"The report also found that school closures did little to slow the spread of the virus while causing long-term harm."

Based on the data that I've been tracking in my own school & district this is true.

But it also isn't the whole story.

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@nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/world/unicef-warns-of-a-lost-generation-and-finds-school-closures-are-ineffective.html?referringSource=articleShare

This week we had to move schools to virtual learning. I know this is not the ideal learning situation for our students and families, but we were running into major issues with staffing our classrooms.

Due to spread in the community, staff members were having to quarantine.

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In my small school we had 6 of our 27 licensed teachers on some form of quarantine, plus other staff members as well, including our instructional assistant staff and our cafeteria staff.

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In the last three weeks, coverage of classes has been done by our admin team, our librarian, our coach, our counselor, our resource teacher, and our secretarial staff.

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We developed a coverage plan for 1-5 uncovered classrooms. This schedule has people rotating in and out of classrooms throughout the day for as little as half an hour to as long as half a day.

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But we also know that "covering classrooms" doesn't create conditions where solid learning takes place. Students learn best from a consistent teacher that they have a meaningful relationship with.

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So, we are left having to go back to virtual learning. When there are 3 times as many uncovered classrooms as we have available subs, we are unable to provide a safe learning environment.

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And the truth is, we're here because of not being able to make hard choices as a community to slow the spread. Our community has chosen to keep restaurants, bars, gyms, and so many more public spaces open without consistent enforcement of mask mandates and social distancing.

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And believe me, I get the financial and economic implications of closing or limiting business at all of these places.

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But we can't have everything. If we want schools to be open, we as a community have to do everything possible to slow the spread so that we don't have significant numbers of our school personnel in quarantine.

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So I've got to put it out there again: wear a mask, wash/sanitize your hands, practice distancing, and be careful in your holiday plans. #EveryActionCounts if we want to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Then we can hopefully get students back in our building.

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