Lots of discussion about this. JVL wrote a couple months ago that the next cultural flashpoint would be around school reopenings, and here we are. It's a difficult, complex problem and everyone loses to some extent. It's a gigantic stressor in the midst of a gigantic stressor. https://twitter.com/shannon_last/status/1275622359739830278

The data about kids and COVID that we have is encouraging, so many say open it up, especially primary school. Yet schools are *always* petri dishes, and the fall is also flu season (GET YOUR FLU SHOT), so it's easy to see how we wind up where we have tried so hard to avoid.

If you plow ahead and open up, and flu/COVID both hit, you may have to close it back down and wind up in a March 2020 situation with everyone scrambling.

School systems are in a hope for the best, plan for the worst situation. Let's grant them some grace. And pray for them.

Concerns about places with cafeterias, gyms, small hallways, etc. vectors of contact/transmission for the many non-kid occupants of school systems are very real.

I've seen some "boo-hoo, FFX is crazy rich, the kids will be fine" but I think that's reductive and false.

Yes, it's way above average, like Loudon. But the challenges for parents who both work are the same. You can't leave kids alone to zoom (and whether online is remotely adequate/effective is dubious/another conversation). Trying to balance will be horrific. All kids will suffer.

The ones who will be hit hardest will be special needs kids whose services will be limited, shortened, etc--and their parents depend on that for their development. Kids without parents home to supervise online learning, kids without tech, kids with ADHD, learning challenges...

Remember that some people live in "rich" counties specifically so their kids can have access to these special ed services which are so much better if you have the right zip code. That doesn't mean all are equally equipped to navigate this crisis.

All kids are going to struggle, socially and academically. All families are in their own crucibles of anxiety right now, and we can't peek into every house to see the details, but those details exist in high-, middle-, and low-income counties.

My heart goes out to everyone spending the next couple months trying to figure out how this can work as the least-bad option. None of it is easy. Everyone's going to lose ground and face what seem today to be insurmountable challenges.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton--teacher, homeschooler, school director, mother--pray for us, and for educators, and for schoolchildren everywhere. They could use some heavenly help!

Seriously: ask for her intercession. She knows a thing or two about educating children while battling infectious disease.