“Ultimately, it's not a matter of if schools should reopen. It's simply a matter of how. They must fully open, and they must be fully operational.” On July 7th, 2020, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke candidly to the country’s governors in a conference call about the Trump administration’s intent to fully reopen schools for in-person operation in the fall. Despite the vast increase in the number of COVID-19 cases within the United States in the span of a few months (the CDC reported that as of July 27th, 2020, the U.S. had 4,225,687 recorded cases, 61,795 more than the previous day), many policymakers, including the Secretary of Education, continue to maintain that the reopening of schools is an utmost priority, one that they’re willing to strong-arm in order to have the nation conform to their agenda of fully reopening. They do so on the basis that having students back on campuses would give their parents a chance to return to work, a scenario that could potentially bolster the US’ faltering economy amidst the global pandemic while also providing students a stable learning environment once more. However, though schools should undoubtedly be a priority for reopening, the lack of a concentrated response on the part of the Trump administration, as well as the growing number of cases within the US, should be a sign of many uncertainties to come as to whether or not schools should consider returning to normal operation in the fall.
The Trump Administration’s Response
The Trump administration has majorly taken on the role of championing the cause of reopening campuses (no real surprise there, given their track record with reopening). Members of the Department of Education, Cabinet officials, and even President Donald Trump himself have stepped forward to decry states’ decisions to keep schools closed, claiming that schools must reopen, no matter what the cost. For the most part, the administration’s response to COVID-19 in recent months has been, in the words of ABC News, “largely punted to state and local officials -- as it has since the earliest days on the pandemic on issues like procuring medical equipment and personnel,” which is consistent with the sentiments DeVos expressed in a speech back in December of 2016 that “It won't be a giant bureaucracy or a federal department. Nope. The answer isn't bigger government. The answer is local control” (for the reader’s reference, this statement was in regards to education rather than handling a crisis, but the idea of less government intervention is consistent). However, it appears that they’re willing to take a hard stance on reopening campuses, to the point where the President, another purported fan of small government, has threatened to take federal action against schools that refuse to comply. In a Tweet on July 8th, 2020, Trump, after remarking on how other countries in the world (countries that had swift responses to the pandemic) were already opening schools with “no problems,” warned that he may “cut off funding if [schools were] not open,” specifically targeting their tax-exempt status and their allocated funds.
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have echoed President Trump’s words in their own statements to the press, with the latter endorsing the President’s threat to withhold funding to force schools to reopen their doors in addition to trying to further her own agenda. On cutting federal funding, DeVos has suggested that the funds taken from noncompliant schools should be reallocated to help families “spend it in private schools that do reopen, a kind of pandemic voucher,” a move that aligns with her history of “boost[ing] the interests of private schools and [promoting] the idea of letting families use public dollars to pay for private schools” (NPR). Leaving aside the constitutionality of threatened executive action to take away funding from a state department, the White House has expressly displayed interest in forcing the opening of schools nationwide, even in states like California and Florida, which have seen record case numbers in the past few weeks. Their insistence on federal action is even more puzzling when considering the fact they have established no federal standard for schools to follow.
Despite the administration’s unilateral position on reopening campuses, it appears that not much has changed since the beginning of the pandemic. The administration’s willingness to force states into action, and their claim to have developed a “national strategy” for reopening, is concerning, to say the least; every action they’ve taken has placed the burden on state and local officials to handle difficult scenarios arising from irresponsibility on the federal level. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany stated in an interview on “Fox & Friends” that “We leave it to localities as to exactly what guidelines work, because guidelines in a state like North Dakota need to look different than a locality like Miami,” the guidelines referring to the White House’s general guidelines for reopening (which were severely lacking and blatantly unenforced) and the CDC’s specific recommendations for schools (which Trump has criticized for being “very tough” and “expensive”). The New York Times puts it best: “Compounding the difficulty is the fact that schools are run locally, autonomy the Trump administration has taken to new extremes by offering reopening instructions that amount to, ‘good luck.’” The administration has no plan available in regards to reopening schools safely; the only thing they have is an insistence to reopen campuses anyway, regardless of the repercussions, and a willingness to use force, in the form of slashing budgets, if necessary.
