It is inexcusable to open nonessential services for adults this summer if it forces students to remain at home even part-time this fall.<\/p>\n
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As communities and families navigate the complicated issues around reopening schools, experts argue that children returning to primary school is essential, not only because of the educational, social, and developmental benefits for kids themselves, but also for the longterm economic and civic health of the country.\u00a0 Every effort should be made to reopen them full-time in the autumn, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/a> co-authored by Meira Levinson, Muge Cevik and Marc Lipsitch.\u00a0 Doing so safely will require reducing or eliminating community transmission while ramping up testing and surveillance.<\/p>\n Authors recommend that any region\/city with moderate, high, or increasing levels of community transmission \u201cshould do everything possible to lower transmission<\/em>\u201d including closing nonessential indoor spaces such as retail establishments, movie theatres, restaurants and pubs.<\/p>\n The authors \u2014 Meira Levinson of the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Muge Cevik of Scotland\u2019s University of St. Andrews; and Marc Lipsitch of\u00a0 T.H. Chan School of Public Health; emphasise that \u201cschool closures have brought social, economic, and racial injustice into sharp relief, with historically marginalized children and families \u2014 and the educators who serve them \u2014 suffering the most and being offered the least<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Until elementary school children physically return to school full-time, \u201cmany will lose out on essential educational, social, and developmental benefits; neither the economy nor the health care system will be able to return to full strength given parents\u2019 caretaking responsibilities; and profound racial and socioeconomic injustices will be further exacerbated,\u201d <\/em>the authors wrote.\u00a0 They added, \u201cIt is inexcusable to open nonessential services for adults this summer if it forces students to remain at home even part-time this fall<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The authors argue that \u201cchildren, families, educators, and society deserve to have safe and reliable primary schools should not be controversial<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Primary schools should be recognized as essential services, school personnel as essential workers \u2014 and that school reopening plans should be developed and financed accordingly.\u00a0 \u201cSchools are more like grocery stores, doctors\u2019 offices, and food manufacturers than like retail establishments, movie theatres, and bars<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cLike all essential workers, teachers and other school personnel deserve substantial protections, as well as hazard pay.\u00a0 Remote working accommodations should be made if possible for staff members who are over 60 or have underlying health conditions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The authors specifically emphasise opening primary schools as a priority although they also acknowledge that \u201cfully reopening schools for middle and high school students should be a national priority, but given the more challenging transmission dynamics at older ages, we confine ourselves here to elementary schools.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n