Schools in the Time of COVID

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. Yes, schools are desperately important to kids. No, COVID-19 doesn’t care, and COVID is making the rules right now. Attempts to open schools this fall will fail of their own accord. The relevant question is how to meet the needs of children, families and the community in the face of that reality.

Some decisions make themselves. Opening schools in the fall is one of those.

As those who follow my musings are aware I have been watching COVID-19 very closely from the outset. Not surprisingly given my long history as an advocate for public education, the impact of COVID-19 on schools has been a particular focus.

Right now the nation is struggling with the question of whether to open schools in the fall. As correctly pointed out by organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and a recent report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, schools are profoundly important to childhood development. That is especially true for the most at-risk kids.

But COVID-19 doesn’t care about such things, and right now whether we like it or not, COVID-19 is calling the shots.

As new science comes in the results do not bode well.

I put together a video intended for school boards, superintendents and other decision makers summarizing the current (and rapidly evolving) state of play of relevant science, and offered some perspectives on what it means. Among recent developments:

• The most comprehensive study yet of childhood transmission of COVID-19 reached the conclusion that children over ten are as likely to transmit the virus as adults. And while younger children are in one sense about half as likely to transmit the virus in individual encounters, their gregarious behavior may make up for that difference.

• Adding to a good deal of recent anecdotal evidence from classrooms and child care centers, recent analysis strongly concludes that the opening of schools was a principle driving force behind the resurgence of COVID-19 in Israel.

• Finally succumbing to a growing wealth of evidence, the World Health Organization acknowledged that COVID-19 is airborne in everyday situations, and that this is a significant contributor to the spread of the disease. The National Academy panel found that CDC guidelines for reopening were inadequate, and that safely reopening schools will require substantial (and expensive) improvements in a large fraction of schools.

• Our ignorance of the effects of COVID-19 outweighs our reliable knowledge of the disease, especially when it comes to long-term effects. But it is becoming increasingly clear that one of the primary effects of COVID-19 is an increase in clotting in arteries both large and small. This clotting is seen in organs throughout the body, including the presence of large numbers of microclots in the brain. These have the potential to lead to long-term cognitive effects, even in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic individuals, possibly including children.

• Comparison of the situation in the U.S. as compared with most of the rest of the world, successes reopening schools in some parts of Europe are completely irrelevant to the question of what is possible in the U.S.

• Not mentioned in the video, the American Academy of Pediatrics backed away from its earlier statement, emphasizing that opening schools only makes sense after public health issues have been addressed.

The right question is how to make the most of the reality we face.

We all want schools to reopen with face to face learning, and acknowledge the importance of that. But we’re not going to. And most of those who try are in for a lot of hurt. The correct question for the moment is how to do the best job possible in the face of that reality. That includes not only delivering curriculum, but also providing support for students, families and educators.

Let’s face it. The cries of “schools are important” are often coming from those who hardly have a track record of supporting public education. And in the face of the growing challenges they face, it is past time for schools to rethink their approach to their mission. COVID-19 is without doubt a devastating crisis, but it also presents an opportunity to experiment with novel approaches that will reshape the educational landscape long after COVID-19 is past.

There are many paths to explore; I will write more about that later. But one that I find especially promising and strangely not that widely discussed, is building virtual cohorts of students and parents. Such cohorts could provide structures within which families and kids support each other while working with teachers, social workers, university students and others who are able and willing to provide guidance and knowledge.

Let’s stop trying to grasp onto a “normal” that will never return and be on with the business of inventing the future of schools.

Here are a few other videos that did not make it into blog posts.

Schools in the Time of COVID ^ The Decision Will Ultimately Make Itself  © Dr. Jeff Hester
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