Answer: Nobody Really Knows
Across the country, the future of K-12 education is up in the air.
As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers without a treatment or vaccine in sight, school districts are scrambling to answer unprecedented questions. When can classes resume, and if so, how do we transport, educate, and feed students? What does social distancing look like on a school bus, in the gym, or at choir practice?
Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a list of recommendations for reopening schools, together with restaurants, mass transit, and childcare programs.
For schools, there is a three-step plan. In step one, schools that are closed should remain closed. In step two, they could be open with “enhanced social distancing measures and attendance should be restricted to those who live in the local area only.” In step three, they could be open with distancing measures and attendance restricted to areas with limited transmission of the coronavirus. This is all depending on the hope that the rates of disease transmission do not spike.
Other CDC recommendations for schools – when they do finally reopen – include thorough disinfection of high-traffic areas, face coverings anywhere it would be impossible to practice social distancing, and plentiful hand sanitizer stations. Instead of congregating in cafeterias, students should eat lunch at their desks, advises the CDC.
In Michigan, the state is partnering with Opportunity Labs, a national nonprofit, to develop a school reopening plan. The group already has a detailed “Return to School Roadmap” published on its website, outlining a series of steps schools need to take as they reopen — everything from limiting the number of entrances to developing a plan to assess students’ learning progress and loss since they were last in school.
When can schools safely reopen? Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told NBC News reopening will depend on how the pandemic is controlled over the summer, and possibly extending through September. Some school districts around the country are already considering starting the Fall semester early to help students catch up with their studies. In Maryland, legislators are floating the ideas of year-round schooling.
Meanwhile, educators in the U.S. have been closely watching how school reopening is faring in other countries. In France, dozens of new COVID-19 cases have been linked to reopened schools. For now, Europe is a patchwork of approaches and timetables. Germany, considered a leader in controlling the pandemic, recently announced that it would reopen most aspects of its economy and allow all students back to school. Class sizes have been cut in half. Hallways have become one-way systems. Breaks are staggered. Teachers wear masks and students are told to dress warmly because windows and doors are kept open for air circulation.
In Belgium, those in the final years of primary and secondary school began to return to school. Italy and Spain, on the other hand, are treading much more cautiously and only reopening schools in September.
To complicate matters, parents are not always on board with their government’s plans. Over 500,000 Britons have signed a petition calling for the right to opt out of sending their children back to school. In Denmark, when schools began to reopen in April, some parents kept their children at home, saying they did not want them to be “guinea pigs,” Reuters reported.