How Should a School District Handle Covid?

Honestly no one thought we’d be here. Not now. Not a year and a half after the world virtually shut down in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid 19.

But once again schools and school districts are facing the hard decision on whether they need to close their campuses once again.

In north Texas it’s becoming fairly routine for districts to transition kids from the classroom to a virtual environment once again. In fact doctors at Cook Children’s Hospital is warning that school closures might become even more common if more people aren’t vaccinated or more kids wear masks.

So When Should a School Close?

The CDC offers some guidance. Their recommendations are based on data from other countries as well as advice from school health experts.

1. They suggest schools consider closure when absenteeism reaches levels they affect school performance. The theory is if a large number of students or teachers are absent then there has been a large amount of virus locally. The solution, they say, might be to close the schools for 2 to 4 weeks to allow time to thoroughly clean the campus and allow the virus to run its course while limiting spread.
2. Unfortunately, the study goes on to say that short closures might not have much of an impact of community spread. The data suggests that closures of 8 to 20 weeks would substantially reduce community spread. But Covid can be hard to predict and they found school closures in certain countries did little to reduce community spread.
3. Then they warn that districts and schools need to plan to minimize the anticipated academic and economic impacts and unintended impacts on disease outcomes. In other words, there is no clear cut answer. But you should consider the consequences, intended or not, of the decision your school or district makes.

Steps to Consider Before Closure

1. Mask mandates are political nightmares. I don’t think, however, that anyone is saying you should not have your child wear a mask. In fact, I would think most adults see the benefit masks provide in reducing the spread of Covid. The problem most have is the mandate itself. Right or wrong, many people want to the right to make their own choice about how to protect their kids. But we think every school with excessive cases of Covid should encourage their kids to wear masks.

2. Reduce the number of people that can visit your campus. That means limiting visitors to essential personnel only. So parents or other family members should not be on campus. Sales people should make their pitches on the phone or Zoom meetings.

3. Eliminate large gatherings. That means no assemblies. No book fairs. Possibly move lunches from the cafeteria to the classroom.

4. Provide the most social distancing possible. Rearrange classroom furniture to allow for the greatest distance between students. Stagger times kids enter and leave the building.

Issues With Remote Learning

In a study by McAfee titled Distance Learning Challenges, taken in April 2020, here are the top five issues parents had with remote learning:

1. Keeping their children focused on schoolwork (instead of other online activities) — 50.31%
2. Establishing a daily routine — 49.26%
3. Balancing household responsibilities and teaching — 41.83%
4. Establishing a wake-up and bedtime schedule — 33.40%
5. Balancing working from home and teaching — 33.31%

The goal of every school and district, in our opinion, is to take the steps outlined above long before considering school closure, which we believe should be a last resort option for everyone.