Seriously y'all. I am so tired of the debate over school reopening disregarding this very basic fact: reopening school in a pandemic is REALLY EXPENSIVE.

People keep acting like schools are staying closed because they feel like it -- instead of considering that they might not be able to afford to reopen safely.

There is no single answer to this question. It is highly dependent on local context -- including things like positivity and hospitalization rates and the strength of local testing and contact tracing.

If you're going to argue it either way, I want to hear the positivity rate thresholds you think are appropriate. Public health authorities generally consider 5% or less for 14 days. Is that too high? Too low?

What sort of safety standards should schools be held to when they reopen? And who should pay for the 100-gallon drums of disinfectant, the air filters, the extra bus runs and the extra staff needed for social distancing?

The @ASBOIntl estimates it would cost a SMALL school district at least $1.7 million to reopen its buildings safely. What's it going to cost Chicago? Or Los Angeles? https://www.asbointl.org/asbo/media/documents/Resources/covid/COVID-19-Costs-to-Reopen-Schools.pdf

OK one last thing: do not for a second assume you know what parents want. In many places, Black and Latino parents have expressed a strong preference for virtual learning. See my story, from New York: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/09/25/nyc-schools-students-of-color/