Our view: Try to find ways to reopen schools this fall
As the nation’s 13,000 school districts grapple with how and whether to resume in-person student attendance this fall, there should be one guiding principle: Try to reopen schools, with appropriate safety precautions, wherever possible.
Science is unsettled on the health risk of sending children to classes during a pandemic, but there’s no question about the harm that will ensue if they stay home. “The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring,” the American Academy of Pediatrics wrote in an analysis last month.
Recent studies found that children lost months of academic ground in reading and math after classes were canceled as COVID-19 emerged. The impact fell disproportionately on students from lower-income, rural and minority households. In many instances, the educational deficits were the result of a lack of personal computers, internet access and, in many districts, live teacher instructions over video.
Beyond learning, more than 20 million children across the country rely on school meals for nutrition; 20% of child neglect and abuse cases are identified by school counselors and social workers. And there are economic impacts when parents are unable to go to work because their stay-at-home children must be cared for.
That said, it can be a heart-wrenching decision for parents to send their children back to school, whether five days a week or some hybrid of in-person and distance learning. Millions will agonize over the calculations of their child falling ill, or bringing the virus back to a home where there might be an at-risk family member.
The tentative good news is that children appear to be far more resilient to the virus than adults. An early analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that while Americans under 18 constitute 22% of the population, they represented fewer than 2% of coronavirus cases. Where infections occurred, they tended be mild.
Low risk doesn’t mean no risk. Some children do suffer serious health consequences, and it’s unclear to what degree they can be carriers. Israel reopened schools in early May under scheduling and class-size restrictions. When the restrictions were lifted within a few weeks, infections surfaced and classrooms were once again shuttered.
Appropriate precautions would seem essential: staggered schedules; requiring students, teachers and staff to wear masks much of the time when practical; imposing a measure of social distancing; sanitizing surfaces; requiring the washing of hands; restricting assemblies of large groups of students (allowing them to eat their lunches at desks, for example, rather than in a cafeteria) and special accommodations for high-risk individuals.
This is complicated and costly, though you wouldn’t know it from the White House rhetoric. Much as President Donald Trump ignored his administration’s scientists in April and pressed states to reopen quickly, he’s now demanding in-person class attendance five days a week come fall, criticizing CDC guidelines as too much trouble and threatening to cut off federal aid to districts that don’t comply.
Actually, schools need more money, not less, to help pay for the protective gear, additional staffing, screening devices and classroom retrofitting required to reopen. Fortunately, the House has already approved funding for this, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he is open to additional relief.
There’ll be no one-size-fits-all solution. Decisions should be locally based and reflect community prevalence of COVID-19. The call will be particularly tough in states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas where the virus is surging. But outside the hottest hot spots, every reasonable effort should be made to get kids back in class this fall.