Teacher: 12 things we must consider before reopening schools - The Washington Post

Teacher: 12 things we must consider before reopening schools - The Washington Post

12 inconvenient truths about schools and kids that should be considered before reopening — from a teacher

As other countries reopen their schools or are well on their way to doing so, school districts in the United States are still putting together their plans for the 2020-21 school year, which is supposed to start next month in many parts of the country.

Districts are surveying parents and teachers, looking at advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and contemplating guidance from their state governments as they figure out what will work best in their communities.

But, with concerns about insufficient funding, the infection rate of the coronavirus in individual communities and other issues, many teachers are questioning whether some of the plans make sense. I recently published a post by Louisiana teacher Mercedes Schneider titled, “‘Parents need to go to work’ does not stop covid-19 at the school entrance.”

Here is a new piece on the subject, this by New Jersey educator Mark Weber, who looks at a dozen “inconvenient truths” about how schools work that policymakers should consider when developing reopening plans.

Weber is a full-time music teacher in Warren Township, N.J., and a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. He is also special analyst for education policy at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive nonprofit that pushes policy change to advance economic justice and prosperity for all through evidence-based, independent research, analysis and advocacy.

This is a shortened version of a piece that appeared on his blog, jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com, and he gave me permission to publish it.

By Mark Weber

I’ve read and heard a lot of commentary from a lot of people who seem to think we can quickly prepare for reopening schools in the fall, as long as we have some flexibility and maybe some extra resources. I’ll be the first to say (along with others) that more funding is absolutely required if we’re going to have any chance of reopening schools. CONTINUE READING: Teacher: 12 things we must consider before reopening schools - The Washington Post