Pandemic Parenting
I’m With the Teachers: We’re Not Yet Ready for In-Person School
An occasional column on raising kids during a crisis
Every parent — and teacher — I know is talking about schools and education during Covid-19. The pandemic has opened many folks’ eyes to issues of basic education, school infrastructure, equity, and the importance of parental understandings of concepts like curriculums and differentiated learning. In Chicago, where I live, public schools are not widely open due to Covid-19 concerns. (Special needs and pre-K public schools are open for those special populations.) The powerful Chicago Teachers Union members are not ready to go back to K-8 in-person learning — at least not until certain demands are met that preserve teacher and student safety. The school system, on the other hand, proclaims that their reopening plans are safe and measures have been taken to keep everyone safe while in school.
Every conversation includes some version of this sentence (which may or may not be 100% accurate, depending upon the research you link to): “Schools have not been shown to be significant spreaders of Covid-19.” And this one: “Children have not been shown to die from Covid-19 at the same rate as adults.”
