Full disclosure: I am an employee of Arlington Public Schools, a K12 school district in Virginia. These thoughts are my own and not of the district or any school.
Two weeks ago, our (then) interim Superintendent distributed (to the public) a presentation about various scenarios of schools reopening in the fall. The scenarios are basically:
- Open schools normally, which they say is the “least likely” scenario.
- Open schools “sort of” with social distancing guidelines in place and reduced class sizes, a hybrid of distance learning and not.
- Open schools with full distance learning, which is described as the “likely” scenario.
As time goes on, and the COVID-19 pandemic abates, and we are engaging in a national discussion about the many parts of systemic racism, and how inequitable access to learning opportunities feeds that beast, I have no idea how we are going to start school with distance learning, or if we can even really consider that a viable option anymore.
Virginia is Reopening Rapidly
As the health metrics for COVID-19 improve in Virginia, the state is continuing its reopening process – we are currently heading to Phase 2 of reopening as defined by the “forward Virginia” presentation from the Northam administration and the Virginia Department of Health. From the presentation, Phase 2 is to last 2-4 weeks or more, which liberally puts us at July. Phase 3, which is more-or-less a return to regular operations, is “10-12 weeks away, or more” – but my interpretation of this is to mean 10-12 weeks away from Phase 1, which is already ending or over for most of the Commonwealth, so we are talking about Phase 3 starting right when school would start.
Risk Consideration
Looking at this timeline, the case for full distance learning seems pretty weak when we consider:
- Dr. Fauci is apparently now leading the charge on “thinking about schools reopening.”
- The risk of COVID-19 to children is demonstrably low.
- The economic impact to at-risk communities of children staying home for distance learning.
Here is the situation: we already know that Black and (especially in Arlington) Latinx communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. They are also disproportionately affected by unemployment. They are also (again, especially with the Latinx community, and especially in Arlington County) disproportionately affected by unemployment directly from COVID-19. The children of these communities are the ones who are most likely to receive free or reduced lunches, have no or inferior access to the internet, and are the reason school districts like Arlington’s have an office of equity and excellence.
What about the children?
How do we educate this community equitably when the parents of these children, who have lower-paying service jobs in industries that have been the hardest hit by COVID, are offered their jobs back? The additional funds from the CARES act are slated to expire at the end of July, and when September comes around, Department of Labor guidance isn’t clear on what happens next for primary caregivers of children in the 2020-2021 school year:
“A school is not closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, for purposes of 2102(a)(3)(A)(ii)(I)(dd), after the date the school year was originally scheduled to end.”
Does “the school year” mean 2020-2021 school year as well? If districts move forward with a hybrid opening, this would seem to not apply. It would seem like it does apply for families if districts go fully distance learning, but again, this is after CARES act funding runs out, and $378, the maximum unemployment benefit in Virginia, does not go very far in Arlington.
This is while children of wealthier white parents, who have more of an ability to work from home and have more flexibility to hire caregivers and private tutors, have more opportunities to access a quality education during a full distance learning scenario.
The issue of child care (school) and faced with the prospects of being out of work without access to financial benefits, especially for minority and at-risk communities, seems untenable. It also seems unlikely that we will be able to get children to follow social distancing guidelines.
Our options (assuming a vaccine isn’t completed before September, also not likely) seem to actually be:
- Reopen school as normal, and do our best to follow social distancing guidelines, and accept the risk of COVID spread.
- If we do distance learning, greatly expand financial and unemployment benefits to families of at-risk communities, which is not something a school district has the ability to do, and with Fauci now calling for schools reopening, seems almost an impossibility.
Neither of these solutions seem good. I don’t have the answers, but we need to be talking about this and figuring it out – quickly.