Of course Fort Worth schools should re-open. Kids might be safer there than at home
If Fort Worth residents needed a reminder of the importance of local elections, they got it this week when the Fort Worth ISD trustees voted to move forward with a plan to reopen schools, in-person, beginning Oct. 5.
After a marathon meeting Tuesday night during which all nine school board members heard the recommendations of district leaders, the latest data from public health officials, and the opinions and experiences of parents trying to work and teach from home, a narrow majority decided that virtual school will continue to be made available to the district’s 84,000 students.
They also decided that in-person learning should begin for those willing and able, giving parents and students an option they have been denied since March.
Thank goodness.
It’s no secret, although it bears repeating, that the virtual learning of the spring was by most accounts, a colossal failure.
The early policies of the pandemic, forged in fear and panic, may (or may not) have avoided the catastrophic outcomes some had predicted.
But they came at a high cost that many were not prepared to pay, including learning losses that will follow the most vulnerable of young students for years to come.
Six months in, we understand a lot more about the virus, like who is vulnerable, how to mitigate its spread, and why returning to some reasonable state of normal — like in-person school — is by far a less risky option for kids especially, and why it’s the right decision for Fort Worth.
Children demonstrably are a low-risk population, a tender mercy given their vulnerability to illnesses such as the flu.
According to the latest Tarrant County data (as of this writing), children younger than 15 account for 6 percent of the 45,868 reported cases and zero of the county’s 616 reported deaths.
Early worries that children are susceptible to a rare but serious inflammatory response to COVID-19 should be quelled by the knowledge that relatively few children have required hospitalization on account of the virus.
And while some argue that children have been spared exposure to the virus because schools were closed early, household transmission, which would not insulate children, has been a primary source of spread.
There is spirited debate among doctors and epidemiologists about how likely children are to be vectors for the virus. Since kids are more likely to be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, they’re less likely to know they have COVID-19 and are theoretically more likely to spread it.
But multiple studies have shown that isn’t generally the case, that children are less likely to be the source of spread and are not more likely to spread the virus than adults.
All of this is good news that should strengthen public confidence in the plan to reopen schools. not being a major new source of spread.
So is the news that case trends in Tarrant County, Texas and the country overall, are generally moving in the right direction — with case positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths in decline.
When coupled with mitigation measures the district plans to implement such as physical distancing, more frequent handwashing, campus cleaning, regular health checks, quarantining of students who test positive, and mandatory mask wearing (which CDC Director Robert Redfield suggests is even more effective than the nascent vaccine), teachers and students may be safer from the virus on campus than in their own homes. I’m not kidding.
But those students (or parents) who feel in-person school is too risky still have the option to remain virtual. That’s reasonable. Whenever possible, teachers with vulnerabilities should have the same option available.
But the rest of us need to start living and, yes, going to school in the age of coronavirus.
The school board’s decision to finally make that an option has not come too soon.
And whether you agree or dissent, it’s a great reminder to vote the next time your trustee is up for re-election.
