Here's the disconnect on schools. We're rushing to reopen everything else. Restaurants. Bars. Retail. Grocery. Airports. Barbershops. Daycares. Schools seem like the lowest priority, when they should be the highest.

There has been a failure of leadership all around. Trump just shakes his fist with no real guidance or plan. Some governors are laying low for fear of political blowback. Overwhelmed administrators are whiplashing between the loudest critics.

Very few are talking about the kids. This isn't (just) about working parents. The kids are not going to make up anything they miss. They're just getting pushed through. And they're gonna miss a ton even with virtual instruction. They already missed half a year.

Every sector has employees being deemed essential who are taking risks. And there are real risks -- to the clerk at your grocery store, and your airline crew, and healthcare workers. But teachers are a non-starter.

If you think the risk is too great, and I appreciate and respect that opinion, then we should be debating a full shutdown again. But short of that, it just seems like we're opening everything else but schools.

Four half days a week staring at a zoom call on a Chromebook may work for some students and good for them. But in my house of elementary school kids, it's been close to pointless.

And this is all from a point of personal privilege. I cannot imagine doing this with lesser means or parents who can't work from home or families that depend on schooling for food and shelter.

I know this issue evokes passion on both sides. Let's just concede everyone has good intentions and try and solve this problem. But also acknowledge, it is a problem. We'd be better off if we nipped COVID in the bud months ago, but we didn't.