“How many new rules?!!”
“SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!” tweeted Donald Trump (roughly three days after declaring that schools are teaching students to hate America).
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tweeted back, “American education must be fully open and operational this fall.”
DeVos didn’t actually use the word “school,” but Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran certainly used it when mandating that all Florida schools must open in brick and mortar fashion for at least five days a week in August.
Back in May, many folks were operating on the —well, “assumption” might be too strong, so let’s say “fervent hope”—that life would be more or less back to normal by the fall, and schools with it. But now the first day of school looms, and nobody is quite sure how to manage. Teachers are pointing out and pointing out and pointing out the many ways that school in a Covid-19 world faces some real problems. At the same time, all sorts of folks (most of whom don’t actually work in schools) are declaring that schools need to open. Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security Official, notes that the US has made the mistake of not calling schools “essential infrastructure” and calls for a “groundswell of public support” for schools.
But if officials really want US schools fully open and operational—and also reasonably safe—in the fall, they will need to put money where their mouths are.
Here are just a few of the non-negotiable costs of re-opening schools safely.
Equipment. Many classrooms have limped along for years on hand sanitizer and tissues provided by the teacher or parents. Schools will need a hefty supply of even basic supplies such as sanitizer, gloves, and masks. Other specialized equipment (partitions for desks, classroom and hallway dividers, etc) may be needed for the particular situation of some schools.
Training. At this point it’s clear that plenty of folks are a bit fuzzy on how to effectively use simple PPE like masks and gloves. Every school will be implementing new policies, and far more than a quick in service one hour briefing will be needed. What every district ought to do is spend a day, or two, or three doing a dry run of the new normal, with staff and district officials playing the parts of students. Note: don’t forget to train all of your substitute teachers.
Infrastructure. Spring taught us that few districts really have the juice to pull off large scale distance learning. If a school hopes to lean on a blended model in the fall, they are going to have look at how to give every single family access to reliable equipment paired up with reliable internet connectivity, plus address adaptation issues for students with special needs. This will also add to the long list of training issues.
Staff. Social distancing means smaller class size, which means more teachers on staff. Ditto for support staff like bus drivers. If you are going to increase the number of surfaces that need to be cleaned as well as the frequency and intensity of the cleaning, you will need more custodial staff. You will have to figure out how to safeguard your vulnerable staff (and staff with vulnerable family members—do you have any idea how many colds elementary teachers bring home).
You are going to need extra staff just to handle new procedures. Fifteen first graders going to the restroom in a socially distanced line stretch out over 84 feet—one teacher cannot monitor that group alone, nor can she take only a few students at a time while also monitoring the rest. Plus more nurses. More counselors. And all of these staff additions will be on top of all the folks who are about to decide that none of this is worth the risk and trouble, so they’re retiring effective right now.
Things we don’t even know about yet. We have never done this before. If we start down this path, we are going to be hit by unanticipated costs beyond anything we imagined.
There are other issues that no amount of money will solve, and it’s a list big enough that I’ll give it its own post later this week.
But there are also some basic non-negotiable costs that can’t be papered over with some simple edict and a wave of the hand. None of it will be cheap, but any elected official who mandates the re-opening of schools without offering a real plan for financing the mandate is simply pushing for catastrophic failure.
