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There’s this crazy dilemma many of us are being faced with at the moment and from a variety of different perspectives. The school dilemma. How will kids go back to school with all the chaos of covid continuing to linger over our heads here in the US? August is quickly approaching and it’s still unclear how the pandemic will be truly handled by the school systems. We clearly didn’t heed the call to chill out and stay home to blunt the curve as we currently are winning the race for most cases… And that’s not something to toot our own horns about. So, do we send them or not?
THE SCHOOL DILEMMA
Last Monday I was driving home from work and I was listening to my normal MSNBC on Sirius. I used to listen to NPR and still do somethimes, but today it was Nicole Wallace who’s my go to show to enjoy on the way home from work. And while I consider myself somewhat liberal, she is probably my favorite show to listen to. I think I’ve loved her ever since the HBO movie Game Change came out where Sara Paulson portrayed her as the gal who really didn’t care for Sarah Palin. If you never watched it, it’s not too late and it’s a good one. Anyways, I digress. I do find it funny that my favorite show is that of technically a republican, although maybe now she’s a former republican.
BACK TO SCHOOL BINGO
So last week I’m driving home from work, listening to her chat and make all her very good points and take in everything that all her super smart guests are saying and it’s close to the end of her show. This is the time she highlights a life lost to corona-virus. She goes to commercial first and I hit a stop light so I grab my phone and check some emails. I’ve been busy at work all day and haven’t looked once. Plus I’m practicing for the new law that started July 1, but I’m at a stoplight. I see an email from my daughters school that I’ve been nervously and anxiously awaiting. Even just seeing it in my inbox makes my stomach turn upside down. I start reading…
*We will practice social distancing when possible.
*Students and staff will need to wear masks, at times. Masks could also be required for certain classrooms or classroom activities.
*Depending on how many students reserve a seat on the bus, we may be required to reinstate walking zones and discontinue bus service for some students who live near their school.
*Students may be assigned seating and will be spaced as far apart as possible.
*There will be separate areas created in our health clinics—one for regular care and an isolated area for anyone who presents signs or symptoms of illness.
*No one should be in our buildings if they are experiencing any symptoms of illness.
That last one made me chuckle. What is considered a symptom of illness? I know I’ve sent my kid to school before with a cough and we all know you have too. But is this real life? How can they ensure my child’s safety? Will they be able to make the kids keep the masks on?! How will they social distance? Are the teachers really going to sign up all this? I could go on with these questions for days… They typically consume my daily thoughts.
Nicole is back. I drop the phone and turn the volume up and listen. That’s when I hear “8 year old” so I turn it up louder. “Yoshi’s parents say she was their favorite little star.” I tear up. 8 years old and she passed from the coronavirus. No underlying conditions. She just died. And my heart melted for those parents. Even reading this back to myself as I write it all out, makes me tear up again.
Eight
Years
Old
My daughter is 8. Even though everyone is so sure this doesn’t affect children, it does. And we don’t know enough to say it doesn’t. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if my daughter died of the corona-virus or any virus or accident or ANYTHING for that matter. If she died, I’d be broken. Forever.
And what scares me most is that people are walking around like these lives don’t matter. All I hear is “I want this” and “I want that.” I don’t want to be the parent who is saying “I just want my baby girl back” if we can help it. I don’t want that for anyone.
So this is why my mind is constantly filled with all the questions and uncertainty and this school dilemma. Listen, I want to be able to go shopping and out to eat with my family too, but we just need to take it slow and the more everyone rushes this, the longer it’s gonna take. It’s not going anywhere and you can see that by the increase in numbers all over the country.
There will come a moment in our looking back on this time, and honestly it might come sooner rather than later, that people will say what the hell were they thinking. I keep thinking that this whole bit of our history will be looked at with such scrutiny — political scrutiny, empathetic scrutiny, and scrutiny of our humanity. Those who came before us sacrificed so that we could survive… from very small things like parents not eating during the depression so their children could to larger sacrifices like lives lost in war. Why can’t we handle this seemingly simple ask to keep our fellow mankind safe? Why is it such a task to stay home and slow down for a bit?!