On the CDC’s Guidelines for Reopening
To DeVos’ credit, in preparation for her argument for reopening schools, she openly broke with Trump and supported the CDC’s recommendations on how to reopen in a safe manner (though she’s gone on record multiple times strongly pushing against a hybrid system, which the CDC has acknowledged is safer than a complete return). The CDC’s guidelines, based on the institute’s best available evidence, are fairly comprehensive, encompassing everything from social distancing to suggestions on how to handle the appearance of cases while reopening. Here are a few of the recommendations set forth by the CDC:
Actively encourage employees and students who are sick or who have recently had close contact with a person with COVID-19 to stay home.
Teach and reinforce use of cloth face coverings.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces (e.g., playground equipment, door handles, sink handles, drinking fountains) within the school and on school buses at least daily or between use as much as possible.
Ensure ventilation systems operate properly and increase circulation of outdoor air as much as possible, for example by opening windows and doors.
Be aware of local or state regulatory agency policies related to group gatherings to determine if events can be held.
Monitor absenteeism of students and employees, cross-train staff, and create a roster of trained back-up staff.
Work with school administrators, nurses, and other healthcare providers to identify an isolation room or area to separate anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or tests positive but does not have symptoms.
Based in science, the CDC’s suggestions are perhaps the greatest hope for the movement to reopen schools, with members of the Department of Education pointing to them as evidence that schools are able to open with little to no repercussions. The issue, of course, is that these are merely guidelines, something that the Trump administration seemingly understands to a basic degree with how much they’re pushing their work onto state and local authorities. Many also point to the research behind the CDC’s recommendations as reasoning for reopening schools, citing various preliminary studies that ostensibly show that children and teenagers are less likely to transmit COVID-19 and more likely to have milder symptoms. As the possibility of a premature return increases, the effectiveness of these guidelines remains to be seen. Regardless, it seems that the people pushing for the reopening of schools aren’t afraid to sacrifice people’s lives for a chance to “help the nation’s youth recover.”
Unexpected Pros of Reopening Schools
There are undoubtedly benefits to reopening schools, as surprising and irrational as that may sound. DeVos’ statement that parents are unable to return to work and provide for their families isn’t an incorrect one: many parents find themselves preoccupied with caring for their children, having to watch them at home instead of leaving them unsupervised for days on end while at work. The closure of schools took away a safe place for students to spend their time, leaving parents, especially low-income ones who couldn’t afford alternatives, in a deadlock between leaving their children unsupervised and taking days off, with the risk of being laid off due to their continued absences. Reopening schools would provide the basics of child care for such parents: “sufficient physical space” for children to express themselves, and “willing and capable adult caregivers.” Notably, however, in a recent survey, “nearly three-quarters of parents called going back into school buildings a ‘large to moderate’ risk for their children, and the numbers were even higher for Black parents and Hispanic parents” (The New York Times). Sending students back to school could, in fact, still negatively affect the mental health of the parents, with worries about their children contracting COVID-19 potentially affecting their day-to-day life.
Schools also provide free meals to many of their students, with US public schools providing 30 million free or nearly-free meals a day under normal circumstances. Though many schools attempted to start up supplementary programs to provide their students with food when quarantine started, a large majority of students who relied on public school lunches lost access to their meals. Initiatives by the federal government to help families affected by the pandemic fell flat as administrative errors and legislative conflicts prevented money from reaching those that truly needed it. Reopening schools would potentially provide students, particularly low-income ones, with meals once more, though how mealtimes would be instituted amidst the pandemic is still a question to consider.
Above all, schools are a place where students can grow academically, mentally, and socially. Remote learning has, time and time again, shown to be woefully ineffective, with knowledge barely being retained as a result of what many teachers refer to as an extended “summer slide.” A return to on-campus learning would ensure higher performance as students become re-engaged through in-person classes. Campuses also sometimes provide social workers (guidance counselors, therapists, etc.) that can help students maintain their mental health much more effectively than if a student were isolated indoors and left to their own devices. Lastly, schools host a large variety of opportunities for activities and interactions, which contributes to the social development of children, particularly younger children. Even if some activities are restricted due to the pandemic, with social distancing being just one example, there still exists opportunities for students to interact with each other in meaningful ways, much more than if they were stuck at home where calls and games are the only ways of safely keeping in touch with others.
