So in response to yet another oped giving schools “advice,” here’s a thread.

I’m an actual elected school board trustee.
I’ve gotta decide whether/how/when school resumes.
I’m also a parent of kids in that system.
If you wanna know what school boards are thinking, I’ll tell you.

To politicians, opeds, petitions saying it’s risky to put kids back in school:
YOU DON’T NEED TO REMIND US OF THE DANGERS OF RE-OPENING. We know that re-opening’s risky for kids, for teachers/staff, for the whole community.
WE KNOW.
WE KNOW.
WE KNOW THIS MORE THAN YOU DO.

To politicians, opeds, petitions saying kids need to go back to school:
YOU DON’T NEED TO REMIND US HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO RE-OPEN. We know kids need in-person classes. We know economic recovery is impossible w/o doing so.
WE KNOW.
WE KNOW.
WE KNOW THIS MORE THAN YOU DO.

This thread isn’t about rehashing the evolving data on transmission/infection rates or safety measures. I’ve been reading those studies since January.

Rather, I just want to explain the constituencies & pressures we face, and how school districts actually work & make decisions.

Caveat #1—I am trustee of a mixed urban/suburban school district in New York State, many thousands of students. I can only speak for what we’ve been through & my own experiences over my many years on my board. If my district was elsewhere I may have a different perspective.

Caveat #2—I’ll assume your board takes their oath of office as seriously as I do. We don’t play any Dem/Rep politics in my school board. There is NO place for that on a school board, even in non-pandemic times. If your board is playing politics, you should vote them right tf OUT.

Caveat #3—The school board is unpaid. We aren’t experts (but we rely on them). We aren’t education professionals (but we hire them). We have jobs, families, our own stuff going on. I fought to get elected & reelected to this second (volunteer) job bc I love my kids & your kids.

~~~ISSUE #1~~~
GUIDANCE
(the lack thereof)

School districts are regulated by a dizzying array of laws & contracts:
-Our internal district policies
-Contracts w/employees/unions
-Joint agmts w/other districts/consortiums
-City/County health laws, Mayor’s orders
-State health/educ laws, Govnr’s orders
-Fed health/educ laws

When Covid19 first hit, there was an unending list of Qs:
-When should/can we legally close?
-Will remote classes be deemed “instruction” under state/fed laws?
-Can we even ask teachers to teach remote under their contracts?
-What does “attendance” mean?
-How do we grade this?

-How do we give mandated tests?
-How do kids graduate?
-How do we serve special needs?
-How do we get kids devices & internet? What if there are multiple kids in a home?
-How do we feed kids who rely on bfast/lunch?
-How do we do sports? Labs? Perf Arts?
-What is “overtime” now?

-What about kids of essential workers?
-What about parents who are themselves teachers?
-How do we administer tutoring/support services?
-How do we prevent this situation from exacerbating systemic inequities we try so hard to overcome?
...and a million more questions like this.

Each question led to more questions.
In response to these questions we got…silence.
The fed pretended Covid19 didn’t exist.
At first NY state largely told us to figure it out ourselves. It took weeks asking to even confirm whether remote learning would be legal under state law.

But our district figured it out, and we survived.

Teachers/Staff worked harder than ever March-June. Our district & many others survived w/minimal brain drain due to these heroes.

Mega kudos to all the teachers/staff in my district & yours who went above & beyond.

Then summer came.
School districts do not “close” during the summer. Admin works every day of the summer to plan for the fall, this year more than ever. Zoom, calls, virtual tours, remote conferences, admins have spent the whole summer talking to other districts, digesting data…

The questions about re-opening are infinite and I can’t rehash them all. How to keep kids/teachers/staff & their families safe, while also actually trying to educate, while following health/privacy laws, has been our #1 focus for months. It’s all we think about.

In New York state, we have been ordered to re-open schools in the fall, in some capacity. That's where things are at here. That doesn't mean it's a good idea, here or especially in other states. But that's our mandate. So we are doing our best.

We expected and deserved our fed partners to do their part by cooperating with states & giving us clear, consistent guidance on what they want us to do. Instead the fed wasted the first 3 months denying Covid19 was a problem, then wasted the last 3 months arguing internally.

If the fed had said “You must open”…
If they’d said “You can’t open”…
If they’d said “You can open if you meet these criteria”…
If they’d said “Make up your own opening criteria”…
If they’d done literally anything other than bicker the last 6 months, we'd have figured it out

I recently got the 35th memo from our school district attorney explaining our obligations/liability responding to Covid19. THIRTY-FIFTH. Each one overrides the one before. Sometimes by the time we read a memo, it’s already been contradicted by a different agency/branch of govt.

And so, our district & every other in America had to spend the whole summer guessing abt what we should do, will the fed even allow it, will we get funding for it. Developing 3, 5, 47 different types of re-opening. What an incomprehensible waste of time/energy/money. Nationwide.

My district’s done a phenomenal job under the circumstances. We have a 50pg plan. We have masks, social-distancing protocols for every room in every building. Whether we’re full-time remote, part-time remote or otherwise, we will be ready.

But no matter how great and thorough our plan is, we unfortunately have to tell parents we still don’t have guidance so our plan could change next week, or a week into school.

We hate this as much as you do. Parents are pissed off. I’m a parent, and I’m pissed off too.

School districts will get through this. But it has been MUCH harder than it should have been.

Never has it ever been clearer that who runs the CDC, Dept of Ed, White House, having clear working communication bw fed and states, these things MATTER.

