![]() To make up for the learning lost while schools are closed, there have been suggestions of starting school sooner, or continuing through next summer, or both. Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Image Others have discussed morning and afternoon shifts.Ĭoronavirus precautions at Stengaard School in Gladsaxe, Denmark. By way of example, Mulgrew suggests that one group of kids might attend school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week, then Tuesday and Thursday the following week. Reducing class size this drastically would probably mean staggering schedules. In New York City alone more than 60 educators have reportedly died from the coronavirus, and NPR has found accounts of educator deaths in 13 other states. Eskelsen Garcia says she's concerned not only for the health of children, but also for the health of her members, which include teachers, custodians, food service workers and school support staff. Serious cases of coronavirus among children are rare. But in this case, it might spread an infection that kills people." "The doctors say 39 sweaty bodies in a classroom is not healthy and safe - by the way, it never was. Lily Eskelsen Garcia points out that her membership has been asking for smaller classes for a long time. At the International School in Denmark, they are grouping kids in classes of 10. Assuming there is sufficient testing and contact tracing to reduce the spread of infection, "it's better if that student's been in contact with one group of 15 students versus 100 students."īased on the typical size of a classroom in New York City, 12 would be the most children you could accommodate while maintaining social distancing, says the UFT's Mulgrew. Still, in an attempt to balance safety with the impact on families and the economy, she also recommends reducing social contact by putting children in the smallest groups possible. ![]() She argues that without treatments or a vaccine, "there is no such thing as 'safe' reopening." Maria Litvinova, a researcher at the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Turin, Italy, has modeled how school closures reduce the spread of illness. Denmark began reopening schools on April 15. Schoolchildren have lunch at the Korshoejskolen Public school in Randers, Denmark. ![]() Ida Storm Jansen, the school's communications director, says they have made up a new game called shadow tag to play while staying 6 feet apart - "tagging each other's shadow so they're not touching." And just five children are allowed on the playground at a time. Specialists, such as the art teacher, offer their lessons remotely via video chat. There are only 10 students to a classroom, with just one teacher. At the Copenhagen International School, children line up in the morning next to traffic cones spaced 6 feet apart. ![]() educators.ĭenmark reopened schools, for lower grades only, on April 15 after a four-week shutdown. Other countries that are already moving to reopen schools may offer lessons for U.S. These include wearing masks, temperature checks, hand-washing, frequent sanitization and social distancing rules enforced even for very small children. But Mulgrew also points to the safety measures being taken right now at the city's 100 "regional enrichment centers" that provide child care for front-line workers. Ideally, he says, this is accomplished by widespread and frequent testing for the coronavirus. So the first order of business, he says, is "How do you make sure there's a plan in place to make sure the people walking in are not spreading anything?" "A school building is not what you would call an ideal place in the middle of a pandemic," says Michael Mulgrew, the head of the New York City teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers. A student practices safe hand-washing at the Korshoejskolen Public school.īo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images ![]()
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