Back in mid-May, President Trump said, “I think you should absolutely open the schools. I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed.”
Adding that “It’s very important,” he hasn’t changed course to this day.
In fact, he’s now threatened to withhold federal dollars from schools that remain closed while also suggesting those dollars be tied to the students, not the unopened districts.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos agrees. As she’s put it: “Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if schools need to open. Its’ a matter of how schools must reopen. They must be fully operational, and how that happens is best left to education and community leaders.”
Following suit is Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Asarwho who believes in-person classes can work if everyone acts with “good individual responsibility.”
As for the CDC’s current position, Director Robert Redfield believes the key to controlling the spread will be the wearing of masks in school and hand-washing
Among the organization’s current recommendations, subject to change:
- Students and teachers should wear masks whenever reasonable.
- Enforce social distancing.
- Keep desks six feet apart.
- Stagger schedules.
- Lunches eaten in classrooms, not cafeterias.
- Erect barriers between bathroom sinks.
Also in favor of returning to in-school teaching is the American Academy of Pediatrics. It’s position: “While district leaders should work to mitigate the risk of spreading the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in schools.”
The reasoning: a whole host of problems including the COVID slide’s 30% literacy loss and 50% to 100% math loss among students, child abuse, stress/anxiety, depression and, suicidal behavior in children and teens already in evidence.
Perhaps that explains Florida Governor DeSantis’s push for in-class learning, and his Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s recent order for public schools to open five days a week despite the surge.
Whatever the reasoning, many parents are all in. For instance, of the 22,000 surveyed in Florida’s Marion County, 70% indicated they’ll send their kids to school come August.
Bolstering such stands is USA Today’s Erin Richards’ reporting that, “New research has continued to suggest children are less susceptible to contracting the virus and getting sick from it compared to adults. And they may not pass it to adults as readily as was once thought.”
Convinced?
I would love for those making such recommendations to fill the shoes of a teacher this coming school year – any level- for just one week! From constantly reminding students to wear their masks, to socially distance, to miraculously reconfiguring their classroom to fit desks to the suggested 6ft. apart, as well as to finding more planning time to reconfigure lesson plans for blended in class and on line learning… and then to wondering what the school district will delete from the budget in order to pay for the erected barriers between bathroom sinks (that hopefully students will not eventually demolish!) – such would be their new reality! The CDC needs to listen to educators before writing recommendations, and that should not include Betsy DeVos!
Seems like a no-win situation. Just now posted a piece highlighting polls on what leaders, parents, and teachers are saying about reopening in the fall. If still shuttered, fall remote learning has got to be a whole lot better than what kids got in the spring. Meanwhile, I love hearing from you and thank you for taking the time to comment. I miss you and pray all is very well.