Lessons in higher education: What California can learn
Keeping California public university options open
Superintendents: Well-paid and walking away
The debt to degree connection
College in prison: How earning a degree can lead to a new life
Library or police, a small town’s struggle puts a spotlight on library inequities across California
President Trump has been the chief promoter of getting children back to school, consistently downplaying the health risks, or not referring to them at all.
“We want to reopen the schools,” he said in July at an event at the White House focusing exclusively on school reopening. “Everybody wants it. The moms want it. The dads want it. The kids want it. It’s time to do it.”
In fact, not everyone wants it. Millions of parents across the nation surveyed by their own school districts say they don’t feel comfortable sending their children back to school for in-person instruction. A recent poll in California indicates that almost 4 in 10 parents want schools to remain completely closed for in-person instruction “until the risk of Covid-19 is significantly reduced.”
Trump testing positive, and the challenge of finding out who else he has exposed, could well make parents already wary about sending their children back to school even more reluctant to do so. And as schools open in a growing number of districts, it also points to the importance of testing, even for people who are asymptomatic, and the huge challenge of subsequent contact tracing — something that is beyond the capacity of many, if not most, school districts.
It could also make parents change their minds about whether the benefits of returning to school outweigh the dangers, especially among those who are Trump supporters and believe that the risks are completely overblown.
The biggest push in California to open schools for in-person instruction is happening now in Orange County, a historically heavily Republican region of the state and where President Trump has a huge amount of support. In the 2016 presidential race, just over 600,000 people voted for Hillary Clinton in the county — and 507,000 voted for Trump. Two-thirds of schools there have indicated that they want to bring at least some students back.
In July, the county’s elected Board of Education went so far as to approve guidelines for the 28 school districts in the county that did not require social distancing or masks, in direct contradiction of the county’s health experts.
Yesterday, I was in Newport Beach, one of the county’s premier tourist spots (after Disneyland), and where many students, faculty and staff from UC Irvine live. I was struck by the virtual absence of masks there in crowded outdoor patios and restaurants. That was a significant contrast to the ubiquitous use of masks in the Bay Area — and placing many more people, including children, at greater risk.
It will also be harder for parents to ignore the challenges of protecting everyone in a school community from the virus, in light of the daily testing and other protections that the President of the United States enjoys. Those are protections far beyond what the average American is able to get, and certainly more than almost any third-grader is likely to have.
“If the president can get it, anyone can get it,” Stuart Varney said Friday morning on Fox News, the network that has been unremitting in amplifying Trump’s months-long efforts to browbeat local and state officials to open their schools.
I recognize that it is not just Trump or Republicans who have pushed to bring students back to school. Under weeks of pressure from Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City schools brought back hundreds of thousands of students to schools this week.
It is so far the only one of the nation’s largest districts to open for in-person instruction this fall. But the Miami-Dade county schools, the third largest in the country, is poised to do so next week, amid considerable controversy and pressure from Gov. Ronald DeSantis, a fervid Trump supporter.
Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second largest, is remaining closed for in-person instruction, as the district tries to implement a hugely ambitious testing program to reach all students, teachers and staff before even considering reopening.
As late as Thursday night, Trump insisted in a speech to the Al Smith Dinner organized to raise funds for Catholic charities, “The end of the pandemic is in sight.”
With Trump and the first lady now quarantined, and the presidential campaign along with the political process in chaos, those predictions seem increasingly baseless.
Later, after sharing with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night that he had tested positive, he allowed that “it’s a tough, tough disease.”
That statement seemed to run counter to Trump’s constant minimizing of its dangers and ignoring that even though children may not have high illness and death rates, they can endanger anyone they come into contact if they are carriers of the virus.
“The rest of the country has to know that even with the precautions taken surrounding the president that people are susceptible,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday morning. “Going into crowds unmasked and all the rest was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen. Sad that it did, but nonetheless, hopeful that it will be a transition to a saner approach to what this virus is all about.”
Pelosi’s remarks did not speak to the challenge of opening schools or colleges to students in the middle of a pandemic. But they might well have.
Opening schools for in-person instruction involves taking risks at almost every stage in the process, even when they follow local health guidelines, When children’s health along with the health of everyone else in their social circles is at stake, what’s on the table now even more clearly is whether it is worth taking those risks.
The system has enrolled more in-state residents, but not enough to meet targets set by the state.
Two prominent organizations say the proposal would dismantle progress made to improve reading instruction for those students.
Fresno City College professor Tom Boroujeni is unable to fulfill his duties as academic senate president while on leave, the latest update reads.
This is a continuing EdSource series on proven innovations in higher education that relate to the problems facing California’s higher education systems.
Comments (3)
Comments Policy
We welcome your comments. All comments are moderated for civility, relevance and other considerations. Click here for EdSource's Comments Policy.
Kristy Sharp 3 years ago3 years ago
Life is a risk. There is less than 1% chance of dying from Covid in a healthy person. My daughter has been at a childcare facility zooming. None of the children wear masks. They get to play together, run around, and just be kids. No one has been sick. They have opened up private schools and the elementary school in the wealthier area. There are no school age children in the hospital here with Covid, … Read More
Life is a risk. There is less than 1% chance of dying from Covid in a healthy person. My daughter has been at a childcare facility zooming. None of the children wear masks. They get to play together, run around, and just be kids. No one has been sick. They have opened up private schools and the elementary school in the wealthier area. There are no school age children in the hospital here with Covid, nor has there been.
There’s a lot more things I’m worried about her catching than Covid. People need to use some common sense and quit living in fear.
Replies
Adam Hampton 3 years ago3 years ago
It's sweet that your child is healthy, I wish all children and adults were. There are many kids with underlying conditions, diagnosed and undiagnosed, including obesity and asthma who aren't. And then there are the adults who will be there with children. Can't we agree to wait until we are not in a "widespread" infection to return to school? More information is coming out every day. Let's follow the science, not … Read More
It’s sweet that your child is healthy, I wish all children and adults were. There are many kids with underlying conditions, diagnosed and undiagnosed, including obesity and asthma who aren’t. And then there are the adults who will be there with children. Can’t we agree to wait until we are not in a “widespread” infection to return to school? More information is coming out every day. Let’s follow the science, not the anecdotes or the lawsuits.
Adam Hampton 3 years ago3 years ago
LACODPH has been politically pressured by advocates and the threat of lawsuits into allowing "small cohort return" to school for special education students, particularly moderate to severe classes. LA County remains in the "purple tier," defined as a widespread risk of contracting COVID-19. Local school districts may elect to provide specific educational services to students, including small cohorts, but the Health Department's allowance is in no way a mandate. There are no preclusions to … Read More
LACODPH has been politically pressured by advocates and the threat of lawsuits into allowing “small cohort return” to school for special education students, particularly moderate to severe classes.
LA County remains in the “purple tier,” defined as a widespread risk of contracting COVID-19. Local school districts may elect to provide specific educational services to students, including small cohorts, but the Health Department’s allowance is in no way a mandate. There are no preclusions to alternative interventions designed to meet the needs of our special education populace. And yet we hear of many school districts in LA County acting to return students and teachers to a classroom setting, most quoting “litigious” pressures.
The health and safety of students, teachers, aides, counselors, psychologists, classified staff, and administrators should be any district’s primary concern when making this change from distance learning to more inherently dangerous exposures on campuses under the purple tier. We should not succumb to impatience or false deadlines. Lowered risk conditions must exist, or these promises of safety ring hollow and undermine local leaders’ credibility with their employees and the public.