I realize all situations are different but whatever your situation, I can almost guarantee, that in our current state of pandemic and economic slowdown, you are not alone. As many have stated before me, we are all in this together. I loved seeing the amazing outreach that came towards the beginning of all this mess. The kids coming up with creative ways to serve their communities, food pantries taking care of anyone who needed food, singing on the balconies, people visiting elderly though windows… I mean the love and kindness that came from all of this had to be a ridiculous increase from previous times…
A DAY IN MY QUARANTINE LIFE
Which brings me to my thoughts on this school dilemma… and where my uncertainty about all this comes from… we clearly are not in this together. As much as I wish we were as a country, we were so far divided before the pandemic, It’s hard to imagine such a life altering event being able to bring us together. So how am I to trust that the people I’m sending my child to school with are taking this seriously? I can’t. As much as I want to (and need to) send her back to school, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to {what I’m considering} rush into things. But my survey is due back today on whether or not my daughter is planning on attending school and riding the bus.
My answer? I have no clue. So my answers on the survey will be yes. Because I don’t want to be in a situation where I said no and then don’t have a place. But I’m still on the fence and things don’t seem to be getting any better with just a couple weeks before they go back…
I just keep thinking, is it really possible to socially distant with class sizes as they are? Even cut in half? Could each individual really stay six feet apart? Realistically? And how will that be policed?! Kids like to socialize and as my little one says, “touch her friends.” And she’s anxiously awaiting the time when “cowona-birus” (she’s 3) is over so she can do just that, but that time has not yet come…
On the bus, how will that all go down? We did hear that there will be no sharing seats on the bus unless you are from the same family. Which is good to know, but will they be taking temps at the bus stop? And what happens when the kid comes with a fever but his parents are already at work?! As much as we hate to admit it, school is a childcare for a lot of people so they can work and we need to make sure that’s being taken into account.
What happens when the schools start to see an increase in cases? We honestly don’t know what will happen, but we can’t just say that by cleaning everyday and keeping space – in an enclosed environment – that there will be no issues. We have to anticipate that kids being together INSIDE is going to prompt more cases. Then what?! This is the school dilemma. And quarantining for 14 days if that does happen — who all is affected by that? An entire class? All teachers? Certain staff? How does that go? But seriously, HOW DOES IT GO? This virus is young and probably changing more than we know… We can’t expect to have school as it always was, and there aren’t any really good options right now and the LACK of honest and transparent information is unsettling.
No one knows anything at this time, but please be prepared to send your kids back to school in 3 weeks.
FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL
I trust the teachers… but will they come back? I mean, honestly we are lucky to have a great school so I trust that everyone there has my child and all the kids best interest at heart, but will those people be around? The expectation we are putting on educators during this time – educators who are already overworked and under paid, oh and are already short on resources – is insane. Not to mention the crisis of a teacher shortage we are already facing… We are expecting them to now police masks, temperatures, e-learning options, and so much more… We learned that e-learning as prepared for the end of the spring semester wasn’t ideal for most families or children, but that wasn’t their fault. They did AMAZING things on such short notice!
Most of my questions for the school dilemma surround the what if situations — like what if a kid gets sick during the day? what happens if they come with the fever? what happens if the teacher contracts it? how will there be enough subs? I just see many many teachers opting out this year… and I don’t blame them one bit.
So there’s my rant on the school dilemma and whether I decide to send my kid to school this year or not. I sit here daily, wondering why we can’t just suck it up for a bit and take this more seriously. Even if we need to learn to live with a new way of doing things, we aren’t ready to just go back to life as it was with the current status of the pandemic. We need to figure out the best ways that work for us, and all of us, and try to stick to that.
Isn’t it irresponsible to feel like school MUST start back up in the fall?
None of this works. And logically people have to see that…
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