The United States is Preparing for a Virtual Back-to-school

Posted on the 16 July 2020 by Harsh Sharma @harshsharma9619

(Washington) New York, Los Angeles, Houston … Large American cities have decided that the start of the school year will be largely, if not completely online, opting for the precautionary principle. But in states like Florida, which again deplored very heavy balance sheets on Thursday, the debate turns into a political showdown.

Posted on 16 July 2020 at 15 h 29

Ivan Couronne
France Media Agency

School is a very decentralized responsibility in the United States, and decisions are made by school district (over 13 000), but state governors also intervened, creating a patchwork of situations, sometimes in neighboring cities, at the risk of accentuating inequalities. Not to mention that Donald Trump is pushing for a total reopening.

A hybrid formula, between face-to-face and virtual, is the compromise chosen by more and more jurisdictions. Even if it reopens, many will not require students to be present.

New York said it was ready to reopen in September with a maximum of three days in class per week.

But schools in Houston, 200 000 students, and Los Angeles, 600 000 students, will remain completely closed at the start of the school year, for six weeks and until further notice, respectively. Classes will resume online.

Near Washington, in Fairfax, parents will choose between 100% virtual and two days a week in class – a choice denounced by the Secretary of Education for Donald Trump, who said that the spring of distance education had been a “disaster”.

“It is betraying taxpayers who pay a lot of taxes for their education,” said Betsy DeVos.

The Florida case illustrates the politicization of the debate: Governor Ron DeSantis published a decree obliging schools to reopen five days a week, but in Miami and in South Florida, officials said that 'They would not reopen until the epidemic is under control.

And it is far from it. State health officials announced Thursday that they have recorded 156 deaths from COVID – 19 in the last 24 last hours, a record figure. In parallel, 14 000 new cases have been reported, making the great state of the southeast of the country the new American epicenter of the pandemic.

Nationally, the United States passed the milestone of 3.5 million confirmed cases on Thursday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Other cities, such as Chicago and Washington, are making parents languish and have not yet announced the back-to-school format. Teachers' unions oppose return to school before vaccine is available.

National dilemma

Science does not provide a definitive answer to resolve the dilemma of facility managers:

– opening could increase the risk of contagion, although the first studies contradict the actual contagiousness of children;

– staying closed would probably reduce the risk of contamination, but would undoubtedly increase school dropout and inequalities between children of wealthy families and those who do not have the equipment, space or parental help to work properly in the House.

Only 5% of identified cases of COVID – 19 are children, and 90% of them have little or no symptoms. 1 to 5% of infected children have severe or even critical symptoms, but studies indicate that the majority had risk factors or were infants.

The American Academies of Sciences weighed the risks and the benefits and concluded that reopening was preferable at least for the youngest and children with disabilities.

“The districts must give priority to reopening with the emphasis on full-time education, in person in classes K-5 (from 5 to 07 years) and for students with special needs “, concludes a panel of experts in a report published Wednesday.

It is still necessary that the schools have the means to set up the distancing of the pupils, and to improve the ventilation to renew the air.

In the United States, schools are financed by local taxes, and those in poor neighborhoods are much less endowed than those in wealthy suburbs. The Democrats asked Donald Trump for additional funds.