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technology Monday 6 July 2020
Debates turn emotional as schools decide how and if to open

By PATRICK WHITTLE and dozen cases each day. Still,
CAROLYN THOMPSON the state's largest school
Associated Press district of Portland has left
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) all the options on the table:
— School districts across a full reopening, a partial
America are in the midst reopening or fully remote
of making wrenching deci- learning.
sions over how to resume The district sent a letter to
classes in settings radically parents that said it plans to
altered by the coronavirus use outdoor space when
pandemic, with school bus- possible — a solution for
es running below capacity, only a few months a year,
virtual learning, outdoor given Maine's weather.
classrooms and quarantine In order to keep kids a safe
protocols for infected chil- distance apart on school
dren the new norm. buses, districts will need
The plans for the upcom- more vehicles — an espe-
ing school year are taking cially thorny issue for rural
shape by the day, and districts, where students
vary district to district, state travel vast distances. q
to state. The debates have
been highly emotional, In this June 10, 2020, file photo, Olivia Chan's father helps her with a new mask she received dur-
with tempers flaring among ing a graduation ceremony for her Pre-K class in front of Bradford School in Jersey City, N.J.
parents and administra- Associated Press
tors, and have been made
all the more vexing by re- much still uncertain about to a hodgepodge of dis- al isn't set in stone amid
cord numbers of COVID-19 the virus. tance learning, on-the-fly a surge in infections. The
cases being reported each Districts are worried about homeschooling and, for county recorded its highest
day. being able to afford add- some families, a lack of any number of new cases in a
In Florida, some school dis- ed supplies — including school at all. Districts are single day in late June.
tricts want students back in masks and more buses. now turning their focus to If a student tests positive for
the classroom in early Au- And school officials said how to create more struc- the virus in the new school
gust, even though the virus the resurgence of virus cas- tured environments. year, classrooms or whole
is surging through commu- es underway could shatter But the debates have been buildings would need to
nities. On average, Florida reopening plans before filled with tension. Near be disinfected, said Mike
has reported more than they're even put in place. Rochester, New York, par- Barber, a district spokes-
7,000 new cases each day "If we see large outbreaks ents rallied in favor of fully man. Students and staff
recently — more than sev- happening across com- opening schools, holding with confirmed infections
en times what it was report- munities, it's going to be signs outside an administra- wouldn't be able to return
ing a month ago. very hard to keep schools tion building June 29 say- until they had tested nega-
New Mexico, which has open," said Dr. Ashish Jha, ing: "No normal school? No tive twice.
been largely spared major director of the Harvard school taxes!" Meanwhile, medical ex-
outbreaks, plans a hybrid Global Health Institute, on Christina Higley, a parent perts have expressed con-
model of virtual and in- "Fox News Sunday." "The in the Rochester suburb of cerns for children's devel-
person learning. Parents in good news is we think kids Webster, said she started a opment and mental health.
New York have demanded transmit less. They are cer- Facebook group initially to The American Academy of
schools reopen in the fall. tainly less likely to get sick, demand answers and have Pediatrics said it "strongly
And in Maine, more out- but ... imagine Arizona right a say in what school would advocates that all policy
door learning is planned. now. If schools were open look like, but the discussions considerations for the com-
Districts nationwide are right now, they would not there sparked a movement ing school year should start
coming up with various be able to stay open." for reopening schools. with a goal of having stu-
rules for wearing masks. Aimee Rodriguez Webb, a "There's a lot of parents dents physically present in
Some want all students to special education teacher that are saying, `Open our school."
wear them. Others, such in Cobb County, Georgia, schools, let us have the de- In Cape Elizabeth, Maine,
as Marion County, Indiana, is wrestling with her own cision if we feel comfort- Shael Norris said she's par-
plan to limit the require- health concerns while wait- able sending the children ticularly concerned about
ment to older children. ing to hear her district's in to them,'" said Higley, children who could face
Each of these decisions is plans. She also has a 3 year whose children just finished abuse at home and par-
fraught, trying to balance old. kindergarten, third and fifth ents who risk losing their jobs
health concerns with claw- "I love being in the class- grade. to care for their kids. Norris
ing back as much nor- room. And this year I get The decisions are even has two children set to at-
malcy as possible. Parents, my own classroom, so I was more complicated in dis- tend high school in the fall
wrung out after months of looking forward to deco- tricts where the case count and runs a nonprofit that
juggling full-time work and rating it and all that," she is rising. In Manatee County, combats sexual assault.
full-time home schooling, said. "But then the flip side Florida, the working plan is "There are so many equally
are desperate for help. is ... I don't know that I'm for all elementary students important risks, and we're
Children, isolated from their mentally ready to step into to return to school full time focused entirely on CO-
peers, are yearning for so- the unknown like that." on Aug. 10. Older students VID," she said. "But I get it.
cial interaction. And every- Schools around the U.S. would rely on virtual learn- It's scary."
one, including teachers, is shut down suddenly this ing while they are phased Maine never saw a major
concerned about stepping year as coronavirus cases back into brick-and-mortar outbreak, and it is now re-
into the unknown, with so first began rising. That led schools. But that propos- porting, on average, a few