Reopening Schools Is A Game of Chance

What’s the rush?

As time passes each day, more discussions about the reopening of schools in the United States are being heard. Some people have become very vocal about the economic impact of continued school closures. Others have voiced concerns about the negative social impact related to keeping students away from all of the healthy interactions that contribute to their overall development. There have been individuals who have begun to explain how children and young people are less likely to be physically impacted by Covid-19.

Buzz words based on CDC ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) state issued guidelines have been thrown around to encourage citizens to believe that safety has the capacity to prevail in all schools. These include things like the use of facial masks, social distancing, good hygiene, temperature checks, and proper ventilation.

Others who have weighed in on the topic of reopening schools have justified their opinions. They have argued that students need a place to go because of the number of parents who work outside of the home. There have been those who have described fears about students falling behind academically. Their urgent pleas reflect their strong advocacy for the educational process to quickly return to normal.

The amount of media coverage on the topic of the reopening schools continues to accelerate each day.

The amount of chatter that now exists on the topic of schools these day has created a lot of noise.

Unfortunately, this has been making it very difficult for school leaders and policy makers to make the best possible decision about opening schools. Most significantly, all of the input coming from so many different sources has caused the most important realities to become clouded.

All of these discussion raise these critical questions.

Will parents feel comfortable sending their children back to school?

Will teachers, administrators, and other school personnel believe that they will remain safe enough to return with their students?

Why Rush?

It seems as though there is a rush to make the decision about schools reopening. It has seems like it has become a race.

Ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of children and young people as well as all of the adults committed to contributing to their education in a traditional brick and mortar setting is what is most important.

Those responsible for making decisions about reopening schools have got to remember this.

To me, the decision about reopening school must be dictated by data trends. It doesn’t take a lot to figure this out. As the impact of the pandemic subsides, programs should gradually open. Until such time, I believe that schools should continue their distant learning programs that they began when schools initially closed.

It is my opinion that students, school personnel, and their families are too vulnerable report to school each day even with safety guidelines in place. Their health and lives simply cannot be gambled.

It is just too risky to open schools in the fall.

I invite you to join me by uniting together to create change in this area. Be sure to sign up to be on my email list at [email protected] to receive a periodic copy of my newsletter and specific information about advancing the

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Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher, School Principal, Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Assistant to the Superintendent for Family and Community Engagement, and Professor of Multicultural education. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and she is dedicating the rest of her life to serving as a Family Engagement Influencer.