Perspectives: Schools, Families Face Challenging Return to the Classroom
Summary from the AllSides News Team
As students and faculty return to schools, concerns about COVID-19, mask mandates and the pandemic's psychological impact on children are major points of discussion. Fifteen states and Puerto Rico have enacted mask mandates for schools; eight states have outlawed school mask mandates, though some school districts in those states have mandated masks anyway. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, child COVID-19 cases have increased four-fold over the past month, from roughly 38,000 cases per week at the end of July to 180,000 this past week. Healthy children are unlikely to suffer serious complications from COVID-19, and are far less likely to die from COVID-19 than other age groups.
Left-rated voices have often focused more on safety concerns for students and faculty, framed in the context of the COVID-19 Delta variant and a rising number of children who've contracted COVID-19. Right-rated voices often concentrated on inconsistent or purportedly overbearing COVID-19 guidance from schools, teachers' unions and public health officials; many called for an end to mandating masks for young students, citing data that suggests COVID-19 transmission rates in schools are typically much lower than rates in the surrounding communities. Opinions from across the spectrum have also highlighted remote learning's negative impacts on kids, and how the coming school year may be instrumental in restoring normality for young students.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Are schools contributing to a spike in COVID-19 cases among kids? Partly, experts explain.After a year of virtual school, students and parents alike were excited for the return of in-person learning. But just as quickly as the new school year started, many children were sent back home after a slew of COVID-19 outbreaks forced them into quarantine.
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From the Center
As Kids Head Back to School, Science-Backed Ways to Help Their COVID BluesClassrooms are opening this fall, but don't expect it to be anything like a return to pre-pandemic normal. These kids will be bouncing off the walls. They'll squirm in their seats, chat while the teacher is talking, horse around in the hallways, talk back and have a harder time than usual in following rules. "There will be millions of children returning to our classrooms this fall with an over-activated stress physiology," says Nadine Burke Harris, a former pediatrician and expert on childhood stress who is now California's surgeon general.
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From the Right
Back to School With No Idea What to ExpectThe officials in charge of running the nation’s public schools had all summer—and $122 billion in Covid relief funds from Congress—to plan for the first day of school, so naturally chaos has ensued as students begin heading back to the classroom.
San Francisco, Miami and Dallas haven’t decided on a quarantine policy or what infection-rate threshold will trigger school closures. In New York City, home to the nation’s largest school system, principals are wondering how every student can return to in-person learning full-time while still adhering to social-distancing requirements. Mayor Bill de...
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