The Wall Street Journal wrote about how different districts are planning their reopening in the fall.
Students wearing masks, eating lunch in classrooms and attending school in person only two days a week are among the scenarios being looked at in school districts throughout the U.S. planning to reopen in the fall.
Children who are academically behind or without internet access would get preference for in-person learning under some proposals. Other plans prohibit sharing school supplies and desks closer than six feet apart, and limit parents and other visitors on campuses.
Most school districts won’t decide on their plan until the summer. Some haven’t yet shared their ideas publicly, others are surveying parents and staff for input. Schools are trying to end the largest remote-learning experiment ever—more than 50 million students at home—as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s tough. A school is not designed for social distancing, it’s designed for massive groups of people. We’ll have hand sanitizer all over the place. We’re exploring masks. Will a kindergartner keep a mask on all day at school?” said Gerald Hill, superintendent of the West Bloomfield School District in Michigan.
The pressure is on to reopen schools so parents can get back to work. Some school districts planning a mix of in-person and remote learning are working to offer full-day child care.
Some districts are considering year-round schooling to allow students to catch up academically and have flexibility in case a second wave of the virus hits. Others are thinking about starting school early to help students catch up.
“It’s apparent to me that, because of the circumstances, year-round school is now more valuable than ever,” said Jonathan Young, a school board member in Richmond Public Schools in Virginia, where the method is being considered. “I’m really concerned about our students. Many of them arrived already unprepared. Now, because of Covid, that problem has been exacerbated.”
Dr. Hill in West Bloomfield plans to use a split schedule to educate his 5,700-student body. Classes would be divided into two groups, with each attending two different days a week. All students would learn remotely on Wednesday so schools can be deep-cleaned. Students struggling academically would attend school in person three days a week. Dr. Hill said the district is seeking community input and open to tweaks.
Some states are creating guidelines for reopening but leaving it up to local school districts to create their own plan
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Schools are an enclosed environment. It’s not like social distancing on a beach. There are small, enclosed bathrooms and other areas with NO ventilation. Again, I ask. How will the AIR be cleaned since we know that the virus can live in the air for 2-3 hours? It seems to me that this is a vital question to be answered. In my opinion, cleaning schools once a week on Wednesdays as the article mentions just won’t do it. We’re not going to allow sports teams to play outside with a certain number of fans in the stadiums, so why are we going to have large numbers of people – students and staff – in buildings that have no ventilation?
FREE THE CHILDREN!
If missing another semester of school is what it takes to catch up with this virus, then would that not be the wise thing to do?
These proposals are unworkable in practice. They are dystopian vision of education. They will still rely on cutting the number of school days for children by more than 50%. And they will result in the deaths of some number of teachers.
Keep schools shut, try to do better at remote learning. This semester was a disastrous dry run, at students’ expense. The real thing should start in the fall and continue until we have a vaccine, no matter how long it takes.
People tend to think they can do anything they wish and it makes no difference in the long run.
UNTRUE!!
History is replete with even small differences that changed history forever.
Our country will never be the same because of George W Bush. The mistakes of his administration will haunt us forever.
With Trump it is even worse. How DOES one combat the many items which have been made worse because of the incompetence, etc etc of this resident in the White House. NEVER can we be the same country.
What to do with schools now because of the follies and ineptitude of a person for whom 3 million people did not even vote? Indeed! No good choices that I know of exist. Just pick the lesser of the evils.
Just watch out for the Jobs and Zuckerbergs trying to reinvent education with so-called blended learning models. Don’t let the computers do the grading. And don’t let them ban books. (They’re talking about doing that in the LA Times this morning.) Do not start burning books in fear. I can’t believe I am even compelled to write such a thing. It’s like writing don’t drink bleach.
an intense comparison
For the masks to work, the students would have to have a new one every day instead of one for the entire school year.
Look at how most adults use masks. They don’t wear them properly. There is no way they are washing them and/or swapping them out daily. Pretty safe to assume that the children of those adults will be doing worse with masks than their parents are.
I know what you are talking about. I was in Costco this morning and saw several older people walking around with the masks only covering their mouths, not their noses, and some of the shoppers do not have any idea what six feet looks like. To some, six feet means six inches or less.
I wear a mask over nose and mouth and also lightly tinted dark glasses that offer some protection for my eyes.
Yes. Those who won’t wear masks are the worst. Today in the grocery store I got the dirtiest look from a white cult member who wasn’t wearing one. Not sure if it was the fact that I was wearing one or have a dark complexion or some combination of both. The other thing that is maddening are those who wear masks and keep their noses exposed or have obvious gaps. They’re probably the same people who urinate all over the seats of toilets in public restrooms.
A friend sent me a drawing showing a man wearing his mask below his nose and accompanied it with a drawing of a man wearing his jockey shorts below his private parts. Both wrong.
My school already has a huge rodent problem. Eating lunch all over the building will be a disaster. And what about spills? Most classrooms are carpeted.
People aren’t thinking these things through.
No thinking…just insanity on every level.
“huge rodent problem” What a horrible–but likely truthful–way to describe your, as Duane calls them, adminimals. 🤓