Back to School? Maybe Not

“Is it better off returning to physical school? Yes,” said Harvard University education expert Robert Schwartz, “but this administration has made that extremely problematic.”

VOX

• In a major shift, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday revised its position from just two weeks ago with a new set of guidelines that endorse reopening K-12 schools this fall despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. [New York Times]
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• President Donald Trump has in recent weeks seized on the issue of schools reopening and called for the CDC to modify its previous guidance to make those reopenings easier — which it now appears to have done. [CNN / Maggie Fox and Nick Valencia]
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• Thursday’s recommendations stress the negative social, educational, and emotional impacts of not reopening on students, but ultimately leave the decision up to state and local officials. [NBC News / Shannon Pettypiece] Experts also are clear that returning to classroom instruction will be safe only if and when the US gets a handle on its coronavirus outbreak. “Is it better off returning to physical school? Yes,” said Harvard University education expert Robert Schwartz, “but this administration has made that extremely problematic.”

While children infected by the virus are at low risk of becoming severely ill or dying, how often they become infected and how efficiently they spread the virus to others is not definitively known. Children in middle and high schools may also be at much higher risk of both than those under 10, according to some recent studies.

 A large new study from South Korea found that children younger than 10 transmit the virus to others much less often than adults do, but that those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as much as adults do.

The new guidelines may only do so much to encourage reopening: According to Education Week, at least 9 of the 15 largest school districts in the US have decided against returning to in-person classes in the fall. [Education Week]

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• Polling also suggests that most people aren’t comfortable with the idea of reopening schools unless major changes are made. According to an AP poll conducted earlier this month and released Thursday, only 8 percent of Americans support schools fully reopening as usual. [AP / Collin Binkley and Hannah Fingerhut]
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• The Trump administration has indicated that it hopes to use the next coronavirus aid package, which is still in the works, to incentivize schools to reopen by conditioning funding on their doing so. [Politico / Nicole Gaudiano, Michael Stratford, and Juan Perez Jr.]
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• Trump leaned into that idea at a press conference Thursday, telling reporters that “if the school is closed, the money” — the White House wants to include about $105 billion for schools in the next relief bill — “should follow the student.” [NPR / Anya Kamenetz]
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• That idea aligns with a bill introduced by Republican Sens. Tim Scott and Lamar Alexander earlier this week. The School Choice Now Act would clear the way for more students to be homeschooled or to attend private schools instead of public schools. [Twitter / Andrew Ujifusa]