A recent nationwide survey of school superintendents showed that 94 percent of them aren’t ready to announce when they’ll reopen classrooms for the 2020-2021 school year. That uncertainty is extremely concerning. Too much learning has already been lost because of the abrupt school shutdown in mid-March caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Students have lost ground, and racial and economic gaps in achievement have widened. Schools need to reopen.
How to do that safely, though, is a confounding question. The threat from the deadly virus — for which there is currently no effective therapy or vaccine — has by no means diminished, evident in the spike in infections in states that rushed to reopen without adequate safeguards. No one knows whether the situation will be better or worse in the fall. Plans being developed to return students in school districts such as Loudoun, Fairfax and Montgomery have already caused anxiety — and sparked some protests — from parents and teachers on a range of safety and logistical concerns.
But as the country feels its way toward reopening, weighing risks against benefits, there is no greater imperative than getting children back into classrooms. Remote instruction can certainly play a role, but it has proved to be a mixed bag — more successful for students with resources and supports — and is no substitute for students learning with peers and teacher present to gauge progress. Economic recovery also depends on schools reopening so parents can return to work.
When schools do reopen, virtually every aspect of schooling will be altered. There will be a mix of in-person and remote learning; stringent sanitation and protective measures; and an overhaul of schedules and routines to meet the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some districts are contemplating staggered days for students. Among the challenges: adapting facilities that in many cases are already overloaded; figuring out the logistics of busing to maintain social distancing; and accommodating teachers and other school personnel who have health reasons to fear returning to the classroom.
Complicating matters is uncertainty about risks posed to or by children. Increasingly, research suggests that children are less likely to catch the virus and less likely to spread it than adults, but the science is far from definitive, partly because studies were done when schools were closed and families in virtual lockdown. Austria, Denmark and Germany have all begun reopening schools and have not experienced any significant increases in new cases, but South Korea and Beijing had to reclose some schools after reopening brought new outbreaks. Israel put has put thousands of students and staff in quarantine.
It is unrealistic to expect schools to meet these challenges without additional resources, much less with — as some states are threatening — cuts to school budgets. The Cares Act passed by Congress in March included about $13 billion for K-12 schools, but schools need more. The House included an additional $58 billion in a recovery bill it passed last month, but the Senate has yet to take up the legislation. If state and federal officials are serious about putting children back in classrooms this year, time is running short to provide the needed resources.
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