There are very few things in this day and age that most everyone can agree upon. One of them, whether or not you have children or grandchildren yourself, is that it is important that all of our public school students be back in direct physical contact with their teachers in their school buildings.
Parents who can go back to work during this pandemic need for their children to be in school full-time. Equally important is that as partially successful as online learning has been, students have been falling behind in their studies since the abrupt closure, with those in poor and minority communities being hardest hit.
As much as everyone across our country, state and county agrees that in-person schooling would be the most desirable outcome, medical, economic and educational experts caution that getting back into classrooms safely is a balancing act.
When we look at how other countries have reopened schools in recent months without spurring new outbreaks, we see that they have done so with extensive precautions, including protective equipment, reduced and restructured classes, distancing requirements, modified schedules, and increased staffing. All of these take additional financial resources that, unlike in these other countries, have not been provided by our federal or state governments.
$13 billion in the federally funded CARE Act allocated for education has not yet been distributed, and an additional $58 billion in education funds passed by the House has gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate. Neither of these, even if allocated and distributed, is even close to enough.
Currently, our local schools have less money than last year, not a significant amount more so that we could open the schools safely for students, staff and families. Let’s look at some of the difficulties of opening a local middle school, for example, to see where both money, and novel ideas, are needed.
In order to have social distancing, classrooms that previously held 28 students can now only hold 11 or 12 students. Since almost all classrooms are currently utilized, where are the other 16 students going to go? Even if we put some of them in auditoriums, cafeterias, gyms and libraries, we would need twice as many professionally licensed educators to teach and supervise them.
For those students in classrooms who are struggling with a math or writing or chemistry problem, the teacher in order to be socially distanced can’t get near enough to interact in a meaningful way. Students need to go into the bathrooms one at a time and the bathrooms need to be sanitized in between each visit. Who is going to supervise and sanitize? How will students have socially distanced breakfast and lunch if the cafeteria is being used for classes?
In some cases we will need to have additional buses to have adequate space between students. Who will supervise and how will bus drivers keep social protective distance? If you are thinking of having two sessions per day, who will be with the students at home for the other half of the day and who will pay for the additional buses?
If a student or faculty shows symptoms, will they be required to be tested for COVID? Who will pay for those tests? Who will check every student and staff member before they enter the school? If a child tests positive does the whole cohort and teacher have to quarantine for 14 days?
If a student’s parent tests positive, will the student have to be quarantined? Who will keep the students socially distant outside on the school grounds? Many children will be returning to school afraid of getting COVID, threatening their parents’ and grandparents’ health. What will be in place to support the emotional well-being of these students?
This is just a small sampling of the issues that school districts are confronting. Other countries that did this safely put together well thought out plans that were supported by sufficient funds to keep everyone safe while providing an effective education.
Here in Franklin County parents and other citizens must understand the virtually impossible task that their schools have been given. Please support these educators who have less funding to open schools in 50 days. Any of your suggestions for a successful and safe school year would be gratefully accepted. Please email your suggestions and thoughts to your local superintendent, school committee, or principal, or write a letter with your ideas to this newspaper.
Pixie Holbrook, Julie Letendre and Susan Miller-King are lifelong educators and represent the Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution’s Education Task Force.