Why Students Shouldn’t Return to Campuses
What makes the situation complicated is that there isn’t enough concrete evidence to guarantee the safety of students and staff amidst a global pandemic. What may initially appear to be a logical fallacy is given credence by the sole fact that human lives are at stake. When one of the guidelines by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention is to preemptively accept that cases will occur, no matter how thorough the preparation, perhaps it’s a sign that schools aren’t ready to reopen for the foreseeable future:
“Prepare for potential COVID-19 cases and increased school community transmission. Schools should be prepared for COVID-19 cases and exposure to occur in their facilities. Collaborating with local health officials will continue to be important once students are back to school, as they can provide regular updates about the status of COVID-19 in the community and help support and maintain the health and wellbeing of students, teachers, and staff. Having a plan in place for maintaining academic instruction and ensuring students have access to special services is also critical.”
Furthermore, studies are beginning to emerge that show that students aren’t quite as safe from the pandemic as researchers had initially speculated. A study of nearly 65,000 people in South Korea produced two impactful results: 1) children under the age of 10 transmitted the disease to others much less than adults did, and 2) children between the ages of 10 and 19 transmitted the disease at rates comparable to the rates at which adults transmitted it. The consequence of reopening schools, then, is clear: with children being able to transmit the virus, period, the plan to simply reopen schools suddenly becomes a gateway to even higher case numbers. These new findings are especially important to consider when faced with the fact that “more than one-quarter of public school teachers are over the age of 50,” the age deemed as the starting point of high-risk for being infected by the virus and possibly passing away due to it (The New York Times). Internal documents from the CDC also “warned that fully reopening K-12 schools and universities would be the ‘highest risk’ for the spread of coronavirus,” a warning that should under no circumstances be ignored. The fact that students, especially older ones, can transmit the disease at fairly high rates, in environments with many who are susceptible to the disease, should be a red flag for anyone still pushing for the reopening of schools.
While talking about teachers, it should be recognized how much of an unfair burden reopening schools would place on them. Historically underpaid, with suboptimal working conditions, to force them into attempting to educate their students in a social environment unfit for learning, while also potentially endangering their own lives, as well as the lives of their families, is too much to ask for. The New York Times encapsulates this perfectly, stating that “teachers did not sign up to prop up the economy by providing child care while putting their health and the health of their families at risk.” The Times also notes how, to many teachers, “crucial questions about how schools will stay clean, keep students physically distanced and prevent further spread of the virus have not been answered.” As the ones who would be on the frontlines, should schools be reopened, their concerns are not only valid, but, to some extent, more important than the policymakers that hide behind their desks while dictating unreasonable edicts.
What’s more, many of the CDC’s recommendations are simply unfeasible when taking into account the extreme number of budget cuts that education’s seen over the years. With little to no resources on-hand to even properly stock classrooms, to suddenly mandate proper ventilation (which many schools either completely lack or need to repair), enforce social distancing requirements (when schools are overcrowded to begin with), and require mental health assistance for students affected by the pandemic (which schools are notorious for having miniscule access to) is harsh and unrealistic. Even items that are relatively cheaper to acquire - face masks and hand sanitizer, to name a few - are bound to face extreme shortages in districts without the means to maintain a constant supply. Without the funds necessary to follow some of the CDC’s most basic guidelines, there should be no talk of students returning to schools, where they’d undoubtedly be left in conditions that could aid the transmission of COVID-19.
