Science must guide how schools reopen

The decision on how and when to reopen schools was hard enough before President Donald Trump this week injected politics into the issue.

Staying in character with another simplistic, bombastic declaration that ignores the nuances of the coronavirus, he tweeted Monday that “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL.” Never mind that cases of the coronavirus continue to surge at alarming levels across the country, including here in California, and many hospitals are nearing capacity while Trump does nothing to slow the spread.

He ramped up the pressure Wednesday by threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that do not resume inperson classes this fall, which is absurd for many and puts the lives of students, teachers and staff on the line for political reasons. Trump instead should pressure Congress to provide additional funding needed to make schools safer to reopen.

The president also attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s reasonable guidelines for reopening schools, calling its emphasis on safety, social distancing and remote learning too expensive and impractical. The CDC, however, decided it would not revise its guidelines, but will instead add “reference documents.” “Our guidelines are our guidelines, but we are going to provide additional reference documents to aid basically communities in trying to open K-through-12s,” said agency Director Dr. Robert Redfield on Good Morning America. “It’s not a revision of the guidelines; it’s just to provide additional information to help schools be able to use the guidance we put forward.”

Fortunately, Trump doesn’t make the final call on reopening schools. That decision is immensely complex and should be made by health and school officials based on science, not politics. Clearly, the surge in Yolo County cases must be slowed considerably before local schools reopen their doors.

The challenge will be balancing the value of reopening schools with the need for safety. Our children are already suffering academically and emotionally from being kept out of the classroom. Moreover, the economy cannot fully recover until parents have the ability to focus on work during school hours.

But reopening schools must be done prudently.

Yolo County education officials are preparing reasonable protocols for schools to reopen, which include both distance learning and in-classroom learning.

Health and school officials must consider a wide range of issues, including:

• Age of the students. Elementary students are less likely to contract and spread the coronavirus than high school students. Elementary students can more easily be contained in a single classroom with a single teacher.

• Design and availability of classrooms. Schools need extra space for appropriate physical distancing for students, teachers and staff. Newer, upto-date schools such as Spring Lake Elementary have better ventilation than say Woodland High, which reduces the risk of infection.

• School district finances. Schools need additional revenues to clean facilities, revamp classrooms, purchase protective equipment, conduct testing and implement safety protocols.

• Equal opportunities for students. Some schools will inevitably be forced to conduct full-time or part-time remote learning. But poorer families don’t have equal access to computers or the internet, although the Woodland district has provided computers to students.

Trump noted in one of his tweets this week that countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have reopened their schools with “no problems.” He failed to mention that, with the exception of Sweden, they first established national strategies to sharply reduce the number of cases of the coronavirus and then mandated strict national protocols for schools.

Denmark, for example, has implemented hourly handwashing and established enough classroom space to limit children to small groups of no more than 12 children, creating a virtual cocoon with no crossover with others. It is also conducting classes outside and in parks, whenever possible.

California and Yolo County are learning the hard way that dealing with the coronavirus threat requires patience and careful planning. Trump lacks both skills. The decision on when and how to prudently reopen local schools should be left in the hands of health and school officials.