TheThe US’s failure to control the COVID-19 pandemic has obliterated any chance that kids will have a normal school year this year. They’ll learn online, only go to classrooms a few days a week, or go to classrooms until an outbreak starts to burn through their schools
None of these are good options. And no matter which choice any of the 13,000 school districts in the country make, there will be consequences. If they open for in-person classes, especially in areas where the virus is still spreading, there’s a risk that some kids, their family members, or their teachers could get sick or die. If they don’t, the kids face a less acutely dangerous but still important risk: they may fall further behind on their educational development. The impact will be different on children and adolescents of different ages, but they’ll all be affected.
Debates over the health consequences of in-person schooling for students, their teachers, and their communities are ongoing. Decisions on whether to reopen schools or send kids back may vary by local case numbers, facilities, individual family circumstances, and myriad other factors. Health isn’t the only piece of the equation, though. The Verge spoke with experts about the weight counterbalancing it: the educational fallout from a disrupted school semester.
That potential harm is why the American Academy of Pediatrics called in July for local officials to prioritize developing ways to reopen schools safely, and why the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) came to the same conclusion.
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