School or online: Choosing what’s best for your child
“Across the country, parents are wrestling with how and where students should learn,” said Bob Musinski in USNews.com. Often, families don’t have much choice. But if you are still deciding between all-virtual and a combination of virtual and in-person learning (a solution many schools are using to keep classes small), you should consider three factors first: the age of the child, the infection rate in your community, and the health of everyone in your household. Younger children are more likely to struggle if they receive no in-person instruction. But consider the classroom option only if the local infection rate is below 5 percent—minimizing the odds that any small group will include an infected person. And realize that even low odds may be too great if someone at home has a preexisting condition such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or obesity.
Of course, “there’s no such thing as zero risk,” said NPR.org. But you can better evaluate and perhaps reduce the perils by scrutinizing your school’s reopening plan and asking questions of administrators, including what they will do if a student or teacher tests positive. Many schools will be encouraging physical distancing by staggering students’ schedules, breaking large classes into smaller “pods,” and moving some academic instruction into gyms and auditoriums. Ventilation is also crucial, so ask how the school will maximize airflow. If you can’t drive your children to school, ask whether the bus driver will enforce distancing and keep windows open. Most importantly, “look for consistent, mandatory mask usage for kids and adults.”
Don’t expect there to be “one right answer” to the back-to-school dilemma, even for your child, said Pooja Lakshmin in The New York Times. The CDC recently published a “school decisionmaking tool” that can help with the choice, and using such a detailed risk assessment system allows you to be appropriately deliberate in your thinking. Once you have decided, don’t dwell on things you can’t control, such as what other families are doing to discourage Covid’s spread, because “the dogged search for certainty can itself lead to distress.” Right now the best you can do is assess and mitigate risks, accept uncertainty, and above all remain flexible, because schools that are open now or in September may close again anyway. “The pandemic has only intensified what parents everywhere have long known: Parenting is an exercise in surrender.” You do the best you can, and if you’re smart, you credit yourself for the effort. “While no parent is feeling particularly confident about the school options available to them, it is possible to feel good about the process you use to make those decisions.”