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U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has a message for schools across the country ahead of the new school year: Students need to be in classrooms.
"That's where students learn best," Cardona told NPR's A Martínez. "Schools are more than just places where students learn how to read and write — they're communities. They're like second families to our students."
On Monday, the U.S. Education Department will release a roadmap for the return to school, encouraging districts to invest in social and emotional support for students and outlining ways to "accelerate academic achievement."
The roadmap also recommends that school systems follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's masking guidance for K-12 schools, which the agency revised last week, recommending "universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status."
This is a great start! Students especially primary- and middle-schoolers have suffered tremendous trauma throughout this past year. Continuation will give them strength and social and emotional services are a must.
City and state leaders are in a hurry to get students back in school, to show that they have COVID, and the students' academic progress under control. But doing so without considering families' needs isn't helping those who need more time, more resources, or just cannot or should not go back right now.
Also, the Education Secretary doesn't have standing to make this kind of broad claim. The financial, health, and related factors of every student and their families is different. They each have different considerations, so going back to in-person schooling may not be best for all of them.
Deciding whether or not to go back to campus has been a great source of stress for my parents and I, since we don't know how much the delta and other variants are likely to spread. But it's hard to imagine spending another year away from campus life, and from my friends, old and new. I'm sure you all are considering the same things.
I really don't know. I suppose for students who can attend clases in person, whether or not they will be sent home again sometime in the year, that could be better than not having any in-person instruction. But we still need to be cautious, from a personal hygine perspective.