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THREAD. A lack of audacity is going to damage an entire generation. Waiting for a vaccine to reopen schools is a terrible plan. Restaurants can figure out outdoor dining. Why can't schools manage outdoor learning?
My latest Bloomberg column: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-11/closed-schools-are-a-national-emergency?sref=QK42wmXj @bopinion
My latest Bloomberg column: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-11/closed-schools-are-a-national-emergency?sref=QK42wmXj @bopinion
2/ Schools need to reopen. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly advocates for that goal out of concern for kids' mental, social, and psychological health and development. And kids' long-run economic outcomes will suffer is schools are closed. https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/06/26/schoolreopening062620
3/ But it's not helpful to demand that schools simply reopen. Instead, public officials at all levels need to provide schools with the resources, tools and ideas necessary to address the legitimate health concerns of teachers and parents.
4/ This is where audacious ideas have been conspicuously absent. Rather than throwing in the towel and waiting for a vaccine, they could be finding creative ways to keep kids in classrooms while also making sure in-person learning is as safe as possible for children and teachers.
5/ Classes should be held outdoors wherever possible. Football, baseball and soccer fields can be converted to outdoor classrooms; for many weeks, students and teachers wouldn’t need to spend much time indoors.
6/ Tents can keep children dry if it is raining. Heat lamps can keep them warm during a fall chill. Restaurants have figured out how to do this. Schools can, too.
7/ Children should be kept in small, assigned groups, and groups should mingle as little as possible. If local officials decide that all students can’t attend in person five days a week to keep density low, the school week should be extended, and some classes...
8/ ...should be held on weekends and evenings. And districts that go virtual this fall should begin planning immediately to keep schools open in the summer of 2021 to make up for lost classroom instruction.
9/ High school students are more equipped to benefit from virtual learning than 1st graders. So if some schools must be closed, then close the high schools, keep the K-8 schools open, and use the high-school buildings for socially distanced elementary- and middle-school students.
10/ Better yet, districts should keep all schools open and work with local officials to commandeer public parks for outdoor instruction — or even vacant shopping malls for socially distanced indoor instruction — during the week.
11/ There is an implicit assumption in many states that the school year needs to begin in late August or early September, as previously scheduled, or not at all.
12/ But state officials could directly link the goals of reducing the virus’s spread and reopening schools, telling their residents that once the spread reaches a specified low level, schools will reopen. This would encourage greater use of masks and social distancing measures.
13/ And if a state hits its target in, say, mid-October, why not begin the school year then? The choice shouldn’t be to open on September 3 or not at all.
Fin/ The U.S. is still in the first half of the fight against the pandemic. Right now, the nation is staring at its shoes, dispirited, in a posture of uncertainty and defeat. That’s a choice. But there’s a better one: go bold.
My latest column: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-11/closed-schools-are-a-national-emergency?sref=QK42wmXj @bopinion
My latest column: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-11/closed-schools-are-a-national-emergency?sref=QK42wmXj @bopinion
