Back to school… for a while

Bill Knight column for 8-6, 7 or 8, 2020

Uncertainty marks back-to-school time as parents of 56.6 million American kids this month dread exposing their children to illness or sacrificing their education.

Those are terrible choices in current circumstances.

Epidemiologists’ COVKID Project this week reported 317,711 cases of the virus in U.S. children, with 805 ICU hospitalizations and 77 deaths. The nation’s daily coronavirus death toll tops 1,000; more than 150,000 Americans have died from it. July’s infections doubled June’s. U.S. hospitalizations related to COVID-19 went from 36,158 July 1 to 52,767 July 31, the Washington Post reported.

President Trump suggested postponing November’s election but insisted schools re-open.

Illinois averaged 1,091 new cases a day in July, school football and volleyball are postponed, and Gov. Pritzker warns that a return to normal is unlikely this year.

Meanwhile, last week, more than 150 medical experts and others urged leaders to “shut it down now and start over,” and Johns Hopkins University issued a report recommending “changes in the U.S. approach to COVID-19 [by] re-setting our response.”

Polls show 71% of parents think there’s a large/moderate risk in sending their kids back to school this fall (Axios-Ipsos, July 14), but 65% of them are worried about their kids falling behind academically (Associated Press-NORC, July 23).

The pandemic's still here. The problem isn’t a “second wave,” experts say. It’s that too many people ignoring

Schools are “high contact” zones, health officials caution, and some clusters of infection have been traced to youth activities. And in the first week back to school in Indiana, a junior high school in Greenfield and two schools in Clark County reported students testing positive, forcing everyone who’d had contact with them to self-quarantine.

Young people are less likely to have a severe outcome from COVID-19, but they transmit the virus, including to those with elevated risks and especially within their homes. Also, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, 3.3 million U.S. households with school-age kids have someone older than 65 (and therefore at-risk) living there, too, and 24% of all educators are particularly susceptible due to underlying health conditions.

Schools provide learning, of course, plus social interaction, meals and stability. But will it be stable?

The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association together last week issued a call to start the year online saying, “Absent a practical safety plan, we call for the 2020-21 school year to begin with remote learning.”

If not, the union leaders say, “No avenue or action is off the table, including health and safety strikes.

Objections aren’t just from classroom personnel. The American Federation of School Administrators, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National School Boards Association all point to the federal government’s failure to fund schools’ new expenses, which they say will be $158 billion to $244 billion nationally.

Finally, teachers shouldn’t be expected to fill in for inadequate intervention by the federal government or Federal Reserve by propping up a crashing economy by providing child-care while risking their health or their classes’ well-being.

“We are working to provide the best possible education we can with the limited resources provided,” a Regional Superintendent told me. “Educators are having the burden of the economy and families needing to go back to work put on our shoulders. We are also having the burden of keeping everyone safe and healthy laid at our feet.  Our core mandate is to educate.  This is what we are good at and what we are trained for.”

Schools using various efforts will mostly reopen. But until the pandemic recedes – until government and individuals take the deadly threat seriously – don’t count on re-opened schools staying open.