My dad sent me an article (he likes to avidly read opposing viewpoints) that outlines many of the arguments being made by people opposed to school building closures. I read three paragraphs before I had to take a break, but I went back and finished it. While I don’t want to address everything in this misguided opinion piece, I want to speak to three assertions. (I won’t link to the article. Google if it you want….)
1. “Chicago schools, meantime, won’t open until November, at least.”
I was guilty of this error in my widely shared post from Wednesday, “Why I’m Advocating for Virtual School This Fall“. In the final sentence, I said, “It is not possible today, almost anywhere in the United States, to safely reopen schools at full capacity.”
I meant school buildings. Of course virtual learning is different, and needs to be reinvented for mass use. But it’s plain wrong to say Chicago schools won’t open until November. Chicago school buildings, yes, but not Chicago schools. If your primary definition of schools is their buildings, perhaps you aren’t prioritizing the right parts of education.
2. “Today, moreover, schools provide important child-care services. As Goldman Sachs found, if schools don’t open, an estimated 15 percent of America’s labor force can’t return to work.”
If child-care services are what you consider a vital function of school, then you once again are prioritizing the wrong parts of education. Certainly it’s useful; it’s not a justification for packing 100% of students back into poorly-ventilated classrooms. Many school districts are devising innovative plans to provide child-care services for those families that need it, as well as making in-person learning available for cognitively-impaired and other special needs students. My own district is extending its “Before and After Care” to offer full-day child-care for families in need. It gets the job done for families who need it, and radically reduces community-wide exposure by limiting the number of people who interact day-to-day.
3. “A typical flu season kills more children than Covid-19 has so far.”
A typical flu season kills more children the Covid-19 not because it’s more dangerous. We don’t know that. It kills more children because we do not typically close schools for flu outbreaks until after they have reached super-spreader levels. Schools are regularly open when dozens – even 100 or more – students are home sick. Students are routinely sent to school sick. (I’ve been in the front offices of elementary schools when the kids’ Tylenol wears off around lunchtime.) Schools across our country still give out “Perfect Attendance” awards that offer a strong motivation for kids to ignore illness and come to school, where they can be a vector for illness. Of course the flu kills more kids annually than Covid-19 has so far.
Every teacher I know is working more than usual during their “Summer Vacation” (it’s not a actually a vacation) to make sure their kids are given the best educational experience possible. It won’t be what we’re used to, but it’s the right call.
(Tomorrow I’m going to write about one more argument – one that needs a deeper dive.)