On Going Back to School

by Marilyn Moore

 

In conversations with moms this summer….

 

“If kids have to wear masks, I’ll keep my kids at home and we’ll do home schooling.”

 

“I want the school board to know that I want everyone in the building to wear masks.”

 

“If masks are what makes it possible for students to be back in classrooms and with their teachers, then we’ll wear masks and not complain.”

 

“I don’t know what they (high school kids) are supposed to do on the days they’re home and not in school.”

 

Snapshots of sincerely held beliefs, overlaid with anxiety and family realities….these statements and variations upon them were most likely said hundreds of thousands of times this summer, with increasing intensity and frequency as we approach the start of another school year, a school year start unlike any other in the past 100 years.  Every one of those moms cares about her children; every one of them is trying to figure out the best plan for her children.  The complexities of families is evident in just these four….and the complexity only deepens and expands as you consider the families of some 50,000 students who are scheduled to begin school in the next couple of weeks in Lincoln’s public and private K-12 schools.

 

For every parent, and every teacher, and every school leader, and every school board member, it’s a tough, tough matter of trying to balance risk – because every school option for this year carries risk.   And for those with the responsibility of making decisions for entire systems, there are no win/win solutions – because every option carries risks.  For parents trying to make the best decision for their own children, every option carries risk.  “If I send my child to school, there’s a health risk.”  “If I keep my child home, there’s a supervision risk, because I have to work, and I can’t work from home.  Can they really learn on their own?  And will they be safe?”  “If I quit my job to stay home with my children, our family income is cut in half…and if my partner loses their job, we lose all income, and health insurance, too.”  "And what about friends?  My kids miss their friends.  Are they better/safer with friends, or without them for a year?"  All of these scenarios are not only possible, they are likely; in fact, they are very real.  For those students with disabilities, and those who are living in very fragile circumstances, and those who are just beginning to learn English, the questions are even more complex, and the stress is greater – on them, and on their families. 

 

These conversations, at the dinner table and at the board table, are playing out in this community, and in communities across the country.  Making data based decisions is hard, because which data are most meaningful (number of cases, number of cases in young people, percent of positive tests, hospital capacity, daily or weekly trends, etc.) varies from person to person.  And, the data change daily.  And for some people, it’s not about the data at all; it’s about emotional and social health and safety, as measured by “how it feels to me.”   All of those are real and legitimate considerations by individual people, making individual decisions. 

 

These conversations bring startling clarity to the role of schools in a community.  Parents and teachers and school board members and school leaders are not the only ones watching the numbers, reading the plans, trying to figure out what’s best.  Public health officials are worried about further outbreaks and escalations, and how to mitigate and manage risks.  Employers are worried about business disruptions, as employees who are parents choose to quit, or take a leave, or ask to work from home.  People who work in human services, especially those that attend to child welfare, are concerned for the well being and safety of unsupervised children during the day.  Grandparents wonder if they’re up for a year of being with their grandchildren all day, every day, if parents can’t stay home, and what does that do their own vulnerability. 

 

And, of course, there are all the other services that support children and families (and the community) that are delivered at schools, including food, mental health services, after school programs, because that’s where the kids are.  When schools close, those collaborative systems come to a halt…or the partners have to find another option.

 

All of which is to say, our society very much depends on schools – on children being in school for most of the day for at least three quarters of the year, from the time they are five, or maybe sooner.  We don’t have alternative childcare arrangements, employment arrangements, or learning arrangements built into the way we do things.  We could, of course…. it would take an immense investment in families, in institutions like schools and public health and child care settings in order to do this differently.  And perhaps an outcome of this school year, which will be rugged no matter what plans are put in place, will be both an increased appreciation for the role that schools play in a society and a commitment to fund them to assure they can safely continue to welcome and educate children, no matter what. 

 

It’s not unusual for someone to ask me if I’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to try to figure this out.  Ducking that question, what I say is that I know that there are good people with good minds and good hearts, in all roles, who are trying to figure out the best possible plan – and that the best possible plan for one family isn’t the best possible plan for another.  To the degree that there are options, that’s a good thing.  To the degree that families have the capability of choosing the best option for their family, that’s a good thing, but for many families, there aren’t many options.  An instant infusion of a lot of funding (like, double what is spent now), could allow for lots more options – smaller classes for students whose parents would choose that and teachers who would choose that, teachers designated exclusively as teachers for children who are learning remotely, and income support for a parent to stay at home.  But that’s not going to happen in time for the 2020-21 school year, and so…districts will make the best plans they can, with the most flexibility they can, knowing that those plans will likely have to be adjusted many times during the year.  And those four moms I quoted at the beginning?  They will make the best decisions they can, too.  Let’s be gentle with one another’s decisions, okay?  Nothing about this is easy….

 

(I realize that nowhere in this blog have I even mentioned student learning…we really don’t have evidence yet about the impact of any of the models being considered on student learning.  That’s a topic for another day.)