this is a complicated issue, and I hear & respect the urgency with which people with varying opinions are approaching it.

but there are a few key caveats to the “reopen the damn schools” arguments that I keep seeing elided? these decisions aren’t all being made based on fear. https://twitter.com/dkthomp/status/1354769979510566917

for one: the key caveat to “school is safe” seems to be “as long as covid levels in the community are low.” hopefully, that’s where we’re headed. but it isn’t where we’ve been the last few months, even as privileged parents’ push for full in-person schooling has ramped up...

second, “school is safe”...as long as mitigation measures are in place. anyone who’s spent time in schools can tell you getting ventilation up to par is no small task, given the state of so many of our public school buildings. but also, even physical distancing can be a challenge

as an example: in the district I’m studying, enrollment has ballooned in recent years, leading schools’ enrollments to be 20% (or more) over the building’s intended capacity. & that’s under *normal* circumstances. add physical distancing requirements to that? it’s a whole mess.

third, in districts like the one I’m studying, there’s huge equity concerns amid the push for full in-person return to school. it’s not enough to say “well those who don’t want to can stay remote.” we know who that’ll be. handled badly, this could create separate & unequal tracks

reopening schools for in-person learning absolutely should be a priority. and in some (many?) communities there are ways to do that safely. but something about the tone of “reopen the damn schools” just...feels like it doesn’t fully acknowledge some important complexities.

addendum: the tweet I QTed got deleted, although the rest of the thread is still up. here’s the tweet and the piece I was directly responding to:

and I also want to note that the piece does acknowledge the point about community viral levels. but it only does so nearly at the end of the piece, whereas I think this point is so central as to need to be engaged right up front, and I think this still comes off a bit dismissive.