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This is like the 25,000th example of how this pandemic response is really an enormous collective action problem. And it has the potential to explode gaps in educational outcomes. https://twitter.com/rachbarnhart/status/1287930691720810496
We've learned over the past 4 months that young children, special need students, english language learners, and students from low-income homes are most in need of in-person instruction. They are also disproportionately the kids who need school as a form of child care.
While this is an oversimplification, it seems clear that a relationship exists between the amount of in person instruction and the potential for more COVID cases. As a community, we should prioritize ensuring the kids who need in-person instruction the most can receive it.
Instead, I fear that we'll have a free-rider effect. Places with fewer resources/more constraints are going to limit in-person time, while private schools and wealthier districts will maximize in-person. And it will be safer to do so at the expense of higher needs students.
Parents want to ensure their children can learn and are understandably going to do what they can to maximize their children's opportunities. But we should acknowledge the inequities present here, and find ways to ensure that kids who most need in-person schooling can receive it.
