No Perfect Solution in a Virtual or Open School

Officials, parents, and others argue that the schools need to be safer and more sanitized – proper spacing between people, testing, and ventilation. Those for continuing 100 percent virtual learning argue that it is safer for the children, safer for the adults working around them who could contract the virus, and safer for their families and others who interact with the children. Those who argue for either hybrid or returning students fully to the classrooms argue that educationally, mentally, and socially students need to interact with other students and obtain that in-person instruction.

An article by Sophie Bushwick appeared in Scientific America titled: Schools Have No Good Options for Reopening during COVID-19 Bringing students back into classrooms or keeping them home can both have negative consequences.

This article and crisis are important because there is no perfect solution to: giving students a quality education regardless of area and background, and keeping students, school staff, and families safe from Covid-19 contact once students return to classes. There is also no perfect solution to keeping everyone safe. School Boards and School Districts across the country are grappling with students either continuing in-person learning, continuing virtual learning, or doing hybrid forms of in-person and at-home learning. Some school districts are moving to reopen schools, but with rising Covid-19 numbers, may find the need to reclose them.

Bushwick wrote that: “Several of these measures—improving ventilation, having some children attend classes virtually, and providing fast and regular tests—will be inconvenient and require additional funding, potentially from the federal government. Perhaps because of this difficulty (as well as political pressure from some who insist that enforcing pandemic precautions is unnecessary or overly intrusive), many schools have pushed to physically reopen without the requisite precautions. Last month Florida and Iowa announced that schools must provide in-person instruction, despite the fact that COVID-19 cases were rising in both states. In Georgia, photographs of mostly mask less high school students crowding a hallway spread on social media. After nine people tested positive for COVID-19, the school had to institute online-only learning while the building was closed for cleaning. Without safety measures—or with sudden spikes in community spread—other schools may reopen only to quickly close campuses as well.”

Many solutions could better the situation with school students and staffers dealing with returning or studying virtually in schools. Federal and state resources should fund parents who cannot afford high-speed internet or Wi-Fi. All students and school staff should be tested each day of school. If school staffers test positive, they should be able to stay home and get paid until they present negative testing. All students and all staff should have the ability to fully choose whether they want to work virtually, on-site, or do a hybrid form. I believe in a quality education for all – one that helps all, safeguards all, offers or helps gain access to quality internet access for all, and provides a quality education for all.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/schools-have-no-good-options-for-reopening-during-covid-19/