Reopening Schools Is Way Harder Than It Should Be - @sarahdarv - NY Times https://buff.ly/2EcHiDb 

The issues involved in reopening schools. (1)

“Outrage over schools’ inability to fully reopen should not, of course, be directed at schools themselves, but at the public health failure that makes it impossible for most of them to do so.” - @sarahdarv (2)

The consequences of schools being unable to reopen…

“…schools do much more than provide child care. They provide education, fundamentally. But as the pandemic has made clear, they also provide meals, social connection and health services.” - @sarahdarv (3)

“…the country’s 13,000-plus school districts have been left alone to navigate everything from finding masks to deciding what safe classrooms look like — not to mention how to offer widespread & safe food distribution…in the absence of physical gathering space.” - @sarahdarv (4)

This is a fundamental and hard truth…

“So if the first sin was failing to control the pandemic, the second was letting the virus run wild in a country ill-suited to handle the cascading consequences.” - @sarahdarv (5)

Politicians failing first test then push to “reopen” schools.

“The people left to figure it out are superintendents, school board members, teachers and parents, for whom that simple word ‘reopen’ actually entails a dizzying array of interlocking problems.” - @sarahdarv (6)

No, the children are not alright.

“The people who will pay the eventual price are America’s children, for years to come.” - @sarahdarv (7)

“Skyrocketing cases in some parts of the country have rendered this conversation moot, with school districts and health departments deciding they cannot take the risk of opening school doors at all.” - @sarahdarv (8)

“But even if other districts decide they can open, superintendents have to take into account two other variables in addition to space: parents’ willingness to send their children to in-person school and teachers’ willingness to show up and teach them.” - @sarahdarv (9)

“Even more complicated, preferences are likely to change multiple times throughout the year, as families and educators reassess the spread of the virus in their community and their personal risk tolerance.” - @sarahdarv (10)

“Jason Kamras, the schools chief in Richmond, Va., recently likened the entire conundrum to ‘playing a game of 3-D chess while standing on one leg in the middle of a hurricane.’” (11)

“In a recent survey, nearly three-quarters of parents called going back into school buildings a ‘large to moderate’ risk for their children, and the numbers were even higher for Black parents and Hispanic parents.” - @sarahdarv (12)

“…another resource schools provide that is both much more necessary and much harder to deliver because of the pandemic [is food]. In normal times, U.S. public schools provide 30 million free or nearly-free meals a day.” - @sarahdarv (13)

Pandemic EBT - worked for some, not for others.

“…the federal government set up a program to send money for food directly to families to make up for lost meals, though months later, some families are still waiting for those benefits to arrive.” - @sarahdarv (14)

#ControlTheVirus

“The most important way to help is undoubtedly to do what could have made our American pandemic what it is for children and families in Finland, Denmark and even Italy. We have to control the virus.” - @sarahdarv (15)

“Making schools functional will also take money, as states are facing projected shortfalls totaling more than $500B over the next 3 years thanks to the spiraling pandemic. Without federal help, schools will have to lay off teachers and make other painful cuts…” - @sarahdarv (16)

“Congress has yet to answer calls for additional relief. If it comes, and if every state enacts real public health measures, schools will have a shot at turning a catastrophe into a mere crisis.” - @sarahdarv (17)

“Unless both happen, schools are likely to spend years trying to meet students’ growing needs with less. They will try their best. It will not be remotely enough.”

Again…

“The people who will pay the eventual price are America’s children, for years to come.” - @sarahdarv (18)