Thread by @Chalkbeat

Reopening American schools will be a disaster. So will keeping them closed.

When the #coronavirus hit, we failed to control it — and America’s children may pay the eventual price.

ckbe.at/2Bn7xFM

Of all the American institutions the pandemic has shut down, none faces pressure to reopen quite like schools do. Pediatricians exhort schools to open their doors wherever possible or risk developmental harm to kids. Working parents are in crisis.

#EdChat #TellEWA #CovidEdu

.@realDonaldTrump has threatened school funding in his campaign to get school doors open. But many school districts have made it clear that they can do no such thing.
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#COVID19 #education #k12

In Phoenix, Houston, and much of California, where cases are rapidly rising, schools are preparing students and staff for a continuation of remote learning. In NYC and Chicago, where the virus is more under control, schools are moving toward a hybrid option.

Even in places like Detroit and Memphis, where districts plan to offer in-person school for those who want it, local leaders could change course if virus cases rise; they also have yet to figure out what to do if too many worried teachers or students opt out.

Schools already have a lot to do in normal times. Add in a pandemic that increased food insecurity, made in-person teaching a gamble & threw off the learning trajectory of every student — all while creating a projected budget shortfall for schools — and you have a “train wreck."

Compounding the difficulty is the fact that schools are run locally, autonomy the Trump administration and many states have taken to new extremes by declining to offer clear guidance on school reopenings.

#SchoolReopening #education #coronavirus

Many of the country’s 13,000+ school districts have been left to navigate everything from finding masks to deciding what safe classrooms look like — not to mention how to offer safe food distribution and emotional support in the absence of in-person contact with their students.

The people left to figure out the cascading consequences of the coronavirus are superintendents, school boards, teachers, and parents. In this story from @Chalkbeat and @nytimes, we break down the dizzying array of interlocking problems they're facing. chalkbeat.org/2020/7/23/2133…