How we can safely reopen schools, and why we won't.

Our state has recently passed a bill requiring public schools to offer in person instruction. While it has yet to be signed by the governor, this offers hope for some of the many who have been trying to desperately find childcare alternatives. Sometimes this involves kids left by themselves, or with adults who aren't capable of watching them. Not to mention the fact that many students are left behind due to internet issues, special needs, and the way they learn best. The kid I babysit recently said he needed to turn off his live zoom classes because listening to the teacher was too distracting. He had not yet learned the material, but he would rather figure it out than listen to her rant about how they "had plenty of time to get their work done during class and she was going to have to call parents if they didn't finish in time today.

Obviously, at the moment does not seem like a great time to do this. It's been almost a year of no classes right now. Cases are close to their all time high in our state. And, more importantly, schools have done ZERO preparation to come back to school safely. There are schools with classes of 40 plus kids. There are schools without safe places and methods for kids to get food. There are schools without any type of ventilation whatsoever and A/C systems that are ancient, and mold and lead in the water fountains.  

So why are schools still in such disrepair and unprepared for what has clearly been coming for a long while? It's definitely not a lack of money. The schools have been given billions from each of the stimulus bills. And childcare centers, YMCAs, and churches have been able to safely watch school age kids for the last year. So what is holding back schools? 

1) Schools lack innovation. The traditional public model for school operated based on "tradition" more than science. They still test frequently, even when that's proven not to benefit teachers or students. They still operate on a 9 month schedule. They operate way inefficiently for parents, who end up paying for before and after school care. They operate using old fashioned techniques, requiring students to sit for longer than is healthy and listen quietly when for some kids, they can't. They are training students to conform, when all businesses want is workers who will be able to take responsibility and think for themselves. I have literally watched a teacher freak the kids out about how "hard" it's going to be to write a paper on their own the next day, and then the next day tell them to copy the sentence from step 1 and then copy the sentence from step 2. None of this is helpful or beneficial to most students. 

2) Schools lack personal decision making. First, the decision has to be made at the state level, then the district level, then the school level, then the teacher may or may not have any input whatsoever on their own classroom, several months down the line. Parents are required to school their children, and for many people, they can't afford other options. Children also have to follow directions, rather than being given decision making ability (all students must wear masks, all students must take off mask at X time while eating six feet away and not talking, all students must go outside, to the bathroom, etc.)

3) Teacher's unions want to save teachers jobs at the expense of children. Now, don't get me wrong, I do want teachers to be employed. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, but the solution is rooted in all of the above. In order to save teacher's jobs (and in the long run employ more people) we need to cut some teacher's pay. Here's how I would do it:

First, since all of the curriculum is designed at a state or district level, over the past year we should have had the best teachers working from home, but not directly with students. They should have started creating a new lesson plan. Only a few teachers per subject and grade level. All of the curriculum is pre-planned already, so it wouldn't be that difficult to pull together the exact resources used. ALL of these resources should be designed to be done completely independently including a list of questions and activities that need to be done with a teacher, facilitator, or guide. The remaining teachers would do exactly what the YMCA and other childcare providers have been doing - form pods of (at most) 10 students in areas that they can socially distance and support the students through the extra activities and questions. For parents who don't have to work and want to opt out of face to face, the lessons are all available to the students and they can work through them at their own pace, with parental help and involvement as necessary. These modules should be designed to take about 3 hours a day, year round, but can be worked through at the student's pace and schedule. 

How could we pay for all that? Well, teachers work on average 60 hours a week for 9 months a year, so while pay would be the same, the fair thing to do is spread out the hours. The easy way to do it is exactly the way the YMCA has done it. Before and after school care is $30 a day. Low income kids get a scholarship. "In person" school for those who want it, is free from 9-12 or 12-3. Teachers now have classes of twenty, but only ten at a time. They have almost zero lesson planning. All of the tests, quizzes, checks for understanding are already built into the system. So, now teachers work 40 hours a week (if that) year round. School teachers on average make about $45,000 per year, so $20 an hour seems like a reasonable amount to pay the staff on average. If you figure half the kids pay for before and after school, and 20% of the kids opt out of in person entirely, choosing to form their own pods, now you have MORE money, for SMALLER class sizes. Now, we can truly innovate and reach those kids that don't fit the "standard". With all the extra money coming in, tear down some buildings you no longer need, reform those outdated cafeterias into restaurants where kids can use their extra time to grow food and feed the hungry. Work one on one with students at risk. Hire extra counselors and form more clubs. Invite more community members in. Use research based methods to build students up rather than tear them down. 

And yes, we should also get rid of a lot of the crap. The administrators, the district office, the bus drivers. Make schools more community centered and focused. Make them centers for students to desire to learn rather than boxes to try to fit students into. The classroom model of instruction is dead after this year, so let it stay dead and resurrect something better. 

Unfortunately, the main reason this won't happen, is the teacher's unions, board members, and politicans who are too scared of "losing teachers" that they prioritize teachers over the true essential workers who have put their lives on the line delivering food, maintaining the supply chain, providing transportation, maintaining public safety and utilities, and fighting fires. Teachers don't "need" to be vaccinated to get students back to school. But they do need a totally different environment to go back to. And unfortunately, we haven't taken the time and extreme measures needed to make a safe place in our schools. We've allowed everyone else to do it better and thrown money at the problem. Which unfortunately has been the case for schools for decades.