William Galston, promoting what he calls “a grand bargain to reopen public schools”, states the issue pretty well, I think:
A balanced assessment of reopening schools must include the negative consequences of keeping them closed. For students without underlying conditions, the balance tilts toward reopening, in part because Covid-19 largely spares them from what older people suffer. This forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: The interests of students aren’t perfectly aligned with the interests of teachers and staff, for whom Covid-19 could be life-threatening.
and consider the costs and limitations:
Even in areas where the virus is under control, additional measures will be needed to protect the health of students, teachers and staff, which in turn will minimize the risks to parents and communities. Think masks and other personal protective equipment, a measure of social distancing, strictly enforced hand hygiene, weekly diagnostic testing supplemented by daily temperature checks, and clear procedures for quarantining infectious students and staff. Spaces within schools will have to be reconfigured, and some may need upgraded ventilation systems as well.
No one knows for sure how much all this will cost, but the sum will be substantial, with the federal government stepping up to support state budgets. If the next round of Covid-19 legislation doesn’t do this, many schools cannot be responsibly reopened. And at this late date, it makes no sense to condition federal aid on timetables for reopening that many jurisdictions can’t meet.
I think that some formula needs to be devised for determining just how much the federal government the federal government will “support state budgets”. It should be on a per capita basis or a per student basis or a need basis or some of all three but it should emphatically not be as a percentage of costs. The federal government should not be underwriting past bad policy decisions by state and local governments. Here in Chicago old bad decisions raise the costs of education by about 30% and that should not be borne by federal taxpayers.
He makes what to me looks like a prudent observation:
This said, making schools as resistant as possible to Covid-19 cannot mean making adults as safe from the pandemic as they would be at home. But as several gold-standard studies have emphasized, hunkering down has negative consequences for children and adolescents, including loneliness, lack of physical activity, substance abuse, depression and suicide.
and proposes hazard pay for teachers:
Unlike members of our all-volunteer military, teachers are being asked to run risks they didn’t sign up for. They should be given hazard pay for the duration of the pandemic, along with first-dollar health-insurance coverage for themselves and their families. But if teachers are to remain true to their long-held position that teaching is a vocation, they have responsibilities to others that go beyond self-interest.
There will also need to be some dramatic changes in work rules. For example, seniority cannot be the standard for work schedules or assignments.
FWIW – I’ve seen multiple reports that schools have opened in other countries and transmission from student to teacher or staff has not been an issue.
I’m not sure why, but those are the reports.
The Germans have claimed that children are a sort of firebreak against the virus: most don’t contract it and don’t spread it to adults or each other.
It might be interesting to do a herd immunity calculation that assuming arguendo that is the case.
The evidence is mixed, Israel seemed to do okay with their initial plans (essentially joining families of a class into “bubbles”, and reopening only for younger kids, who comply somewhat better with social distancing rules).
But when they switched to “everything is normal” mode and dropped all procedure changes, there were very bad outbreaks.
There’s a Chinese saying; “cross the river by feeling the stones”. Since no one has all the answers, let communities experiment how to minimize the risks of schools while maximizing the gains. And take feedback on what has worked/not worked for other countries.
That is the advantage of our decentralized system. But you also need to mitigate the risks (hence my comments about controlling interstate passenger traffic whether by air or road).
In Europe, proponents of returning to school relied on studies showing the value of a year’s education to future GDP, which are used to support investment in education, particularly those modeling the loss from absences and holidays. If these models are ballpark accurate, schools can’t afford to stay closed.
Our school has not announced its plans yet, but most seem to be going to A/B days of schools with shorter class times to allow for more teacher prep and classroom cleanings. We were not happy with the quality of on-line education in the Spring, and the three of us have have voiced our preference for in-person learning in the feedback surveys. I’m curious to see the results, the only school plan opening in this area, had 40% interested in on-line learning, but only a 30% participation rate in the survey.
The studies say who cannot afford it?
1) students from the lifelong loss of earnings?
2) society from the cost of supporting people without prospects of jobs?
3) public education system — the returns on funding a public education system decrease if schools are closed.
My preference would be a hybrid approach with some in-school teaching. But my family can flex. We did all online for a year before Covid, have done traditional school, and my middle child did a hybrid program for 8th grade. We’ll be fine whatever our district decides.
I worry about all the families for whom online is a non-starter. I’ve remained silent when my teacher friends talk about the risk they face from the “petri dish” of school and how it’s not fair, but for a single parent that has to work, it’s not exactly fair either. There has to be accommodation and flexible options to account for families in difficult situations. I would gladly take my three kids all online if it would free up space for needier families, but I’m skeptical that many school districts have the organizational capacity to think differently and implement viable alternatives in a timely manner.
In person teaching and learning is better for the majority of kids I think. Some take well to online learning but I dont think it works that well for most kids/people. We need to get kids back in school, just need to figure out when and how.
From the teacher’s POV I wonder how many this drives out of the profession? Maybe mostly by retirement? I love working with kids. I have a special team I have groomed to work with me taking care of kids. It just isn’t the same with masks and having to stay far apart most of the time. Takes a lot of the joy out of it.
Steve
People are living breathing herd organisms. To properly function and learn how to socialize they need to be around other humans. Much of the social pathology that has been spreading has been through social media, i.e. texting, Twitter, etc. where there is an almost total lack of physical contact Emoji’s just don’t cut it against smiles, frowns, puzzled looks, etc. Even Skyping only goes so far, you don’t hear the breathing, see the postures, inhale the smells of those you care for through a touch screen.
Forcing people to stay away from each other by instilling in them unwarranted fear of coming in contact is helping drive people even more crazy than they normally are.