by Curtis Weathers —
Shelby County Schools Supt. Joris Ray has modified district plans for re-opening schools and returning to in-person learning in the second half of the school year.
His reasons for doing so centers on the growing surge of COVID-19 cases in and around Shelby County.
As of now, pre-K-5 students will start in-person learning Feb. 8, and students in grades 6-12 will start Feb. 22. But this is a time period healthcare professionals say will be the most dangerous and deadliest period of the pandemic thus far.
So, we will see if this decision holds.
I support Supt. Ray’s cautious and layered approach to reopening district schools and his willingness to adjust plans based on the conditions on the ground. I would have preferred, however, that he cancel all manner of in-person learning going forward.
The superintendent’s number one priority always has been keeping students, teachers and staff safe. He has relied on data from the Shelby County Health Department to make decisions (based on the science) to help accomplish his objectives.
Leaders of other school systems in and around Shelby County, who have access to the same data, chose early on to implement full in-person learning or hybrid models.
Some have since reversed those decisions in the wake of outbreaks in their schools. But they all profess to making data-driven decisions that are in the best interest of their community.
But let me be clear: I am vehemently opposed to sending teachers and students back into school buildings during this pandemic. I think it is unsafe and while the data suggest that COVID-19 is transmitted between children at a much lower rate inside school building, adults, teachers and staff are at far greater risk.
Shelby County Schools recently conducted surveys that showed 68 percent of parents and 83 percent of teachers want to continue virtual online learning from home.
We all agree that having children attend school in person is safe only when community spread and transmission of the virus is under control.
This virus has been spiraling out of control across the entire nation for months. There is little hope that things will change significantly until vaccines have been more widely distributed, which is projected to be mid to late spring of 2021.
But the role of children in the spread of COVID-19 still is not fully understood, although more and more studies suggest that schools are safer than originally thought.
Experts continue to study the role of children in transmission in and outside of educational settings.
Children aged 10 years and younger can transmit SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in school settings, but we still do not know enough about the impact of COVID-19 on children 5-17 years of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Some school systems in Shelby County started the school year with in-person learning and later, because of outbreaks in their schools, had to shut it down and move to virtual programs.
This was predictable from the start.
I still cannot understand why school boards and superintendents make decisions that put students, teachers and staff in harm’s way.
Maybe it’s their politics. But if not their politics, perhaps it is the data they are using to help make these decisions.
I frequently visit Tennessee’s Department of Education COVID-19 dashboard for up-to-date information regarding the spread of the virus in schools. The purpose of the dashboard is to inform parents and the community about the prevalence of COVID-19 cases on school campuses.
This data, however, often has been called into question. It has been reported that thousands of student and staff cases are being excluded from school district totals.
All schools do not report their cases to the site and, because of privacy concerns, the state suppresses or excludes data when there are fewer than five cases at a school.
According to an analysis by Chalkbeat (an organization that covers educational news in Tennessee and other states), about 85 percent of districts in Tennessee have been submitting information to the state since early September.
That data, however, is often incomplete and the reporting is inconsistent.
So, it is possible that the data we are seeing today regarding the spread of the virus in schools (throughout Tennessee) is being grossly under-reported.
As suspect as some data might be, it still does not support decisions to move to or resume in-person learning going forward.
While in-person learning is absolutely the best environment in which to teach our children, for the sake of our community’s health and safety during this unprecedented time, I highly support decisions to move schools to virtual online classes through at least the first three months of 2021.
Again, experts are sounding the alarm (and so am I) that this holiday season will bring a tsunami of COVID-19 cases and death to states and cities around the country.
Community spread and transmission are already at an alarming level and it will get much worse (not better) over the next few months.
School districts should continue to do all they can to provide high-quality virtual learning experiences to all its students until the data begins to trend toward more favorable conditions for in-person learning.
Just my opinion. Stay safe people!
(Follow TSD education columnist Curtis Weathers on Twitter (@curtisweathers); email: [email protected].)
