There are over 25,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Orange County, California. That’s more than 19 U.S. states. It’s more than all of Japan. Twice the count of South Korea. And yet, on Monday evening, the Orange County Board of Education met and, by a 4-1 vote, put forward a plan to reopen schools without requiring masks or enforcing any form of social distancing. That proposal doesn’t just violate the guidelines for school reopening set by the CDC, it goes against the plan put together by the Orange County Department of Education … which is, apparently, a completely different entity. What the board passed is a plan they say was compiled from a “community forum,” and is a perfect illustration of why these decisions can’t be left to individual school boards. Anyone who thinks there’s no district that will put children at risk for purely political reasons, has clearly never met America.
What the Orange County board did was simply endorse what they’re being told by Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—the two officials who, you would like to think, would have the welfare of the children at heart. But as Republicans look for leverage to push children back into a crowded indoor environment where they remain for hours at a time—the perfect recipe to spread the virus—Democrats are looking to fund the infrastructure and safety measures that will allow schools to conduct classes remotely, or to open safely in areas where that’s possible. To make that happen, they’re going to have to get past Trump, and DeVos, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The myth that “children don’t catch COVID-19” is just that: a myth. Children certainly do catch the disease, children certainly do transmit the disease to others, and children even die from COVID-19, though thankfully not in the numbers that are seen in older adults. What’s completely unclear at the moment is how many children are left with long-term damage from a brush with COVID-19. Considering that a recent study showed that 90% of those who caught the disease in the earliest weeks of the pandemic still have at least lingering symptom months later, making children vulnerable to infection by COVID-19 could be inviting a generation of damaged health and diminished potential.
While Orange County is intent on putting kids back in classrooms, other California counties were making a different choice. Both L.A. Unified and San Diego Unified school districts have announced that the fall will be “online only” because the federal government has failed to create conditions where classrooms can be safe.
In Washington D.C., Democrats in the House have already passed the HEROES Act, which includes $100 billion earmarked for making schools safe and providing access for students who don’t have either internet or devices to access online classes. But the HEROES Act is trapped in the Senate, where McConnell has made sure it doesn’t see the light of day. Senate Democrats have proposed an even bolder plan, with $430 billion aimed to bolster education at all levels, including universities hard hit by an inability to operate campuses. But that plan is also being placed on hold by McConnell, who still appears to be taking every cue from Trump.
Despite everything that’s happening, Trump is still demanding that schools open—open all the way—or else. He has scorned approaches that involve alternating days of the week, or reducing class sizes by teaching some students remotely. Trump and DeVos have both dismissed the CDC guidelines for reopening and insisted that schools “fully reopen.” Or else. The federal funds they’re threatening to cut off may be a small part of most school district’s budgets, but there is no district in the country that enjoys an excess of funds. That’s particularly true when schools are trying to deal with plans to make classrooms as safe as possible.
There should not be a single “great switch” that opens or closes every school in the nation. And there shouldn’t be a single set of instructions that apply to every district, large and small, no matter the local conditions. But there should be a consistent set of national rules—rules that incorporate school composition, travel distances, active COVID-19 cases in the district, rate of positive testing, and a dozen other variables—to define when a school can open and how it should open. If DeVos, or McConnell, or Trump cared about either education or children in the slightest, that wouldn’t even be an argument.
But they don’t.