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Education Dive
How feasible are school reopening plans for fall?
Common trends across reopening plans from prominent education,
government and health organizations suggest doing so may be easier said
than done.
Naaz Modan
May 18, 2020
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released
much-anticipated guidance Friday to help school leaders nationwide as
they weigh options to reopen schools in the fall — or even as early as
the summer in some places.
When compared to frameworks and recovery plans released by other
organizations and states, the decision tree is relatively general and
leaves much in the hands of state and local leaders.
Education Dive overlapped the federal guidance with available drafted
state recovery plans, as well as suggested guidance released by
institutes or organizations — including the American Federation of
Teachers, the American Enterprise Institute, the World Health
Organization and Learning Policy Institute — to identify common themes
being considered and assess their feasibility based on input from
district leaders and health officials.
While some practices, like routine hand washing, are simpler to put in
place, other guidelines require nuanced planning and resources.
Across the board, officials, administrators and other leaders agree
school operations will, for an unclear period of time, look very
different from pre-pandemic days.
Social distancing seems to be more practical in some settings than
others. In hallways and classrooms, for example, some state plan drafts
suggest using visual cues like floor markings to help students and
staff stay six or seven feet apart.
Administrators are also discussing staggering hallway and cafeteria
patterns to limit the number of students flowing in and out of rooms.
Other viable options include eating lunch in classrooms, spacing
students out on cafeteria tables, and rotating teachers between
classrooms instead of students.
Physical distancing is more practical for older students than younger
ones, educators say. Keeping elementary or pre-K students from hugging,
moving around or touching things and each other will pose a challenge,
as will maintaining distance and other hygiene practices on playgrounds
or other play areas.
And while social distancing in buildings may be doable, maintaining it
during transportation could require more resources and planning.
Limiting the number of students on a bus to maintain distance could
mean increasing the number of buses, drivers and routes, which many
districts can’t afford. This could be even less practical considering a
nationwide bus driver shortage, and that drivers in many cases have
pre-existing conditions or are in an age range more susceptible to
coronavirus.
Installing plexiglass also presents similar logistical and financial challenges.
"People don’t realize, it's not about the money — it’s also about the
resources," said Debra Pace, superintendent of Osceola County School
District. "Can you find the shields and can you find the resources to
install them on 300 buses between now and August 10?"
PPE: Who wears it and who doesn’t?
Most health experts, educators and guidelines agree masks or a
face-covering cloth should be worn. But new CDC guidelines only specify
this precaution for school employees, if feasible.
Many say expecting younger students to wear masks is impractical. “I
got sneezed on all the time,” National Education Association President
Lily Eskelsen García said of her time teaching. “Kids spit when they
talk.”
Even if school employees wear masks, concerns like the hefty cost and
impact masks could have on students just entering early childhood
education remain.
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