Necessary Nuance Will Help Us Decide Whether to Re-Open Schools

This is one of the most painful times in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., as school districts around the country wrestle with how, if, and when to restart in-person education. The instinct is to polarize or simplify: kids learn best in person and parents can’t work without students in schools … versus … we will be putting lives at risk by exposing people to one another after lockdowns and social distancing.

Both are true. And so much more is true. We can’t make the essential decisions and set the right policies if we don’t acknowledge a number of other truths, holding each of these in our hearts and minds at once:

· Kids do learn better in person and yet we’ve never tried to teach them in person with the kinds of restrictions that will be necessary — desks far apart, no close contact with the teachers, masks on at all times, fear present at most times.

· While thus far it still seems that children don’t get the virus as often or as severely, in some cases they do — there is so much we still don’t understand about how the virus works — and it seems likely they can pass it to adults, putting teachers at risk. Recent studies indicate children can indeed pass on the virus.

· Teachers are sometimes in the same risk categories as other adults: living with immune system problems themselves, or taking care of elderly parents at home who would be at high risk if the teacher were to bring the virus home.

· Remote learning is not all bad. Some aspects have proven useful for some populations of students, whether it be the more personal interaction with teachers and counselors who are making themselves available by zoom, or the absence of high-stress large group in-person interactions for youth with anxiety or depression.

· Yet many of the youth at most risk of the achievement gap and opportunity gap in the U.S. — children from low-income and poor families, children of color, and children with special needs — are simply not accessing remote learning at all. Teachers report their most struggling students simply aren’t participating online, whether because they lack the technology, the internet access, or the range of supports needed to engage in remote school.

Before we move onto nuanced solutions, let’s name some more truths:

· The federal government is asking school districts to re-open without offering upfront the additional funds needed to operate safely. Here in Boston, schools have struggled prior to the pandemic to have enough supplies in the bathrooms, enough custodians, enough school nurses. We now need significantly MORE, as well as larger school buses or more runs. That is likely true for school systems all over the country. Where will those funds come from?

· The same federal government that is trying to mandate that all schools re-open, is the one that sends mixed messages daily, furthering confusion and fears. They tell us everyone must wear masks … and then say it’s fine for people to choose. They say testing is essential to identifying where the virus is and how it is spreading versus … and then say the only reason we seem to have so many cases is there is sudden testing, which should be slowed down. It is understandable that parents and teachers and students themselves do not trust the very national authorities — from our president to the secretary of education — who now suddenly want all schools to open.

So where do we go with all this?

1) Choose multi-prong solutions that may even result in improved education, not just the status quo. For the first semester back, it may make sense to try a combination of in-person and remote learning. For example, half the students come on a particular day or half-day, while the other half are learning from home, freeing up classroom space to spread out desks and allow for social distancing. Understanding the power of the outdoors in education, the students who are not in the classroom that day/half-day could be engaged not only through remote learning, but outdoor lessons with non-profit education partners trained in such, in nearby parks or schoolyards in each neighborhood. In Boston we have Thompson Island Outward Bound, the Boston Nature Center, Sociedad Latina, and dozens of willing partners with highly trained educators on staff.

2) Don’t frame the decisions as August/September or bust. If we need another month to get the plans in place, let the school years begin in late September or in October. Or start remotely, and then switch to a hybrid approach if possible.

3) Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to re-opening schools; let public health on each region guide us. In most countries that have had success in returning to some semblance of school, they waited until the virus was on the wane. That is not so in the U.S. Set a standard that school systems in cities/towns with X number of weeks of declining cases can re-open (perhaps with the mixed model above), others that are stabilizing will wait further weeks, and systems with cases on the rise will be remote for the fall semester. Make decisions one semester at a time, and if necessary one month at a time.

4) Name the questions to which students, families, teachers and everyone in school buildings deserve the answer to, and lay out as many answers as possible many weeks before we expect people to return to a classroom. What are the new health and cleaning protocols in place and who is paying for them? Will students and teachers and administrators be tested regularly, and if so, how, and who will cover the cost? If a teacher tests positive, will they be automatically quarantined for 14 days, and if so, will their salary be covered, and will their students be quarantined? How robust is the supply of substitute teachers for those circumstances, and can we identify a cadre of substitute teachers for each school, so they aren’t having to move between different schools and thus further risk infection?

I don’t envy the education leaders and families who have excruciating decisions to make in the coming month(s). I want to leave you with three thoughts.

· Uncertainty is not weakness; it is the strength from which the best solutions are born. Uncertainty, internal conflict, ambivalence are healthy and needed at a time like this, as there are no easy answers. (If you think there are easy answers, you should not be the one making the decisions.) Name what you know and what you don’t know. Name what you are worried about.

· Get the right people to the table to think through each district’s re-open plan, making sure to include not only district and government leaders, but also teachers, administrators, parents, students, and school partners (non-profit and business allies).

· Finally, and here is where I will deter into politics for a moment in an article that is more about nuance, we are in this situation (rising cases just as we had hoped to re-open schools) because we lack the necessary national leadership to stem an epidemic that many other countries are containing. The most important thing we can do for the health and safety of our citizens is to make change come November. More on that in part two of this piece: What Steps Can Every One of Us Take?

I sign off with love and respect for all those engaged in the struggle for our youth’s future and for the soul of this very special country …

Laurie Sherman is the author of the new book CHASING SOCIAL JUSTICE: How Do We Advance the Work that Matters Most? For the past three decades, Sherman has served in management and leadership roles in multiple organizations and movements.