Reopening schools
By: Frank S. Robinson
Tags: Covid 19, Schools, Trump Administration, Pandemic, Coronavirus

July 24, 2020

(From www.rationaloptimist.wordpress.com)

Trump wants schools reopened. Because he cares about kids’ education? (Note, that was a laugh line.) No, of course he cares only about himself, seeing open schools as the ticket to economic rebound, his only hope for re-election.

You might think that in his desperation, he’d do what’s really needed to reopen schools and the economy. His latest briefing took matters a tiny bit more seriously. But just a tiny bit. Even now Trump is still trying to keep federal money for testing and tracing out of pending legislation!

Covid forces tradeoffs between economic and health concerns. Life has great value, but it’s not infinite, and it’s not necessarily crazy to posit that the lives saved are not worth the enormous economic costs — which, after all, themselves affect lives and their quality. Unfortunately, thanks to Trump, we took the economic hit, but because of an atrocious lack of leadership and relenting too fast, got the health disaster as well.

For schools, the tradeoffs skew differently. Keeping them closed cripples the economy by forcing parents to stay home with kids rather than work. (This is Trump’s real animus.)

But the damage to children’s education could actually be lifelong, with the missed classroom time never made up. Zoom lessons are not the same. The impact on poor children, less able to participate remotely, is all the greater. They will fall further behind, widening inequality. And out of school they’re more likely to suffer abuse, malnutrition, and mental problems.

The World Bank estimates that losing five months of school will cut the lifetime earnings of affected children by $10 trillion, equal to 7% of current annual GDP.

Against these huge detriments, the health risks are smaller than for other societal sectors. Studies indicate that children are much less susceptible to infection than adults, and way less likely to die. And infected children seem to be less contagious. One reason is that they’re shorter. The virus-laden droplets they eject tend not to reach higher altitudes where adults can ingest them.

So I too actually want schools reopened. But it entails serious risks that must be seriously addressed.

Much unlike Trump (who simply threatens to force schools to reopen, ready or not), Joe Biden has presented a careful comprehensive plan for reopening schools while minimizing the risks. His plan follows CDC guidelines. (Which Mike Pence said schools should feel free to ignore. Yes, our national covid response coordinator actually said that.)

The plan’s key elements are clear:

• First, schools can’t reopen where the virus is not under control. That requires masks, social distancing, and intensive testing and tracing. (On all these, America is still an underachiever.)

• The most vulnerable (mainly older) teachers and school personnel must be specially protected.

• Good supply of masks and PPE.

• Reduced class sizes, staggered schedules, and other measures to prevent crowding.

• Giving schools the money needed to meet added costs for PPE, sanitizing, reconfiguring classrooms, etc.

• Communication with parents, giving them confidence they can send kids to school in reasonable safety.

• Where schools cannot provide full in-person teaching, much more is needed so all students, but especially disadvantaged ones, can fully participate in remote learning programs.

Some further thoughts: with all the unemployment, shouldn’t we hire some people to help bring kids up to speed on learning? And shouldn’t we consider shortening if not eliminating next summer’s vacation?

Other countries have implemented plans like Biden’s with good results. I note that the elementary schools I’ve been supporting in Somaliland seem to be doing great at working with (very poor!) children stuck at home. Surely we should expect as much for America’s kids.

Find the details of Biden’s plan here: www.fsrcoin.com/98.html

(As a contributor I received it from his campaign. As a former Republican donor, I get all their e-mails too. The contrast is stunning. The Biden ones are always sober, serious, fact-based, inspiring confidence. The Republican messages are an hysteria of wild falsehoods.)