Having a wife and daughter who are passionate career educators, I have given much thought to the dilemma of whether or not children (in grades kindergarten through twelfth) should return back to the classroom.
We are at critical mass concerning this very perplexing issue. It is certainly not as easy or simple as some would have you to believe.
There are many things to consider that involves the safety of both the adults and the students that need to be worked out before they can or should go back into the classroom.
First, we must be mindful of the bus drivers and students who have to take the buses to school.
It is going to be almost impossible and certainly difficult to maintain social distancing on the buses.
A close friend of mine, who is a bus driver in Brooklyn, New York, caught the coronavirus while transporting children to and from school. Unbeknownst to him, he had contracted the virus and brought it home to his wife.
Then there is the issue of both teachers and students with underlying conditions like asthma, diabetes, etc., who will immediately be put at a greater risk.
We must also be mindful of the people who are employed as custodians and culinary workers at school. How are they going to avoid putting themselves at risk as they serve the students and the school?
Another dilemma that principals and teachers must contend with will be in the area of classroom configuration and seating. How many children will be allowed to be in a class? How far apart will their desks be from the student closest to them in any direction? What about the wearing of masks? Will there be a mandatory requirement for every student to wear a mask even down to the kindergarten level? When and if school starts back, how will they deal with the overcrowding in classes? Will they rotate and stagger the number of students that can attend at the same day and time, by using Monday as a teacher’s workday and using odd days for one half of the students and even days for the other half of the students?
It stands to reason that the school districts that will have students returning to the classroom (in a short time) will have to initiate and implement some type of strategy and system that will enable them to keep both students and adults safe to the best of their ability. Regrettably, the cases that are already coming out of both Georgia and Florida are not encouraging or good in regard to districts who have experimented with sending students back to school. There have already been quite a few students and some teachers who have contracted the virus. In many of these cases, students had underlying conditions, like asthma, diabetes, and etc.
Recently, during a summer youth camp in Ohio where over six hundred youths attended, there was a COVID-19 outbreak that infected two hundred or more of the young people. I am not being pessimistic or am I an opponent of children returning back into the classroom. However, I am a realist who believes that both the parents and those who make the decisions for the schools must not make hasty decisions about this issue. They must weigh things out, count up the cost, and make sure that they have implemented the right strategy and system that will be as effective as possible.
Though no one can devise a risk-proof strategy or system, all effort must be put forth to assure that the students, teachers, guidance counselors, principals, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and all who work at school will be as safe as they possibly can.
There are maybe three possible strategies that schools can employ in order to keep our children in the habit of education and learning. They can remain virtual (as they have been doing), they can allow the children to return back to the classroom, and finally they can have a hybrid system that uses both of the previous. Which of the three options our school districts choose to implement in the county is going to be both a challenge and experiment.
This is not going to be a breeze, but a monumental undertaking that is going to require both the collaboration and support of everyone involved in the process.
First, the parents must feel confident enough to trust that they are sending their children back to an environment of safety and sanitation that has little risk of them contracting the virus.
Secondly, the teachers, principals, and support staff must be willing to be vigilant and strict enough to maintain the precautionary practices of mask wearing, social distancing, and other necessary measures to assure there will not be a COVID-19 outbreak.
Finally, and certainly, the most difficult of all that must be done, if classroom education is going to resume in an effective and productive way, the students must be willing to comply and cooperate with all the rules and precautionary practices that will be in place.
Again, I repeat, it is going to be a challenging and difficult undertaking for all who are involved, but not something that is impossible.
If all the parties involved will work together, this mammoth and mountain of a problem will be solved to the well-being of everyone.