School Reopening Guidelines
- fionacsweet
- May 21, 2020
- 3 min read
The CDC has recently released a 60 page document that outlines safe ways to reopen non-essential businesses and schools, and has a cute little grid that is easy to follow with guidelines on which areas must be covered in order for states to reopen. According to the grid and the CDC, only a few states (13 as of May 17) have fulfilled the necessary precautions in order to reopen. This is concerning as about 30 states have already reopened. (For more information on what details states need in order to reopen, look below for the link to the article.)
The part I want to discuss today is about the CDC's school reopening guidelines. The CDC recommends that students and teachers get daily temperature checks, as well as having students eat lunch in their own classrooms. It also encourages facial coverings for staff and older students. Soap and hand sanitizer should be available in each bathroom and classroom, and classroom and bus surfaces should be disinfected daily. Windows and doors should be open as much as possible in order to increase airflow.
I have heard ideas from my teachers about restricting the amount of times that students go to school a week (for example, freshman only come Monday, sophomores come Tuesday, etc), but the CDC has a different idea. They recommend that schools keep the same group of students and staff together as often as possible. While this would be pretty normal for elementary grade students (as they only have one teacher), this would be very difficult to accomplish for middle and high school students. I have seven teachers, and I know other schools that have eight or nine. Obviously, this will have an impact on our scheduling.
Now here is what I think about all of this.
I come from a school without much funding. For much of last year, we did not have soap consistently in our bathrooms. Classrooms quickly ran out of hand sanitizer as coronavirus hysteria ensued and one of my teachers had her hand sanitizer stolen by a student. The school did not have the supplies to get more, and so we started rationing the sanitizer. It becomes impossible to wipe every surface of buses and classrooms if a school does not have the manpower. I wonder if the CDC would allow students wiping down classrooms or if a janitor or professional was required to clean. If so, I do not think that my school and many other schools across the nation have the resources to do all of that each day.
My county is in better shape than most. We have done a good job to mitigate the virus, but I have a feeling that our school will still be impacted. Honestly, I can think of no sadder way to spend my senior year than to be inside a classroom every day for lunch spaced six feet away from my peers. I do not know what will happen to our scheduling. Whichever way I think about it, I always end up contradicting myself. Introducing more teachers into a classroom so students can stay in the classroom would make it more difficult to obey the six foot rule. Middle and high school teachers are usually very specialized, so it's not like we can return to elementary school days and have one teacher teach me English, Calculus, Physics, Mandarin, and History. We will see!
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