This article by Yinon Weiss at RealClearPolitics catalogs the evidence supporting the safety of reopening schools, concluding:
If children are at minimal risk, transmission to adults is rare, and both can be accommodated with optional distance learning, why are some schools suspending all in-person education? It’s certainly not because of the parents, who would be the last people to send their children into a dangerous situation. The vast majority of parents support reopening schools with modifications, perhaps because they best understand the cost-benefit of depriving their children of a full education.
The reason many schools won’t open, just like why so many places originally locked down, comes back to fear and politics.
I think he’s missing something basic. The teachers’ unions will inevitably be focused on the safety of the oldest and most health-impaired teachers. There are a vast number of such impairments to consider—everything from suppressed immune systems to autoimmune diseases to obesity and COPD.
What disappoints me is the framing of the question. Resuming with whatever form of pedagogy is most effective for individual students should be a constraint rather than a variable. The question should never have been “whether” but “how”.
Here in my area the school district is attempting a two-track approach – a modified in-school option for some students, and an online-only option for others. Parents submitted surveys so the district can judge what parents desire.
But we are having a spike in cases here and the state is starting to clamp down on restrictions again and it’s entirely possible that the planned in-school option will be invalidated by state mandates. So the districts here have delayed school opening.
Another factor is funding. The state has a revenue shortfall of 25% which was only partially offset by the previous federal assistance package. We have TABOR here so and strict spending restrictions, so we can’t borrow. K-12 funding for this year, based on the recently passed budget, is declining by 15%.
And of course there is bureaucracy. I think our district is better than most I’ve experienced, but the decision-making system isn’t designed to be able to plan and implement a wholesale change in education delivery on a short timeline.
A lot of parents I know have said “screw it” and just pulled their kids out and plan to homeschool.
I’d say about half the teachers I know are in the “any in-person education is a death sentence” camp and the other half are want to see some kind of in-school education but are obviously concerned about the details. That seems to match parent expectations – I spent over two hours listening to parent comments at a recent (virtual) schoolboard meeting and I’d say about half believe that any kind of in-person education is irresponsible.
First, I dont think we are 100% sure about how well kids transmit the disease to adults. Pretty sure but not 100%. Would be nice if we had another confirmation study. That aside, while it seems most parents want their kids to go back, certainly not all do so do we accommodate those who dont want their kids to return?
Which leads to teachers and I think you are correct that they will probably be the issue. Should you have a 60 y/o teaching 1st grade or kindergarten? At that age I think kids needing a lot of close contact is unavoidable. Older teachers in general and those with chronic illnesses may be at risk.
How? Good question. If we were serious about it we would probably start training teachers now how to work in PPE. Heck, we would trial it now. Make sure that it is possible to teach and kids to learn. Need a strategy for when regular PPE doesnt fit. Might need longer breaks between classes especially for schools that dont have air conditioning. Those masks get hot. Need stronger substitutes plan for when teachers do get sick. Lots to do.
Steve
Yep. Hereabouts that’s 30-40% of teachers. Maybe more.
The obvious solution is to have the older, vulnerable teachers do online-only instruction while the younger, healthier teachers do the in-person instruction. The desire of many districts around the country to force an all-or-nothing program is both baffling and stupid.
“The obvious solution is to have the older, vulnerable teachers do online-only instruction while the younger, healthier teachers do the in-person instruction. ”
I predict that they younger teachers then ask why they take the risks while the older, probably more highly paid, older teachers do not.
Steve
Our schools plan to reopen with a similar two-track approach as it sounds like andy is describing. Teachers who don’t want to teach in person, even in a hybrid model, will be assigned to teaching students whose parents don’t want their students in the classroom. Today is the deadline for parents to register their children according to their preference and teachers to do the same. Monday, we’ll see if that works, and how the union mounts its opposition.
