School Reopening Is a Disaster in the Making
From New York City to Florida, students and teachers are pawns in a political game.
Unsatisfactory.
Photographer: Octavio Jones/Getty ImagesIt’s pretty easy to imagine what a responsible plan to reopen schools might look like. Districts would find out what all the people involved — the educators, the parents, the students — considered prudent. They would attempt in-person teaching only where the pandemic was more or less under control. They would take consistent safety measures, closely track infections and pull back if things didn’t go well.
I know a lot of educators. These are professionals, utterly dedicated to their students. Judging from our conversations — and given the lack of good data, there’s not much else to go on — the U.S. is in no way going about this responsibly, and the consequences will be disastrous.