Private schools are back in session while the public schools are virtual due to covid. Once again the lower income communities are screwed while the wealthy are able to continue as is. Except this time its the kids and this is a v long term impact well past Covis. Can we really not reopen (even partially) schools safely ?

I mean.. https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2020/9/17/21440594/catholic-teacher-covid-19-archdiocese-immaculate-conception-st-joseph-school

The price you pay for "democracy" and polarized politics run by incompetent politicians who are out of touch with the average working class and whose own kids/grandchildren are in private schools while most of their constituents send their children to public schools.

Can we not re-open schools safely? Sure we can. My kids have been in "hybrid" program since mid-August (2 days on campus/3 days remote). All students are accounted for, alive and well. All faculty and staff are accounted for, alive and well. Masks are worn at all times and sanitizers are used. There were students who tested posititive and they were identified and quarantined. Ditto for students they came in contact with. Again, everyone is ALIVE & WELL. The school made decisions and took the responsibility for seeing them through. As simple as that.

My kids have been going to catholic school for a few weeks. No issues yet. I hope it last all year. They get lazy working from home. The school is taking a lot precautions. Public schools can make it work but those teacher unions complain about everything.

Let’s take a hard look at this. We’re comparing private schools that have nice and spacious facilities, kids that come from well of backgrounds so they have good medical care and are well protected, can pay their staff better, have access to technology, etc and are struggling to operate due the substantial burdens covid puts on their staff with a public school system that could barely operate when things were perfect and that has to service all types of students, not just the ones that are smart, fully able, etc. We should be talking about the systemic racism that public education can’t provide those nice facilities, new tech, well paid teachers, etc., yet you can send your children to a fancy school that affords you this privileged and reality-detached worldview. But, as consultants we really should be in the habit of actually analyzing the problem rather than repeating headlines. Because if you start to analyze differences in infection rates among rich and poor, differences in students per square foot in public (particularly in poor neighborhoods) and private or well-off neighborhood schools, compared the health coverage of teachers among those different places, heck we’re not even looking at stuff like cafeteria density, number of students per school, support staff that can clean, interior air quality or circulation in ancient not well cared for buildings, there is no way that you’d send your kid to a public school in a poor neighborhood or volunteer to be a teacher at one of those schools (unless you have undiscovered and/or undeclared suicidal or self-harming tendencies).

Private schools are back in session while the publ...

Chief

For what it’s worth, “reduced community spread” is a bullshit goalpost for when it’s “safe” to reopen schools or do anything else. Why? Because it just spreads again. I’m in Europe right now where they got infections very, very low, basically arrogantly declared that they were over Covid and could go back to normal, and now it’s soaring across the continent. France and Spain now have more Covid per capita than the US and have just decided to live with it unless there are extremely serious hospital capacity crunches, which hasn’t happened on the broad level it did in March / April yet. Basically same story as Florida circa July.

As long as this pandemic is happening, opening schools WILL result in teachers and students being infected. That’s lower for younger students who seem to spread it less, but not for older students. Regardless, they WILL be infected. If you view needing to avoid Covid infections at all costs as the only correct goal, schools cannot open right now: in Chicago, anywhere else in the US, in Europe... anywhere where Covid hasn’t been literally eradicated.

If you think we need to balance education with infection risk, especially given that students and younger teachers get severe infections only very rarely, then you can talk about re-opening schools, given their absolute vital importance for society. But it WILL result in Covid infections, and you can’t freak out and shut everything down at the first sign of positive cases, or even at increased community spread due to schools, which will also happen. Strategies balance risk.

What is not a reasonable strategy is just saying “if people just social distance a little harder for a little longer we’ll get cases ~low enough~ to have school open and allow a more normal life”. That’s magical thinking. Things that spread Covid spread Covid even if infection rates start low. Again, see: Europe.

If you think you can get to *eradication*, that’s a different story, but I challenge you to present a credible plan to do that in the US.

Hopefully a vaccine changes the calculus here considerably.