Keeping track of all of the considerations in play when it comes to school returning in the fall… well.  I’m tired already and I’m sure you are, too.  I’ve seen NO districts locally with even a public draft of a plan.  There are vague statements.  We know that Dunmore wants a full return (get ready for a superspreading location), most others want hybrid plans (partial in-person, partial online).

Since I’ve been a teacher for about 15 years and I served as a school director, I thought it worthwhile to write up a comprehensive list of everything I can think of that would be an issue with return (if I’m missing something, please let me know):

1. What about transportation?
   • Social distancing guidelines won’t work on buses without exponentially diminished capacity.  Which means more buses and more drivers.  And more money.  The government woefully underfunds districts as it is, and this will be a near impossibility.
   • Do bus drivers do temperature checks?  They should, so that suspected cases don’t get on a bus (which is an enclosed space with high risk of transmission).  That will require equipment and training, and it’ll slow down busing times, which means commutes will get longer.
2. How will self-insured districts afford it when staff gets sick?
   • People WILL get sick.  The CDC pointed out in a leaked document (because we have a science and fact-denying administration) that schools will be superspreading locations.  This is common sense for anybody who has interacted with a school.  One kid walks in with the flu, two weeks later and a chunk of the building is either out or sniffling.  I always get sick at the end of September.  That’s the profession.  Districts which self-insure (Scranton and Riverside do) may face $1 million plus bills when staff gets sick.  And congregating in a school doesn’t mean if, it means when.
3. And on that note, what about at-risk students and staff?
   • Will there be options for these kids to teach/work/learn from home?  What if somebody is immuno-compromised?  Risking exposure to Covid is dangerous and life-threatening to people with pre-existing conditions.  I saw that Scranton is offering online-only options, and Riverside is capable of doing the same.  Will other districts follow suit?  Also, that only covers students.  What about staff?
4. What happens when a teacher gets sick?
   • Will quarantine after symptoms go away be mandatory?  Teachers only get 10 sick days per year, so what about a first year who hasn’t built up time?  Will this count against sick time?  Remember, this is likely to be forced, rather than “I might have the flu, so I took a day”.
   • And do all the people who encountered this sick teacher have to quarantine?  So the 150 kids that the teacher shared a cramped, poorly ventilated room with… are they out?
5. Actually, what happens when anybody gets sick?
   • If a kid is sick, does everybody who shared classes with that kid have to quarantine?  They certainly should, but that would be massively disruptive.  What are contingency plans for that?
   • What happens when a member of somebody’s household tests positive?  Will that person be required to stay home?
6. What about substitute teachers?
   • There is already a massive sub shortage.  How will classes be handled when there aren’t enough teachers to cover them?  Also, subs go school-to-school.  This is an easy way to create a superspreader.
7. How do I teach?
   • I’m going to need guidelines.  While I can handle common sense things, not everybody can.  For example, I do lots of presentations and projects where kids use shared equipment.  It’ll be next to impossible to do typical group projects and certain types of presentations.  The state has issued rough guidance, but districts have not and we are a month-and-a-half away from the school year beginning.
8. What about kids who travel to banned states or hot zones?  How do you handle/police that?
   • PA is currently requiring mandatory quarantines for those who go to certain states (like Arizona and Florida, which are falling apart).  How do you handle kids who go to these places?  Or, how do you handle a parent of a child who went to one of these places?  Do you ban the child because the parent could’ve been exposed?
   • How do you even screen for this?  Good faith?  I’m telling you right now, given my experience as a teacher and human being, not all parents and kids are benevolent.  There will be many who fail to follow these safety protocols.
9. How do districts remain ADA-compliant?
   • If students or teachers request ADA accommodations, there will be less people in the building.  What happens when enough teachers get exemptions and teach remote?  Will there be enough adults in the building for it to run?
10. What happens when somebody is unable to return due to complications or, god forbid, dies?
    • Tragedy is inevitable if we go back.  What happens to a school when somebody dies because of this?  This is already emotionally taxing.  Losing somebody who is part of the school community will be beyond devastating.  And we will ask ourselves, “If we stayed home, could we have saved this life?”  Nobody should have to live with that guilt.
11. On the note of safety protocols, how do districts handle kids who appear to be sick?  Or refuse to wear masks as an act of defiance?
    • A kid comes into my class, no mask.  I tell the kid to put it on.  He/She refuses.  Then what?  Or a kid coughs on another kid?  The new form of bullying!  How do we handle that?  Detention?  Suspension?  I don’t want that kid anywhere near me, ever.  After an incident that clearly displays that he/she doesn’t care about the safety of others, that kid is now a liability to all around him/her.
    • Add to that kids who just start coughing in class.  Hey, a cough is normal and natural.  Maybe it’s the flu.  But, it might not be.  If I have to teach, I’m sending that kid to the nurse and not letting that kid back.  It’s a danger.  There are HIPPA laws.  We can’t mandate a kid tell us if he/she has Corona.  Or even the flu.  Their medical information is legally confidential (as it should be).  So how do we protect ourselves?

New Jersey released a 104 page plan that would be impossible for any district to follow.  We know that the CDC thinks reopening schools is a recipe for disaster.  And of course it is.  Schools are places where tons of people congregate, then disperse into their communities.  If there are 1,000 kids, that’s how many families?  How many parents/guardians/siblings then, after seeing their school child, go see other people?  Like grandparents, babysitters, neighbors, friends?  And on and on.  See how this becomes an even bigger disaster that it already is?

The thing is, what really should happen is that we should move to an online learning model until we have a vaccine.  And that is awful.  But you’ve already seen the issues at Valley View and at Riverside/Old Forge.  Football practice and a dance recital and now we’ve got this.  How can such small events, when scaled up to school reopening, NOT cause a massive spread?

There’s too much wishful thinking.  And I get it.  We all want things to be the way they were. But we had no coherent national response.  Different states did different things and now certain states are falling apart.  And the negligence of groups and individuals cascades.  So even people who are trying their best to be safe become vulnerable because of the actions of the ignorant.

I, too, want to be in the classroom.  But I also want my students and their families to be safe.  And I have two young boys and a lovely wife I’d like to be able to spend a long time with.  And I want the boys’ grandparents to be safe, too, so that they can watch my boys grow up.

I imagine most of us feel the same.