School districts around the country are struggling to
balance COVID-19 risks against the emotional and academic impact of kids' not
being able to attend school in person. The hybrid model, which includes both
in-person schooling and remote learning, is assumed to be the best compromise.
But this is an area the teachers' union claims that more work needs to be done
before schools are ready to confront the increased risk of having kids spend
half their schooling time outside the classroom.
Variations on the hybrid model depend on the resources of
the school district. In many cases, younger children and those with particular
needs are offered full-time in-person classes. Older kids tend to get one or
two days a week in person and the rest of the time remote.
In an open letter to the school communities in Orange,
Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland Counties, the leaders of teacher and staff
unions allege that government support for school re-entry has been insufficient
and the New York State guidelines are not stringent enough. They outline a
number of measures to make the schools more resistant to spreading COVID-19:
1. Filtration of all building-wide HVAC systems should
be upgraded or supplemented with portable units equipped with HEPA filtration.
2. COVID testing will not be adequate unless reliable
results are available within 24 hours. The current wait time of up to 12 days
will be ineffective to prevent and monitor asymptomatic spread of COVID.
3. PPE supply lines should be prioritized to maintain a
supply of such items as masks, gloves, and sanitizer on hand at all schools.
4. Employment issues must be addressed. School districts
must ensure employment of enough staff to supervise and instruct students, even
when staff members are absent for illness, quarantine, child-care, or personal
leaves.
5. A 100% virtual option must be available for teachers
and students who are medically compromised.
Plans should require at least a 14-day shutdown if COVID
issues require school closure.
The union letter cites an article in Wired magazine,
in which Harvard epidemiologist William Hanage observed that under the hybrid
model, the three or four days a week spent out of school will increase the
potential contacts with people carrying the virus and thereby increase the
potential of bringing it into the schools. Full-time in-person schooling, with
reduced social distancing, might be actually be safer than the hybrid model, as
the pool of contacts will be smaller and more consistent. None of the experts
contributing to the article were aware of any studies done on European
countries that implemented the hybrid model in the spring.