Ready to Return to School? Prepare for “She was a Teacher…She Knew the Risks”

Now that we’ve distanced ourselves from distance learning, there’s a stunned hush in the air that’s slowly being interrupted by silent screams of “what just happened???!” The natural thought process of any formerly sane parent would be “what’s going to happen next?”

Take a breath.

It’s okay not to know. Because nobody does.

We’re all still in a WTF! Zone. When they write odes and sonnets to this year — and eventually, someone will, or at least TikToc versions of them — they will likely be hailed by future generations as works of great fiction. They will be part epitaph, part how-not-to manual, but they will decidedly be epic non-fiction.

And we’re only halfway through.

Granted, it’s hard to pump the brakes while your knees are jerking wildly. The roller coaster of 2020 is still at its July apex. We still have so very far to go.

That’s exactly why we can’t know what to do next. And we can’t be impatient. We can’t rush our kids back to school, despite our craving for normalcy.

Consider this: the mortality rate of COVID-19 is roughly estimated at 4.3% here in the United States. There are approximately 50.8 million K-12 school children here. If you apply that percentage on face value, that’s the potential for almost 2.2 million children who could die from the virus if exposed. But since the mortality rate for kids is far lower, believed to be under one percent, it’s probably closer to about 457,000 school-age children who would die from Coronavirus after contracting the virus.

Now that we’ve put a number on it, how eager are you to enter your kids into that kind of lottery?

Are we 100% positive that children are less likely to contract Coronavirus because of their age, or is it a function of them being more deeply buried in quarantine? Parents largely avoided taking them shopping. There were no playdates, no babysitters, no camps or clubs. They were at home, isolated. Some adults still had to go out to work. Their potential exposure rate was markedly higher. When schools reopen, it may turn out that kids are just as susceptible to infection. Let’s not forget, viruses adapt and mutate.

“Normal” is not a luxury we own in 2020. We all want it, but it’s unattainable. Don’t think of this as a recession, where a few course corrections will set things right again. We’re in a war. Wars disrupt lives until they’re over. This is far from over.

A minimum of 14 Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19. These are fit, professional athletes whose employers have invested many, many millions of dollars in keeping them healthy and have ready mandated access to testing and safety. They congregate in confined spaces yet do most of their real work outside, where it’s safer.

This happened within two weeks of restarting the season. And who knows how many more will test positive following this, considering the incubation period.

Considering this, do we still collectively think it’s wise to rush to reopen schools?

What we do know is that we really don’t know enough yet.

And that is scary.

When we’re scared as parents, our first instinct is to hold our children tight. Right now, I see no downside to this.

However, states are mandating that schools reopen. Plans are being considered and drawn up thoughtfully, with administrations fully aware of the vast minefield of concerns that they’re facing. They may not like it, they may not agree with it, but they still have to follow it. This is going to be messy, and they know it.

Many families don’t have much choice. The parents will need to go back to work and can’t repeat what they just went through this past year. They’ll need some sort of in-person schooling. Others have more flexibility and will be able to navigate an improved system. No one will argue that whatever happens will be ideal. We will just have to have some faith that with some experience and a moment to breathe again, the structure of learning through whatever hybrid system each district concocts will be at least adequate for most.

When kids have that much fear for their security — even unconsciously — it will impact their ability to learn, even if it’s where they’re “supposed” to.

As a parent, I know what this means and the impact it will have upon them. I can only hope that we’ll be better equipped and more empathetic to deal with the possible fallout later. But all of those boats will rise together.

The challenge will be in accommodating those who need more. Kids with IEPs, those with limited access to adequate technology or strong Wi-Fi signals, ESL students — they are the ones who will struggle with a generic plan. What do we do about the families who have many kids of different ages, all living in a small apartment with no quiet areas to attend virtual school? Many of these parents are the struggling “essential workers” who have no way to monitor their kids and keep them on task throughout the day. And their districts often can’t afford to supplement their needs.

These are some massive gaps that kids can easily fall through.

Front-line Perspectives

I recently had the opportunity to talk to two people who have a very unique perspective on this. They’re parents from the suburbs of Boston. One is the editor of a medical publication who specifically covers infectious diseases. She’s been diligently covering this pandemic since its inception as a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. Her husband is a high school teacher.

I asked Erik to give me some of his thoughts about his experiences with distance learning this past year, and what could be done better should our schools not be able to open again in the fall.

First off, what worked?

Erik: “I think many teachers are fantastic about adapting, because it’s the first rule of teaching. Teachers are resilient and quick to make changes to curriculum. Most teachers were quick to learn new video tools (Zoom, Google Meets, Screencastify) and employ these technologies almost instantaneously into their classrooms to provide students with video-recorded lessons or “live” classroom opportunities.

