Are we ready?

Need plan to open schools safely

The question weighing on all our minds is whether schools should reopen as scheduled. The governor has directed school districts to open on-site, but he expects them to be prepared to switch to virtual learning in the case of positive covid-19 students, teachers or staff. The governor and secretaries of health and education have admitted this will happen.

School districts, even individual schools, have been given wide latitude and little guidance on how to create a safe environment. Many schools are offering a variety of options, leaving it to parents and caregivers to decide what’s best for their children. Some students will not return at all and opt for all virtual learning. Others may return, but on a reduced two-dayper-week schedule. Some will return on a regular full-time schedule.

However, we all seem to understand that even if schools do open on time, there is a high probability they will have to close and move to all virtual learning at some point during the semester. Students and their families are faced with a tough decision, one that seems impossible to make in the face of such uncertainty and lack of information. Should we be asking them to make it at all?

I have spoken with distressed parents, students, educators, school faculty and support staff, administrators, and community members who are concerned about reopening schools for on-site learning during the current out-of-control spread of covid-19 in our community and state. Many are fearful that going back will only increase the spread of the virus at a time when containment is crucial— for our health and safety and for the economy.

Others are concerned that without on-site learning, parents will not be able to return to work, students will miss out on important social and developmental opportunities, and our most vulnerable students and families will suffer. Kids will be hungry, some will be at a greater risk of physical and mental abuse, the achievement gap will increase, and kids with special needs will not have access to crucial services provided in the school setting.

I share all of these concerns, but the hard, awful truth is that we are not ready to open schools.

If we do move forward with opening this month, we put our children, our teachers, our school administrators, faculty and support staff, and our community at great risk. There is no data for returning to school with the high community spread we are currently experiencing. The countries that have moved forward with opening schools had successfully quelled the virus prior to opening. We failed to take many of the same steps they took.

It is easy to predict a scenario where our outcomes are much worse than those in other countries because we don’t have sufficient rapid testing or contact tracing in place to contain any virus spread related to schools. We still only have preliminary data on how transmissible the virus is in kids, we are just learning about the longterm effects of this virus on children and adults, we don’t have adequate treatments or a proven vaccine, nor do we have enough information about immunity build-up or re-infection potential. It is difficult, if not impossible, for most schools to implement the safety measures needed to make educational buildings safe, especially with limited guidance and funding from federal and state governments.

This is an incredibly complex issue, wrought with difficult, seemingly insurmountable problems. After months of collaborating with constituents, health experts, lawmakers and stakeholders, I have concluded that we should begin with entirely virtual learning and delay in-person learning. Many large school districts and colleges have already made this commitment to keep the safety of children, teachers, and any other school employees as the priority for guiding their decisions.

In the meantime, we need to introduce robust, community-based strategies to reopen schools as safely as possible.

We need to set up “tripwires” based on community prevalence thresholds to help us decide when we should reopen and to subsequently close down should it be necessary. We need to have clear, consistent messaging and action plans for this imperative. We need to collaborate with community stakeholders and experts to create these frameworks.

Instead of creating false, partisan-based dichotomies by suggesting this is about those for reopening and against reopening, let’s shift the conversation and start talking about what we can do as a community to get to the point where we can open schools safely. No one is disputing the value of in-person school or the significant cost that children and families will continue to endure with these decisions. We must proceed with humility, understand that we all must sacrifice during this pandemic, and adapt to new information.

Let’s talk about what we can do as lawmakers, educators, business and community leaders to provide alternative safety nets to the most marginalized in our community. Let’s make a better, safer plan. Let’s all get to work.