With COVID-19 continuing to spread throughout the United States, thousands of superintendents are suddenly becoming fluent in a peculiar new idiom: that of 鈥渟ocial distancing鈥� and 鈥渇lattening the curve鈥� of infection to prevent overwhelming medical facilities. Increasingly, they鈥檙e faced with the tough decision of if and when they should decide to close their schools to stave off transmission.
So far, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon have moved to close all their schools. In other states, absent a direct order from public-health agencies, the decision of whether, and how long, to shutter schools technically falls to superintendents. Many interviewed by Education Week say, though, that they coordinate with other health and safety agencies to gauge impact on their communities at large before making the call.
鈥淎t the end of the day, we鈥檇 never make that decision unilaterally,鈥� said Bondy Shay Gibson, the superintendent of the Jefferson County district in West Virginia鈥檚 panhandle. 鈥淲e鈥檇 work with the health department, the sheriff鈥檚 department, the county homeland-security department, and say to them: Tell us what you think鈥攊s there anything we鈥檙e not considering?鈥�
Still, as they work through the possible scenarios for doing so, the superintendents say they鈥檙e balancing a host of competing considerations, as well as trying to make contingency plans if they do have to close.
They鈥檙e worried about who will supervise children in families in which both parents must work or about children going hungry without school assistance. They鈥檙e facing logistical challenges about how to keep payroll running and prepare learning plans for students. External pressures are present, too, with frightened parents in some communities urging schools to close.
All that makes for a thorny decision tree.
Take the Douglas district in Box Elder, S.D. Its context, like many districts鈥�, poses a unique and specific conundrum for its leaders.
The district is located near the Ellsworth Air Force base, and about 45 percent of students are dependents of military personnel, including some who have recently returned from duty in Italy and South Korea, two countries heavily hit by the virus. On top of that, the district鈥檚 teaching force skews older, with the average teacher having 20 years of experience and at least 50 teachers with 30-plus years, pushing them toward the demographic that data suggest is more vulnerable to the virus.
鈥淎nd so with that, we have some with compromised immune systems. I think we鈥檙e pretty vulnerable in that area,鈥� said Superintendent Alan Kerr. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the calculus, too, [and] day care, and the economic strain it鈥檚 going to put on the parents. And another aspect we have to look at, that most schools don鈥檛, is that we sometimes have families with two parents deployed,鈥� which means some students are staying with other relatives, including grandparents.
Different Scenarios, Different Plans
There鈥檚 a variety of conflicting information on the efficacy of closing schools, which is making a tough call even tougher.
Research on the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 points to pre-emptive closures as an effective way to limit outbreaks, even as others note differences in how COVID-19 and the demographics of the affected population compare with those of the earlier pandemic.
At the time of this writing, thousands of schools had been closed or were scheduled to close because of COVID-19, affecting more than 1.3 million students, but those numbers continue to change rapidly. (Visit Education Week鈥檚 map for the latest statistics.)
In a new document released late this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a short to medium level of closure, from a few days to two to four weeks, might be appropriate to clean and disinfect schools, or respond to significant absences among students and staff.
Those are the time periods currently selected by many of the hundreds of districts that have closed. But data modeling doesn鈥檛 show that those would affect the infection rates of COVID-19, the CDC said.
The agency also unveiled a flow chart to help districts make decisions about closing and urged them to consider the academic and unintended impact of closures. It鈥檚 the federal government鈥檚 most specific set of guidelines for schools to date on COVID 19.
Some U.S. districts, like Chicago, which closed one high school this week, are explicitly deferring to health agencies; the nation鈥檚 third largest school district has held its press conferences in tandem with them. At one this week, Chicago鈥檚 public-health deputy commissioner, Jennifer Layden, defended the city鈥檚 decisions not to close schools en masse, stressing that sustained person-to-person contact is necessary for transmission.
鈥淚t takes close, direct contact with someone who has a case to be considered exposed to the virus,鈥� she said.
In Schenectady, N.Y., the district is also taking its cues from health agencies. But as it鈥檚 worked to re-evaluate its own emergency plans, the district is discovering ways in which its contingency plans don鈥檛 quite line up with the fast-changing realities of COVID-19.
Closing a school for one day to scrub it down is a far different response from what would need to happen if health agencies determine that everyone in one of its schools needs to self-isolate for 14 days, noted Superintendent Laurence Spring. And those pose different scenarios for the district to map out.
