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THREAD: A few key points I wanted to pull out of my article, for the tl;dr crowd.
First, it is possible for two things to be true at once: that elementary schools are relatively low-risk settings, and that staffing shortages still cripple them. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/schools-staff-shortages/617465/
First, it is possible for two things to be true at once: that elementary schools are relatively low-risk settings, and that staffing shortages still cripple them. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/schools-staff-shortages/617465/
Second, staffing shortages should influence vaccine priority. It's legit to ask why an otherwise healthy 30 y/o teacher should be pretty high up on the list, but the question isn't just the risk to them: it's the cascading damage to kids from having to close/disrupt schools.
Third, it really blunts the educational benefits of getting kids back in school when you're constantly having to close classrooms/buildings or put barely-qualified subs in front of the kids. The former is also very disruptive for parents' ability to work!
Fourth, this isn't just about teachers. For instance, school bus drivers -- and bus maintenence crews -- are essential to a district's functioning. Too many people who don't work in ed gloss over the mind-boggling logistical complexity of one day of a school system's operations.
Fifth, child care and K-12 have a symbiotic relationship. Child care programs are also having huge staffing shortages, which impacts their ability to serve the children of K-12 staff; child care educators (or would-be staff) often can't work due to remote schooling. Ouch.
Sixth, this isn't just a descriptive problem; staffing shortages demand a series of policy responses that include better quarantine guidelines, narrower openings, and far more $$ for K-12 and child care (like, 5x) than the new stimulus bill provides. They need to staff up!
(Six-A: This goes for all-virtual districts too. The problem isn't as acute there, but those districts are still using bus drivers for delivering food, and there is so much viral spread that a fair number of virtual teachers are sadly getting sick as well)
Seventh and finally: If you're in a discussion about schools & COVID and staffing isn't coming up, you're wasting your time. It's the seismic fault underneath the question, the structural flaw. It's not the sole consideration, but it's a key one we've been ignoring for too long.
