Cost to schools, broader economy a concern
Beyond cameras, card readers and panic alarms, the future of school security has educators increasingly concerned about protecting students and staff from illness, as the current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated.
The use of thermal screening technologies in schools and other places has grown, along with an emphasis on contact tracing to detect and identify the source of viral infections. With it comes added costs to schools. However, there are other financial impacts facing schools, and the broader economy, during a flu outbreak.
For a school dealing with a flu virus, the economic impact is harsh. There is lost time in the classroom, locating and paying substitute instructors, and the potential extension of the school year if schools are forced to close for an extended period.
Cleaning costs alone can add up, and some of the statistics present an alarming trend. Looking back over the past couple of decades, researchers found that nearly 22 million school days were annually lost to the common cold and 38 million to the flu. According to the CDC, those numbers are now probably on the low side, given the fact that the U.S recorded one of the worst flu seasons on record in 2019, and some believe 2020-2021 could be even worse.
At the same time, research shows that public school teachers in the U.S. miss 9-10 days of school every year. The annual national cost of teacher absenteeism is estimated at $25 billion, with $4 billion due to stipends for substitutes and associated administrative costs.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Education have also found that being taught by a substitute for 10 days a year has a larger impact on a child’s math scores than changing schools and that being taught by a substitute for even one day is more detrimental than replacing an average teacher with a terrible one. And, of course, will already know that there may be unknown costs to remote learning, and the lack of social connection for young students.
Stop and think about this – according to the CDC, each day, about 55 million students and 7 million staff attend the more than 130,000 public and private schools in the United States. Looking to reduce the costs for outbreaks like COVID-19 is clearly a must consider, and one way is to continue implementing CDC recommendation. By doing so, schools could go a long way towards protecting nearly one-fifth of the country’s population from the flu.
So, while interest in keeping schools virus-free is on top of every educator’s agenda right now, infection protection, as a matter of economic necessity, may well be part of their future safety and security strategies.