Thursday, September 17, 2020

All the Options for Schooling Are Bad—But We Have to Choose Safety - In These Times

All the Options for Schooling Are Bad—But We Have to Choose Safety - In These Times

All the Options for Schooling Are Bad—But We Have to Choose Safety
On parents’ impossible decision



I am among the mil­lions of par­ents around the coun­try (and more around the world) won­der­ing whether to send our chil­dren back to school. The mere ques­tion evokes con­flict­ing thoughts that usu­al­ly end in con­fu­sion and exas­per­a­tion. It’s a big deci­sion, one that most par­ents feel ill-equipped to make.
Let’s be real: This nov­el coro­n­avirus still stumps world-renowned epi­demi­ol­o­gists. How can par­ents ade­quate­ly ascer­tain what’s best? My kids have tear­ful­ly inti­mat­ed on more occa­sions than I care to acknowl­edge that they want to go back — to actu­al­ly leave the house, learn from their teach­ers in per­son, spend time with friends beyond a lap­top screen. My hus­band and I want that, too. If only it were that simple. 
By August 30 at least 36 states had report­ed pos­i­tive cas­es at col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties, adding more than 8,700 cas­es to America’s total. My heart sinks think­ing of that now-infa­mous pho­to of Geor­gia high school stu­dents — a state where I once lived — mask­less and crammed togeth­er in a nar­row hall­way, no social dis­tanc­ing in sight. Pre­dictably, nine stu­dents and staff test­ed pos­i­tive for Covid and the school tem­porar­i­ly closed. It’s not quite a ring­ing endorse­ment for return. 
And those were teenagers. The­o­ret­i­cal­ly, they have the capac­i­ty to grasp the con­se­quences of a pub­lic health cri­sis. My ram­bunc­tious 8- and 6‑year-old sons? Not so much. Before the pan­dem­ic, we were still work­ing on the whole wash your hands” thing. I am not opti­mistic they could keep a mask on for an entire school day. 
The sto­ry of lit­tle Kimo­ra Lynum — Kim­mie” as her fam­i­ly affec­tion­ate­ly called her — adds to my nev­er-end­ing anx­i­ety. The 9‑year-old Flori­da girl loved to play video games and dance to YouTube and Tik­Tok videos, just like my boys. After a sud­den onset of a high fever and severe stom­ach pains in CONTINUE READING: All the Options for Schooling Are Bad—But We Have to Choose Safety - In These Times