~~~ISSUE #2~~~
BUDGET

School districts are many things:
—Stewards of the future
—College/career training
—Full-time support for special needs
—Daycare
—Food source
—Mental/physical health service
—Sports/clubs center
—Place to meet, vote

But we’re also a business.

Under “normal” non-Covid circumstances, we have to balance a lot:
—Equity of schools within district
—Equity vs other districts
—Quality vs Quantity of staff/programs
—Keep taxes low
—Keep parents happy
—Keep our workforce happy
—Meet state/fed testing requirements
—Health/Safety

And a billion other things.
All of these factors compete with each other every day. Every dollar in a school budget is wanted by thousands of different people. Each teacher, each administrator, each parent, each program, each building principal, wants (and deserves) that dollar.

School districts in America have 4 sources of income:
1—Local property taxes (we try to minimize)
2—Grants (we try to maximize)
3—Direct income/donations (typically very small)
4—Federal/state funding (large %, based on # of students & how poor/“needy” the district is)

A large % of our expenses are fixed costs. Building repairs, salaries, pensions, are relatively fixed. Teachers, TAs, security, cleaners, bus drivers—most if not all of these employees have separate union contracts with us, which specify their salaries, benefits & job duties.

We are facing completely unprecedented fiscal pressures on both ends. Our income is being dramatically reduced, and our expenses are being dramatically increased, all at the same time. 2020-21 school budget shortfalls will be unprecedented.

In order to properly respond to Covid19, we need to pay overtime, spread kids out physically/temporally, hire more cleaners, buy PPE, expand leave benefits, possibly hire more teachers especially subs for when people call in sick.

So our costs will exceed the budget.

At the same time, we have been threatened for months that state/federal aid benefits will be reduced. Nonprofits won’t have money for grants. Residents will be unable to pay property taxes (and banks won't cover that forever).

So our revenues will be much less than budgeted.

Other businesses face similar pressures. But schools are different.

Legally, we’re REQUIRED to educate. By our state constitution. Whether remote or in person or both, we MUST be open.
Practically, we are the lynchpin upon which the economy of working parents depend.

School budgets were already voted on months ago. Our income stream is fixed. When school districts run short of funds, we have to cut costs. We cannot legally float millions in shortfalls. We cannot bounce checks. We cannot put teacher salaries on credit cards.

And yes, there is also the potential money issue of future lawsuits when a teacher or student contracts Covid19. There are concerns such a claim could proceed no matter what we do, & concerns as to whether it would be insured. But this risk is less of a concern than the others.

School districts do not have the luxury of spending money we don’t have. The lack of guidance has led directly to a money issue. We don’t know what opening schools needs to look like, so we don’t know our costs. We don’t know what aid is coming, so we don’t know our income.

It’s up to us to figure out our local tax shortfall situation, but WE NEED TO KNOW STATES/FEDS WILL NOT REDUCE OUR PAST AID, AND WILL NOT GIVE US NEW UNFUNDED MANDATES.
We need to know this right now.
We needed to know this months ago.

Summary: school districts face 2 huge issues
#1-Govt partners (especially fed) have failed to give us clear, consistent direction as to what we are legally required to do. Even now, weeks before opening.
#2-Even if we did have clear direction, we don't know how we’ll pay for it.

So please, America, on behalf of all school boards:
Be informed, stay on top of us, hold us accountable, but please understand that we have multiple bosses who won't talk to each other and are shouting contradictory edicts at us every single day. We're doing our best, I promise.

And please, op-ed, don’t tell school districts what they already know.
If you want to help school districts, demand that grandstanding/handwringing politicians grow tf up, communicate with their govt partners, give us clear direction and ensure we can pay to implement it.
Thanks.