spring. While some students thrived, or at least continued to learn, others faded away. Boston reported that roughly 20 percent of enrolled students never logged in. In Los Angeles, one-third of high school students failed to participate. In Washington, D.C., the school system simply gave up and ended the school year three weeks early. Evidence suggests schools particularly struggled to reach lowerincome kids, exacerbating performance gaps.

The closures also have also deprived students of time with friends, limited their access to reliable meals, physical and mental health care and reduced the availability of support for those with special needs. Students have been thrown back on the resources of their families, and in every dimension, those with the fewest resources have tended to suffer most — a pattern certain to continue in the fall.

The economic damage is real, too. The consulting firm McKinsey estimates that 27 million American workers require child care, which includes schools, to return to full-time work.

Many teachers, and parents, are wary of reopening schools. They fear policymakers will cut corners and safety measures will prove inadequate. These fears have been reinforced by the president and by Vice President Mike Pence, both of whom have publicly encouraged corner-cutting. Such a strategy is willfully shortsighted. It might succeed in reopening schools for a time, but it is not likely to allow schools to remain open.

This week, the president and vice president called on the CDC to relax its public health guidelines for safely reopening schools. The agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, refused. The lesson here is for local officials to ignore the president, as well. Take the measure of the best available science, implement the necessary safety measures and maximize the amount of time that children can spend in classrooms.