Walking The Plank To Reopen Schools? by Dr. Michael Flanagan

Original art by Pamela Michaels

I went into school today to clean out my classroom for the year. We had to book an appointment beforehand, wear gloves and masks, and we only had two hours thirty minutes to close our rooms for the summer. Walking through the school and seeing all the books, desks, papers, boxes and garbage bags outside classrooms almost felt normal again. Almost.

Until I stepped into my classroom. I imagined that this is how it might have felt to the people excavating Pompeii. Evidence of life abruptly halted, and frozen in time. It was quiet and the room was disheveled from whatever the custodians were supposed to be doing to it, but I definitely can’t say it looked like it had been cleaned at all. 

There was my attendance folder from the week before, now meaningless. Assignments written on the whiteboard for the following week and student papers on my desk still waiting to be graded. A message from a teacher who shared my class for her students to meet in the computer lab 8th period.  

It looked like life had just stopped suddenly. I half expected to see a tumbleweed come blowing down the hall. I felt like an archaeologist trying to piece together the puzzle of the last days of a civilization. 

When we left that Friday, the Mayor and Governor of New York were determined to keep the schools open. It was fine to close Broadway, and the NBA, and all the colleges in the state, but public schools were going to remain open! People needed a place to put their children, so they could go to work. Essential workers that is, not people who went to Broadway shows and Knicks games, or worked in the DOE central offices. 

Even though there were sanitizing protocols for schools which reported sick staff members that were being willfully ignored -jeopardizing thousands-schools would still remain open. Until that weekend. The Mayor and Governor faced open rebellion by parents and teachers. There were planned sickouts, dwindling student attendance and the threat of union-led lawsuits. 

Finally, under enormous pressure the politicians grudgingly closed the schools on March 15th. But their anger and frustration were clear. How dare parents and teachers put the lives of their children over public policy. Where were workers supposed to put their children, in order to keep the economy moving?

Now the same politicians who were willing to sacrifice children, staff and their families to a pandemic for the sake of the economy, are planning the reopening of schools for September. The coronavirus has not been cured. There is no vaccination. Schools remain an incubator like environment. Yet, they are still planning to reopen schools, virus be damned. 

School systems throughout the country are preparing a smorgasbord of “hybrid learning” scenarios and social distancing strategies that will be impossible to implement. Smaller class sizes, split schedules, part time live instruction, part time remote learning. Full school sanitation, six feet apart, everyone wears masks, no sharing resources etc. etc. 

It kind of reminds me of that mayor from Jaws telling everyone it was safe to go back into the water. I hazard to say, based on past actions, their declaration that “nothing is more important than the health and safety of our students and staff” are false platitudes. Their concerns are disingenuous. 

And with all of these proposed plans to reopen, there is seldom mention of logistics. Such as who is going to pay for all of the supplies like hand sanitizers, face masks and overtime for cleaning and scrubbing schools? Who is going to pay for all the extra busing to get kids in and out in different shifts? Where are parents going to get all of the money for child care when one kid is in school and the other one is home? 

Aren’t there supposed to be huge budget cuts? We could not make class sizes smaller because of the cost, now we are going to have nine kids and one teacher in every class? Educators will be teaching live and by remote? Something just does not add up.  

And what about the teachers who have compromised immune systems and are at high risk of contracting coronavirus? What about the children who may bring the virus home to vulnerable family members?

This week, principals and union reps are supposed to conduct walkthroughs with DOE personnel to identify building space for safe social distancing. There is talk of ten people per room, lunch being served to students in individual classrooms and even classes being held outdoors. Ultimately, no matter what the politicians and the Department of Education mandate, they are going to leave it up to the individual principals to program and implement. 

So when the policies—that are doomed to fail—crash under their own weight, it will be them who get thrown under the bus. When there is poor attendance, chaotic programming or God forbid when people get sick, it was the principals who implemented the policies and the teacher’s union was part of the negotiations. The politicians will have plausible deniability. 

All of this comes from the top down. President Trump’s administration is pushing for schools to reopen to jump start the economy. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin warns of “permanent damage” if the economy does not reopen. Members of the House of Representatives are trying to pass legislation to remove federal funding from schools that do not open. The pressure is mounting.

It feels like standing on the plank of a pirate ship with swords at our backs, forcing us to jump into the ocean filled with sharks. Then claiming that we took the steps on our own. When the inevitable wave of coronavirus hits these politicians will be safe on the deck, counting their treasure while students and staff tread water and fight off the covid sharks. It almost seems like perhaps the politicians don’t actually have our best interests at heart. 

Parents, teachers and especially students want to return to school. We want life to go back to normal. But, it has to be safe and manageable. At this point the plans to reopen the schools—even in hybrid form with social distancing—are not feasible. It seems like parents and teachers will once again have to protect the lives of our children from self-serving politicians and corporate greed. Money versus children. I know which side I am on.