Inequities for Low-Income Schools, and What Reopening Means for BIPOC Communities
Matters are much worse for low-income schools, and the BIPOC communities that are statistically more likely to attend them. When schools closed, BIPOC communities were already facing ramifications leagues more severe than those of their wealthy white counterparts. Low-income communities had less access to COVID-19 testing, less access to the relief handed out by the federal government, and less access to general resources to begin with. Talk of reopening schools has changed nothing for such communities: schools in low-income areas, which typically host large numbers of BIPOC students, were found to have less funding than schools in medium-income to high-income areas. A report by the US Department of Education found that “more than 40 percent of schools that receive[d] federal Title I money to serve disadvantaged students spent less state and local money on teachers and other personnel than schools that [didn’t] receive Title I money at the same grade level in the same district.” Schools with a large number of BIPOC students received less funds, with a report by the Education Trust “[analyzing] funding disparities between districts serving the most students of color and those serving the least, [and] finding an even larger funding disparity than that of poverty levels. On average, districts serving the most students of color received about $1,800 per student, or 16 percent.” With less funds, many of the guidelines set forth by the CDC are even more impractical. Fixing ventilation and general infrastructure, hiring and training additional staff, and even something as basic as repurposing social areas becomes extremely difficult.
What’s more, low-income schools and BIPOC students typically don’t receive much of the purported benefits that schools are supposed to offer. The school-to-prison pipeline detracts from a “safe learning environment,” and given how high-stress school environments would be amidst the pandemic, it’s probable that BIPOC students would see themselves on the receiving end of more disciplinary action for minor infractions. When skipping class is punishable by suspension, and students are unwilling to attend class out of fear that they’d catch COVID-19 in a school environment with little to no fail-safes in place, the natural outcome is, unfortunately obvious. There’s also a considerable lack of mental health resources available on low-income campuses, something that would be considered vital in helping students return to some degree of normalcy as they continue their educational pursuits. The lack of mental health professionals, like counselors and therapists, further perpetuates an unhealthy learning environment that would only serve to penalize BIPOC communities that wouldn’t have easy access to COVID-19 resources to begin with. In short, reopening schools is a pipe dream only possible for the wealthiest of schools; for everyone else, especially BIPOC students in low-income areas, the reopening of schools is nothing more than an order from those in power designed to place students in dangerous conditions - poor infrastructure, lack of materials, inadequate hygiene, etc.
Final Verdict about Reopening
In the end, the decision should be rendered off one definite reality: that human lives could easily be lost because of the government’s malpractice. No matter how much the current administration may wish to reopen schools in an attempt to reignite the economy, the fact remains that lives should come before profits. As the Center for American Progress writes, “The most important thing for children, families, educators, and the country is to reopen schools safely, in accordance with local health conditions. Rather than politicizing this issue, the federal government must provide funding and guidance for districts to work with community members in developing and implementing comprehensive plans that ensure continued and safe learning for all students.”
Work Cited
Cathey, Libby. “Trump, DeVos downplay risks of reopening schools, claim children don't spur transmission: FACT CHECK.” ABC News, 24 July 2020. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-devos-downplay-risks-reopening-schools-claim-children/story?id=71950023
“Considerations for Schools.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 May 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html
Darville, Sarah. “Reopening Schools Is Way Harder Than It Should Be.” The New York Times, 23 July 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/sunday-review/reopening-schools-coronavirus.html
Goldstein, Dana & Eliza Shaprio. “‘I Don’t Want to Go Back’: Many Teachers Are Fearful and Angry Over Pressure to Return.” The New York Times, 11 July 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/us/virus-teachers-classrooms.html
Mandavilli, Apoorva. “Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds.” The New York Times, 18 July 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-children-schools.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
“More Than 40% of Low-Income Schools Don't Get a Fair Share of State and Local Funds, Department of Education Research Finds.” The United States Department of Education, 30 November 2011. https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/more-40-low-income-schools-dont-get-fair-share-state-and-local-funds-department-
“Preparing K-12 School Administrators for a Safe Return to School in Fall 2020.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 July 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/prepare-safe-return.html
Sargrad, Scott & Maura Calsyn. “3 Principles for Reopening Schools Safely During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The Center for American Progress, 16 July 2020. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2020/07/16/487756/3-principles-reopening-schools-safely-covid-19-pandemic/
Stracqualursi, Veronica. “New York Times: Internal CDC documents warn full reopening of schools is 'highest risk' for coronavirus spread.” CNN, 11 July 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/11/politics/cdc-documents-warn-high-risk-schools-reopening/index.html
Turner, Cory. “A Look At Betsy DeVos' Role During The Coronavirus Pandemic.” National Public Radio, 14 July 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/891119545/a-look-at-betsy-devos-role-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic
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