That said, alarming metrics loom large.
Were nearing 150,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the United States, according to theCDC.
Evenrock starshave weighed in with opinions.
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To be clear: There are no great options here.
With no ideal course of action, how can schools resume in the safest manner possible?
Right now, it seems there are more questions than answers.
Bond and Meadows recently served as coauthors on aNational Academy of Science (NAS)report examining school reopening.
What are the current recommendations for reopening schools this fall?
Many advisory groups have declined to provide concrete recommendations for this.
Its messy and theres no clear one-size-fits-all advice.
Ultimately, the decision about whether and how to reopen has been left to individual school districts and schools.
Others are using a hybrid model, with some days in class and some days online.
Some have chosen to be fully online or at least begin the school year that way.
Nothing is universal except confusion.
What are the benefits of reopening schools for in-person learning?
Meadows notes a number of advantages to returning to a physical classroom.
Online learning is difficult for many children, and not every family has equal access to reliable technology.
Clearly, there are many reasons to advocate for a return to in-person schooling in the fall.
But what about the flip side?
What are the downsides to schools reopening?
Both May and Murray are skeptical that schools can safely reopen for the upcoming academic year.
Unfortunately, an enormous limitation to schools reopening is thatwere still learning about this virusas we go.
This is especially true now that more worrisome data is emerging about how COVID-19 can affect children and teenagers.
Early on in the pandemic, there was minimal evidence of COVID-19 infections in children and adolescents.
It felt like a relief in the face of so much frightening news about the virus.
This means we need to tread very carefully with schools reopening.
Experts also originally thought that children were less likely to transmit the virus to others than adults were.
(Kids also may be less likely to show symptoms than adults.)
This confirms that children returning to school can put their entire households at risk of infection.
What if the loved one died, or had long-term complications?
The potential for childhood trauma is enormous here, she says.
(As Murray notes, its not just teachers we need to worry about.
It will be impossible for schools to eliminate the risk of COVID-19 entirely, she says.
Keeping schools closed would provide the best protection for students and school staff.
So, what should schools do?
Unfortunately, a number of challenges stand in the way of turning these recommendations into reality.
First, many public health agencies are already over-stretched with other COVID-19 responsibilities.
What happens if students or teachers refuse to wear masks or otherwise disagree with mitigation efforts?
When should schools re-close and move to online-only instruction if cases spike in an area?
Lets say every school could somehow get insight from local public health agencies.
May says that doing so is somewhat doubtful unless schools get some kind of financial aid.
Even with funding for these safety measures, teachers and other school staffers would still have unaddressed concerns.
Where does all of this leave us when it comes to schools reopening?
Probably as confused as ever.
We need funding.Far too many of our schools are terribly underfunded even under normal circumstances.
How can we ask them to take unpaid leave if they need to quarantine?
This cant be yet another unfunded mandate that we add to the stack.
Is all of this a tall order?
Can it happen in time for fall classes?
