How will schools look different this fall? Here are some options being considered

Will remote learning continue? Or will kids attend class on alternate days? What will lunch periods look like?

Educators and other government officials in the United States are now weighing options for how to reopen schools this fall after shifting to remote learning as a global coronavirus pandemic hit the nation. Or whether to reopen them at all.

“One of the areas we can really learn from is education because the old model of our education system where everyone sits in a classroom is not going to work in the new normal,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, the New York Post reported.

“And you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms,” he said, according to the publication. “Why? With all the technology you have?”

Not everyone’s ready to go quite that far, however.

“We need to get our kids back to school. I need to get my kids back in school,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who has three children, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Along with getting an education, Newsom said going to school can be critical to the mental health of children — and their parents, according to the publication.

“I want to go back so bad,” said Zoe Davis, a 16-year-old sophomore at Chalmette High School in Chalmette, Louisiana, The Washington Post reported. “I’m like, ‘Wow, school is a major part of my life and why I am who I am.’”

White House guidelines suggest that schools may reopen only after two consecutive 14-day periods of declining coronavirus symptoms or cases in a state, according to the publication.

Next school year

Schools in most parts of the United States will remain closed for the rest of the academic year, officials have announced. What will they look like this fall?

“There are so many issues that states are going to have to grapple with,” said Robert Hull, president of the National Association of State Boards of Education, KOMO reported.

“How do you open with social distancing?” Hull said, according to the station. “Do you no longer allow students to change classes? You put them in one room six feet apart and they don’t have that social interaction? If so, your high schools are going to look distinctly different.”

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said children may attend class on alternate days to help with social distancing, WKRC reported.

In Texas, educators are considering a similar schedule, The Washington Post reports.

Some children would go to class Mondays and Tuesdays, others on Wednesdays and Thursdays, while remote learning the other days and Fridays.

“I’m not saying that’s where we end up,” DeWine said, noting individual school districts will have to come up with their own solutions to fit their needs, WKRC reported.

Michael Hinojosa, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, says he’s also considering having kids eat lunch in classrooms to avoid big crowds, The Washington Post reported. Tackle football might switch to flag football or be pushed back entirely.

In California, Newsom said he’s talking with educators about staggered start times and smaller P.E. classes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Kansas educators are hoping to return to normal in the fall, but also are looking at options such as alternate schedules or strict social-distancing rules, KWCH reported.

“Perhaps more spreading out of our desks in classrooms,” said Nathan Washer, Wichita Collegiate Head of School, according to the station. “Staggered recesses, things like that, so we avoid large groups of students all meeting in the same time.”

In Roanoke, Virginia, educators are preparing a three-stage plan depending on where the city stands in the coronavirus pandemic, ranging from normal operations to closing schools again, The Roanoke Times reported.

Schools across the nation also are trying to figure out details like face masks, coronavirus testing and altering bus schedules to reduce crowding, while many also wrestle with projected budget cuts, The Washington Post reported.

Parents, teachers weigh in

But some parents are still skeptical.

“How do I send a kid to a school with 700 other children and so many faculty, staff, teachers, aides, volunteers in and out, and still ensure that his exposure is minimal to none?” said Mae Winter, whose husband is immunocompromised, The Washington Post reported.

“I can’t. It’s impossible,” said Winter, who has a kindergartner and a fifth-grader in Seminole County Public Schools in Florida, according to the publication.

”It would not make sense to send my oldest to school to be exposed and bring it back into the house for my other daughter,” said Brandi Campbell-Tudor, whose youngest daughter has asthma, The Sacramento Bee reported. She plans to homeschool her kids.

Teachers aren’t so sure about reopening, either.

“We don’t know what we are going back into,” said Shannan Brown, executive director of the San Juan Teachers Association. according to the publication. “Teachers and educators are in the pandemic too, and they have their own issues to deal with. We need to know how we can help them do their jobs in a way that’s realistic.”

More than 3.6 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 258,000 deaths as of May 6, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 1.2 million confirmed cases and 71,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 1:25 PM with the headline "How will schools look different this fall? Here are some options being considered."