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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]100% agree.

I am tired of being screamed at by both sides for wanting a pragmatic approach to this longterm problem. [b]The people who are arguing that we cannot open schools until a vaccine are doing a terrible disservice to all the many, many families who do not have the resources to weather a school shut down of that length. And meanwhile, the people who claim Covid is overblown and advocate for full opening with little to no precautions only undermine efforts to open schools in a responsible way.[/b]

I'm exhausted. We live across the street from our kid's school and it just sits there empty every day, a wasted resources, as the kids who should be attending it are cared for and provided educations by parents (some of whom have had to quit or scale back jobs, putting family finances at risk), in group care that pose the exact same risks of exposure as school but at greater financial cost to parents, or in-home care that also carries exposure risks. It is baffling to me. It reminds me of back in May when we were told to social distance but all the city parks were closed so we were all crowded onto sidewalks togethe

I do not understand why we can't have a rational conversation about how to best balance the competing risks, not just Covid but also the risks of children falling behind, the risks to parents and lower-paid childcare workers of becoming the defacto early education system, and the risks to families of bearing the brunt of the Covid crisis. I really do not understand.[/quote]

This.  There is a middle ground.  DC is chock-full of policymakers, people who are supposed to be able to sift through information, evaluate its credibility, and formulate plans that balance competing interests.  Let's see some of that put to work here.  Can we just open the doors wide and go back to normal school?  No.  Can we stay closed until there's a widely distributed vaccine?  Also no.  Can we find a way to get kids back in classrooms with protective procedures and equipment, while those teachers and kids who are truly at higher risk, or have household members at higher risk, can continue to do DL?  Yes!  Will this all work perfectly for everyone?  No, of course not, but it could work out reasonably well for most people.  It just requires people who are capable of logistical thinking, aware of the issues in the community, and willing to listen to all the main stakeholders and put some thought into it.  Yes, our national leadership has failed us.  But we don't have to fix this for the whole country, just for one city.[/quote]

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