I earlier quoted a story in the New York Times that said the CDC recommended that schools should close for eight weeks.
The story said:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised schools on Friday that closings for at least eight weeks might be the most effective way to contain the coronavirus. The Education Department released school districts from a slew of testing and accountability measures required by federal law.
This is accurate. The “most effective way” might be a closure of at least eight weeks.
But the CDC guidance also says that the length of closure depends on the circumstances in the community and the schools.
This is the actual guidance from the CDC.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/guidance-for-schools.html
Read the guidance with care.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for the fast response. There is a comparable link from the US Department of Education. Among other topics, it mentions waivers on testing.
Click to access COVID-19-OESE-FINAL-3.12.20.pdf
Click to access considerations-for-school-closure.pdf
“There may be some impact of much longer closures (8
weeks, 20 weeks) further into community spread, but that modelling also shows that other mitigation efforts
(e.g., handwashing, home isolation) have more impact on both spread of disease and health care measures.” So the NYT article is not incorrect. I believe it is easier for the CDC to recommend school closures than it is for them to make sure people are washing their hands or self-isolating.
Hello Diane I think your note, and CDC’s announcements and nuances, . . . where WE are expected to work through the granular aspects of the problem as it emerges in our own lives and communities, are what spontaneously occur in a mature democracy. CBK
We need to close all schools and public meetings, period. We don’t have the hospital beds to deal with a rapid peak.
And We The Teachers Draw Your Attention TonDenver’s Dial-Up Story Time For Stay At Homes
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Love, love, love this!
How about we take this approach, instead:
Let’s keep schools open. And theaters. And gyms. And churches.
Let’s let the virus spread as silently and rapidly as possible.
And then, pretty soon, the virus will be EVERYWHERE, and there will be one hospital bed for every 1,000 patients, and this question of closings will be entirely moot!
How about this. I’m going in on Monday to teach a full day of school as if nothing is happening. Then Tuesday I’m having a conference day to get together stuff for students to do should we close school. School is scheduled as usual the rest of the week. Then we are having a conference day on FRIDAY, MARCH 27!! This is what we have so far. Does it make sense to you?
Yet the municipal courts, public library closed, sporting events, and the schools are open.
OTOH, stay tuned. Two days ago, our [central NJ town pop 30k] schdistr supv made an almost identical announcement. Yesterday’s update: all schdistr schs closed until further notice. Today’s update: first covid-19 confirmed in town.
Utah is under a soft close for public schools. Teachers will be preparing lessons for students to do at home. Lunch and breakfast will be available for students that need this support. One to one tutoring or small group lessons will be available for students with disabilities. I am guessing that means IEPs will be serviced by appointment. I don’t know details as this was announced Friday late
This is concerning.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread/index.html
Yes, precisely. For a while there (maybe a week ago), we were getting reports that children seemed not to be affected or if so, only mildly. Some media reports even jumped to the assumption that children weren’t contracting it. Most speculated from stats that children weren’t significant vectors since most remained asymptomatic. Since then I’ve read (a)testing results somewhere [I think MA] showed children exposed to parental infection indeed contracted it, and (b)latest findings suggest that maximum virus shedding occurs during pre-symptomatic phase immediately after contracting the virus.
Put those 2 pieces of info together & it tells you, schools are a petrie-dish for massive viral spread.
Montana schools still aren’t closing yet, although we’ve now had four confirmed cases in four cities. What legal rights do we teachers have if we don’t want to work in these Petri dishes?
The CNN headline is misleading. The article says that asymptomatic people are not a significant threat.
The other thing I have heard nothing about has to do with how viruses can stay on money–both coin and paper. I watched a checker at the Dollar Store work out of her cash drawer–money, in and out, and in and out, from person to person, multiplied by how many registers and all day long every day. It’ has to be at least one element in the community spread of the virus. CBK
Read the article carefully. It seems to me that because they are not sure of the scope of how much asymptomatic people can and are spreading the virus, we need to be extremely cautious.
“We now know that asymptomatic transmission likely [plays] an important role in spreading this virus,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Osterholm added that it’s “absolutely clear” that asymptomatic infection “surely can fuel a pandemic like this in a way that’s going to make it very difficult to control.”