Questioning School Opening
As people across the country struggle with the question of whether or when to open schools, a new study from South Korea was released, raising serious concerns. The study documents the likelihood that reopening schools will trigger an increase in Covid-19 cases. Many people have been counting on the fact that children under 10 appear to transmit the disease much less often than adults. This latest study, however, points out that, while this is likely true, the risk is not zero. Moreover, children between 11 and 19 can spread it at about the same rate as adults.
In addition to the troubling conclusions of this study, earlier last week we learned of the concern for the health of teachers and other school personnel because of the relationship between Covid-19 and underlying health issues. The Kaiser Family Foundation study suggests that as many as 24% of adults working in schools nationally are especially at risk because of diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which includes asthma), heart disease, obesity and a functional limitation due to cancer.
The study concluded,
“For higher-risk teachers, failure to achieve safe working conditions could have very serious results. Given the difficulty of maintaining social distancing in a crowded school environment, these at-risk teachers may be reluctant to return to their schools until infection rates fall to much lower levels.”
The risks to children and to those in the schools are of course higher in urban areas. In Detroit many of our children are in multigenerational households, increasing the potential for children to carry the virus to school, infecting others there. Or the risk of bring it home and infecting the elders at home.
These complications and dangers are compounded by the poor conditions of many of our school spaces. For years we have seen the results of financial austerity. Windows cannot open. Heat and air conditioning do not work. Water is poisoned. Bathroom and sanitation facilities are in terrible shape. Basic supplies are a constant problem. None of this has changed since the closing of schools in March. Everyone knows restoring our schools to acceptable conditions is a long, expensive process. And yet the Superintendent of Detroit’s public schools tried to assure us that “The reopening plan has been vetted and discussed.”
It is no wonder people blocked school buses for the beginning of summer school and have filed a lawsuit to stop it.
At the federal level, the instance by Trump and his Secretary of Education, right wing zealot Betsy Devos, have been pushing reopening as a way to further undermine any commitment to public education. A recent article in the New York Times explained, “For Ms. DeVos, then, the current crisis may be more of an opportunity than a threat. By pressuring public schools to open, even if unsafely, she will compel many privileged families to abandon those schools. Many less fortunate students will find themselves with little choice but to attend unsafe schools with even fewer resources than they had before. And public schools will take the blame for the inequalities that will almost inevitably result.”
So how do we responsibly move forward? How do we address the needs of parents? Children? Teachers? Bus drivers? Janitors? School aides? All of the people who come and go to make the education of our children possible? What kind of education do we need now? How can we provide it safely?
All of these questions are in front of us. We are including in this newsletter a statement prepared by the Detroit Independent Freedom Schools to help of us think more clearly beyond this moment. Perhaps one of the most important lessons we can give our children right now is that we will not be pushed into making false choices. It is possible to create new forms of education, rooted in reality, that help all of us become more creative, healthy, compassionate and thoughtful human beings.