As pressure builds to reopen the nation’s schools, educators say schooling will be far different from the classrooms students and teachers departed last month.
The Washington Post reports that many district leaders are planning for an in-between scenario in which schools are open but children are spread out in places where they are normally packed together.
The new landscape could include one-way hallways, students and teachers in masks, and lunch inside classrooms instead of cafeterias.
Buses may operate at half capacity, and students may have their temperatures read before entering the building.
Officials also are considering having half the students attend school on certain days, and the rest receiving instruction at home. Then they would swap.
Many teachers are scared of returning to classrooms too early, and teachers unions are cautioning against it. Health experts warn that even if covid-19 cases abate, a second wave of infection could arrive with flu season later this year.
And many parents are terrified that a return to school would expose their children to a deadly disease.
Forty-three states plus the District of Columbia have ordered or recommended that schools remain closed this spring. Districts remain unsure whether they will be allowed to run in-person summer school.
White House guidelines call for schools to reopen in a second phase of recovery, after symptoms and cases of covid-19 in a state or region have been on the decline for at least two 14-day periods.
Further guidance being finalized offers detailed suggestions such as keeping children together in one group, spacing desks six feet apart, closing or limiting use of cafeterias and playgrounds and spreading out children on buses — all ideas that are already under consideration by school districts across the nation.
In New York City, there may be a combination of remote and in-person learning, or staggered starts, says Edie Sharp, chief of staff for the city schools.
Amid the planning, there’s plenty of skepticism. Parents, teachers and administrators fear political pressure will force a return before it is safe. Some dismiss the social distancing ideas under consideration as a joke, saying it would be nearly impossible to prevent virus transmission in a school.
It won’t be safe to reopen until there is “massive and accurate” testing, as well as contact tracing and isolation for those who are infected, says Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association.
She is frustrated by what she sees as inappropriate pressure from President Trump and worries it will lead to bad decisions. “We need evidence it’s safe for those kids to go back.”
Some schools simply might not be equipped to keep children safe. Hand-washing is part of any plan for reducing spread of infection, but older schools don’t have many sinks, says Mary Filardo, the founder and director of the 21st Century School Fund, a nonprofit that analyzes facilities and other urban education issues.
Opening too early could leave schools facing illnesses or lawsuits, or both, says Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.
“You would have to tie kids down to their seats to keep them six feet apart,” he says.
