Donald Cohen of “In the Public Interest” writes that the pandemic reminds the public of the importance and value of public schools. They serve the entire community. They are public, and they belong to the public, not to corporate chains or entrepreneurs.
He writes:
The worst of the COVID-19 outbreak is likely yet to come. But it’s worth taking a moment to think about why it took so long to close the nation’s public schools.
School districts nationwide finally began to close brick and mortar schools at the end of the second week of March, a full week after many college and universities sent students home.
Students, teachers, and parents are now embarking on the largest experiment in online instruction this country has ever seen—and many important questions remain. Will there still be standardized testing? What about kids who don’t have reliable internet access? How will districts ensure data privacy for students and families?
Another question: why’d it take so long to begin the experiment?
It’s simple. Public schools are public goods. They provide basic educational, social, emotional, and even physical needs to not only students and families but also entire communities. Closing them has effects that ripple out beyond school doors. As Erica Green wrote in the New York Times, mass school closings could “upend entire cities.”
Just look at the numbers:
The nation’s public school system serves more than 50 million students, many of whom have parents who work and need childcare during the day.
The federal National School Lunch Program serves food to over 30 million kids annually. Many families rely on school to feed their children meals throughout the school year.
There are more than 3.1 million public school teachers, many of whom are already struggling to get by. Teachers, paraprofessionals, front office workers, bus drivers, janitors, and other school staff rely on public school jobs to make ends meet.
But perhaps most importantly, public schools provide kids with the opportunity to learn alongside their peers. Schools are where the community comes together to learn and grow regardless of skin color, income level, sexual orientation, or any other difference.
Only public institutions—not private markets—can make sure that these basic needs are available to everyone.
The next few days, weeks, and months are uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: we’ll be learning how much public schools really matter to all of us. Some—teachers, administrators, and school staff—already know how important they are…
The Network for Public Education is compiling stories of how the public school community is serving the nation during the outbreak.
Public schools matter because we all benefit from them regardless of whether we have a kid in school. Public schools matter because they’re public goods.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Without the democratic, transparent, public schools, professional teachers (Not TFA scabs, most will never be professional teachers but only hacks pretending to teach, and not charter schools like Eva’s detention, test centers for kids, or vouchers that pay you to keep your kids home or send them to religious programming schools) this country would unravel and collapse as a modern civilization. The U.S. would become a dystopian nightmare.
If schools were run for profits, 30 million children would not have access to at least one meal a day. Feeding children that live in poverty would cut into their profits.
If schools were run for profits, there would be no art classes, no drama, no band, no sports, no PE.
If schools were run for profits, there would be no counselors, nurses, doctors, school libraries, or health care of any kind for children while they are in school.
If K-12 education was all unlike, children would grow up without much contact with their peers and develop little or no social skills. Instead of a handful of Trumps, the for-profit schools would be turning out cloned Trumps by the millions that valued profit over the quality of life.
We already are a dystopian nightmare!.. I have been saying to my husband lately that my face is getting really sore from slapping myself trying to wake up from this awful nightmare. This whole thing seems like a bad, teenage dystopian novel….The Hunger Games, The Giver etc….
The current Trumpish/ALEC/Walton/Gates dystopian nightmare we are all living through could get worse.
Well said;
May I add this. Our public universities, Once the pride of America where the best students from around the world came to study has also been hard hit by the politicians. Over the last many years the funding has dried up from the government and have now become unaffordable for too many excellent students. Too, so many of those who struggle through are left with humongous debt so they cannot function in a normal way in society.
This is all known of course but it cannot be overstated. How can we ever keep up with the rest of the world which provides free or very cheap college education? Or for that matter countries which put student and society needs foremost over money making machines? And all of this even before the present virus is devastating us.
It is likely that schools will not be “very safe” from viral infection infection for the coming school year. Are public schools, like police protection, fire protection, medical care, the food supply chain, etc., essential enough that teachers and perhaps students should be asked to risk infection or can we do without school for a year in order to increase the safety of the teachers and staff and, perhaps, the students?