鈥淗ow good do we think our records are in terms of who鈥檚 set foot in the building in the last 14 days?鈥� he noted. 鈥淚f the mailman is coming in to drop off a package, and he鈥檚 all the way into the building, he doesn鈥檛 necessarily sign in or [do] the guys who are delivering stuff for lunch. There are a bunch of those places where we figured, 鈥楪eez, I bet we wouldn鈥檛 be at 90 percent accuracy if we need to provide names to a disease investigator to map back from a confirmed case.鈥� 鈥�
The district is now tightening up those procedures in its buildings. It鈥檚 also wrestling with how to provide needed services to students if it must close schools. The district has extra Chromebooks to distribute to students, and with about 85 percent of them qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, it also will continue to deliver thousands of backpacks of food to students.
But how can it get those into students鈥� hands while not potentially exposing more staff members to the virus? Those are the technical details the district鈥檚 staff is now wrestling with, Spring said.
Rob Anderson, the superintendent of the Boulder Valley district in Colorado, described a similar scramble to account for the flood of often conflicting reports leaders are receiving about the virus.
Information about the virus 鈥渋s breaking in ways the decision matrix that we set up never anticipated,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou find yourself just conversion and putting your heads together to make the best decision you can.鈥�
And in Jefferson County, classes were to end early March 13 so the district can deep-clean schools and teachers can assemble instructional packets for students. The West Virginia district is asking each teacher to prepare at least two weeks鈥� worth of activities, with accommodations for those who don鈥檛 have internet access. District guidelines say they can鈥檛 be 鈥渂usywork鈥� and must link directly to its curriculum.
鈥淭here is never going to be a piece of paper or a computer that replaces a teacher,鈥� Superintendent Gibson said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e here to deliver kids an education, so we need to find as many and as creative ways for students to continue their instruction.鈥�
Communications Key
As they weigh the options, the superintendents all said that accurately communicating fast-changing circumstances was both crucial鈥攁nd challenging.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a balance where you want to inform but you don鈥檛 want to panic people, and sometimes when you write guidelines, they鈥檙e too broad,鈥� said Kerr of South Dakota.
鈥淲e can make the best-laid plans but we don鈥檛 control any of the triggers, and all of those unknowns create fear. Fearful people are sometimes angry, or they鈥檙e hurt, or they鈥檙e upset and they鈥檙e not logical,鈥� said Gibson. 鈥淪o part of what we try to do is quell fear through information. We communicate a lot. We answer questions.鈥�
Even inadvertent mixed messages can cause frustration. Kerr said he got some blowback because the district鈥檚 pandemic plan notes that teachers will be paid if and when schools close, while most hourly workers won鈥檛 be, with their days added to the end of the school year. That鈥檚 not a function of status, he explained, but of employees鈥� different work contracts.
In Schenectady, Spring said some parents were confused by New York state鈥檚 decision to declare a public emergency. Usually, the state does that because of a severe snowstorm鈥攁nd when that happens, staff and students alike don鈥檛 come to schools, he noted.
鈥淭his state of emergency was declared to [ease procurement rules]s for the state, and we needed to communicate that to parents,鈥� Spring said, ticking off a list of topics he鈥檚 included in the district鈥檚 daily updates: 鈥淚t does not change the fact that we still have school. There aren鈥檛 any recommendations about everyone staying home. We do continue to pay close attention to health updates. Hand-washing is still really, really important.鈥�
Parents are understandably concerned, though, and they鈥檝e been putting pressure on districts to consider closing in some locations. In Montgomery County, Md., more than 17,000 residents had signed a petition to move up the district鈥檚 spring break to prevent transmission of the virus. (The county has several confirmed cases of COVID-19.)
In all, Spring said his district feels like it鈥檚 made progress on its plans from a few weeks ago. But he acknowledged that most districts will probably still face unexpected problems if and when they have to close.
鈥淭here will still be things鈥攁nd things of reasonable significance, not just minor details鈥攖hat will be like, 鈥楴obody thought about that or how to solve for that,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this black box in which the department of health is saying, 鈥榃e become in control of the site, and we鈥檒l let you know.鈥� Well, 鈥榳e鈥檒l let you know鈥� is a really hard thing to plan for.鈥�
