Since Wissahickon School District decided against going all online I think it is important to remind ourselves what their contingency plans are contingent on - namely an outbreak of COVID19. But they fail to acknowledge that if this happens members of the community will die.

In other words, the plan that says you must quarantine for 14 days and get a test in order to return makes one sweeping assumption: you will recover. Nevermind that recoveries can take months and that science still does not fully understand how COVID affects different people.

I understand why the school board doesn't address this aspect. After all what contingency plan could there be for death? I experienced a major death in my family during high school and it shattered any hope that I could learn that year.

And I never had to worry that going to school put anyone in my family at risk. I never had to worry that more of my loved ones might die. I never had to worry that my friends, or my support system, might die too. Mourners today do not have these luxuries.

Online learning is no substitute for in person class, and after the pandemic we will need to focus on getting our students back up to speed. But death is far more disruptive than any alternate schedule could be.

Explaining to children that their teacher is never coming back disrupts, losing a friend disrupts, falling ill and spending weeks on a ventilator disrupts, all in ways that cannot even be compared to the disruption of online school. Students can be taught what they missed

In an all online method, community members who need a safe place to study, food, or have special education programs that require in person attention can be prioritized. The school can be opened to students to complete their classes online(space in the library)

Bus drivers can deliver meals. Educators can work with students with IEPs to create a plan that accommodates them specifically. It's a rich school district, every student already has a laptop. Parents work but kids will still be home alone every other day in a hybrid system

Rather than make the online option the best it can be, to make sure all students get the best education possible from an online model the school district has decided to hope. Hope that no one gets sick, and hope that no one dies.

Sidenote: if the school shuts down, it will go online with the normal teachers BUT the students who stayed home as a precaution will be locked into an asynchronous learning scheme till January. How many students will chose in person and just hope it goes online anyway?