Education in the Time of COVID-19

By Carlie Trujillo, The Youth Outlook staff writer

As summer comes to an end, schools are implementing new guidelines and schedules to help decrease the spread of COVID-19 within their boundaries. According to CBS news, “97,000 children have tested positive for coronavirus in two weeks as schools head up for instruction”.

Most school districts in Colorado have decided to have all their students start school fully online and switch to a hybrid in-person and online learning schedule. Other schools have decided to send their students back to school full time. Many students believe that schools should remain closed and the districts should carry out online classes. For some students, school might be a safe haven and they would prefer if schools stayed open.

Schools are always very crowded. Students are crammed into small hallways, bumping into each other and sitting so close to each other at lunch. If even one kid has COVID-19, they will spread it to other students who can spread it to their friends and then bring it home. The school would then have to shut down for at least two weeks, reopen and continue business as usual. If the schools have to close down every time there’s a confirmed COVID-19 case, it would be logical to just shut the school down and move to fully remote learning.

Some districts that are opening their schools for in-person learning aren’t enforcing students and teachers to wear masks. Schools will enforce a strict dress code, so how are masks any different? The CDC website states that “When used consistently and correctly, along with important mitigation strategies, cloth face coverings are important to help slow the spread of COVID-19.” Certain schools paid no heed to the CDC’s guidelines, and are opening their schools without no mandates to wear masks. This can put teachers who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed at risk, and will do what they can in order to make sure their students wear masks.

School’s all online options might not be beneficial for students. All online programs in my experience have been underprepared. There have been too many problems with schedules, staff and classes. Classes were dropped due to insufficient staffing without a word. This has caused some students to sign up for online school with their brick and mortar school, along with the risk of having to go back to in-person learning if that happens.

Although schools can’t keep us in a “bubble” like the NBA is keeping their players in, they can enforce mask wearing. They could also check students’ temperatures as they enter and set up hand washing or hand sanitizing stations at entrances and around the school. This isn’t to just protect the students, but their families as well as the teachers and their families.