I think the fluidity of remote teachers being able to teach at different schools than their home school is interesting, and I wonder if parents/ teachers understand that their student might have a teacher from another school, and generally how parents and teachers feel about that.
My wife’s preferred model, in-person teaching with classes streamed for those to watch from home, is being adopted by one suburban school. She says the issue is that teachers don’t want to be taped. The largest private school district (Catholic) in the city appears to be following the same two-track approach as the city, while some of the smaller private schools, none of which I’ve heard of, are advertising in-school learning.
Illinois public school teachers are eligible to retire at age 55, more than seventy percent retire by age 60. Their options are better than most.
The local school boards around here started off with a two track approach, hybrid + online only. But within last week the school boards en masse reversed course and went online only.
It is irrational because the summer peak in cases arrived 4 weeks ago; hospitalizations did not go up much and are declining again.
From testing the outbreak seems under control with number of new cases per day is < 1/10000 per capita and a positivity rate of 3.7%.
What is the criteria for reopening schools now — until a vaccine arrives? Nobody says.
And private schools are mostly choosing to open. The consequences of all this is easy to forecast….
“Every Child Left Behind”
“I predict that they younger teachers then ask why they take the risks while the older, probably more highly paid, older teachers do not.”
I predict not. My 22 year old daughter, along with most of her colleagues understand the risks, and the costs to young kids being denied proper training. They want in class.
“Older teachers in general and those with chronic illnesses may be at risk.”
Which is also true of the risks of regular flu, or for construction workers working in heat and strenuous conditions, or those in high stress executive jobs, or race car drivers………..or pretty much anyone on the planet. Straw men all around. Covid has emerged as the zero expected risk excuse for every desired, and probably politically motivated, policy prescription.
We’ve lost our minds.
@CuriousOnlooker, I fear that’s where we’re headed. Yesterday, my county had the most new cases reported in a day, roughly 2.5 per 10K, with a positivity rate of 4.3%. There may be some bunching of test results here because the most popular testing facility was operated by the state, which pulled out to be replaced by the medical school a week later. The ten day average is about 1 new case per 10K.
I think there were already a vocal minority on the school board that wanted to delay the start of the school year to see how things shook out. But the school calendar is a subject of collective bargaining; its not up to the school board alone. The union might support the change; it might use its leverage to demand other concessions.
A lot of people have not thought this through.
If zoom is “good enough”; does the teacher need live within driving distance of the school. A student could learn French from a teacher who lives in France; or a Spanish teacher from a teacher in Spain; etc.
If school boards push parents far enough; teacher outsourcing will become a reality.
Teachers will avoid offshore competition the same way physicians and lawyers do: requiring (usually state-based) certification and licensing.
Curious,
I think that’s where we’re heading as well. A lot of the big districts have already done that (Denver) and it’s the “easiest” and “safest” option from the school’s perspective. I live in a “red” area of Colorado, but I don’t think that will matter in the end – especially if case counts keep rising.
I think those two factors will trump the moral and ethical obligations inherent to public education.
“Teachers will avoid offshore competition the same way physicians and lawyers do: requiring (usually state-based) certification and licensing.”
Homeschooling is the easy way to get around that, which is why teacher unions are so hostile to it.
“Which is also true of the risks of regular flu”
No it isn’t. We dont see 50-60 year old people dying of flu in any significant numbers like we do with Covid. A full flu season gives us 40-60K deaths. We are currently over 150K and not even through half a year.
“I predict not. My 22 year old daughter, along with most of her colleagues understand the risks”
Ahh, to be young and idealistic, and financially secure. That 40 y/o single parent teacher who doesnt have well to do family? Wait and see what they say. About 80% will agree but 20% will raise a fuss.
“If school boards push parents far enough; teacher outsourcing will become a reality.”
Have you seen the work rules in Spain? Not happening unless you can find a way around those.
Steve
There’s Mexico; Argentina; Chile….
Now I am reading certain localities are ordering private schools to close…..