I found myself pushing to use technology in new ways and trying to reach students. So in many ways this “at home” time helped create more efficient, better-skilled teachers when it came to technology use. This will help in the long run even when we are back in the fall.”

What didn’t go so well?

Erik: “Rigor is always the key for any classroom, and distance learning or online learning becomes particularly challenging. It’s important for teachers to balance the social-emotional needs of students who are going through difficult times at home (or societally) but also understand a long-term disruption from learning still requires considerable academic progress. After all, we know many students do better academically when they are in a routine. Covid was the largest routine interrupter we’ve had in decades.

I think many of us created fantastic lessons each week but getting students to achieve the same standards (for some) or even complete them at all (for others) was sometimes a battle. There were success stories — some students thrived in at-home environments. However, there were students that still didn’t choose to engage with the material. So finding ways to motivate students who aren’t immediately in front of you in a classroom setting was the largest challenge.”

Finally, what are you looking to see should we need to do this again?

Erik: “I think ideally the more professional development training (ahead of time) teachers can get on digital learning platforms the better. We are fortunate to already use many tools in our district, but time to develop proficiency with these tools as educators — and preparing our students with how to use these tools — would have helped or will help in the future.

Right now the challenge for teachers might be to determine what type of material is most critical in the school year ahead. In case there is a future disruption, what essential skills can be taught “live.” If necessary, what skills could I move to an online setting? So in a summer where so much is unknown, simply thinking about and prioritizing the curriculum you teach becomes very important. As long as educators learn from this experience, hopefully they will be in a better place to meet the giant question mark looming that is in the 2020–2021 school year.”

Molly has a more clinical perspective. She’s covered the medical science of this. I wanted to know her thoughts about sending her own kids back to school — and her husband. Here’s what she told me.

Molly: “I’ve gotten to know this virus very well. I will not be sending my kids back to school in the fall. It’s not because I don’t trust schools, teachers, or the state, but because I don’t trust the virus. From what I know about infectious diseases as a reporter, this virus thrives in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces like schools.

From what I know about kids as a parent, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to convince kids to keep their mask on, stay away from other kids, or even wash their hands. And from what I know about schools, they don’t have the resources to retrofit ventilation systems or staffing to keep classes confined to ten kids in the same room for the entire day.

Data shows up to 40% of transmission is asymptomatic, and the virus has a long incubation period. Nobody would know there was an outbreak until a parent/teacher/family member showed symptoms, and by then, it could be all over the school. And once it infects someone, the virus is tenacious. More and more cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome are being reported, months after infection among kids who had mild or no symptoms.

All the evidence used to justify reopening comes from other countries with far fewer cases, better testing and modified school reopening plans. These results are not generalizable to the U.S. There is no evidence that reopening schools is safe here.

If schools do reopen, it will feel like sending my teacher husband off to war, armed with only his English and Journalism degrees and quilted masks from Etsy, because he has to go save the economy. While I can’t control his employment, I can control my kids’ exposure. And I’m not interested in enrolling them in a real world study to test the hypothesis that schools are safe.”

Now we’re asking our teachers to go back to the front lines. They’re a new level of essential workers who don’t have the luxury of conscience for what’s best for them. The powerful teacher’s union is powerless against the plan to reopen schools. So the teachers will go back, unsure about what it means for their future.

Who knew that an education degree would come with higher insurance premiums? Active shooter drills were just the start of the battlefield that they find themselves in.

The classroom was once their safe haven. It’s become a danger room.

Teaching should not be on any “most dangerous jobs” list. They didn’t sign on for combat duty. If we want what’s best for our kids, we should damn well better want what’s best for their teachers.

One child, one teacher, one staff member who succumbs to this disease because of a rush to go back to school — that’s far too high of a price to pay. Learning can’t wait. School can.

We shouldn’t have to add another “r” to “reading, writing, ‘rithmatic”: regret.

To answer your inevitable question — what are you going to do with your kids? — we still don’t know. We’ve spoken to our kids and they’re apprehensive. As desperate as they are for the socialization and superior learning experience of the physical classroom, they seem to fall solidly on the side of caution. Nobody wants to be the 1.0 version of a risky test.

This is not a political stand. This is not meant to be a referendum on personal freedoms as Americans. This is about the lives of our children. I’m not sending them into a minefield and hoping for the best.

We will find new ways to teach them until this passes. Then they should go back, and they’ll go with glee.

Remote learning wasn’t ideal. It was hell. But to offer them up to the Gods of Chance while we still can’t protect them with any more certainty than we’ve had up until now isn’t a risk I’m willing to take.

And that’s why I keep thinking that September is just too early. I’m just as eager to get them out and restarting their fragile psyches as anybody — but if we’re wrong, I’m reticent in putting their lives on the line because we’re all getting impatient.

I hope to decide by the first day of school. A lot can change before then.

We really don’t know enough yet.

Image by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay