Hopefully Back To School

While watching the students and their families show up for the first days of school at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago, the head of school made a comment to me that he’s never seen so many parents with tears of relief in their eyes dropping their children off to begin the school year.  After spending the summer working hard on many levels of planning to be able to offer up as close to a typical school experience as possible, everyone looked relieved and even excited to regain some semblance of normalcy.

As concerned as I was for what the school year would look like, I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in the back to school excitement.  With Chicago Public Schools deciding to start the year remotely and more recently announcing that we will not be going back to in-person learning for the rest of 2020, I was greatly missing those first-day jitters for my own third grader and felt a bit jealous that these parents would get some time apart from their children as it’s been rough to be together almost 24-7 for six months (and now almost a full 8 months). But I also felt nervous for these kids and their families, taking the risk and having to trust that their school has done all they can to protect and educate their children.

Every inch of these first days had been carefully considered by the staff at BZ who worked tirelessly to prepare their community.  The upper and lower schools had their first days of school with a day in between them.  Entrances were set up all over the campus, hand sanitizer at each entrance with teachers and volunteers ready to pump.  Different grades were assigned to different entrances instead of the usual main entrance that we all went through when my son was at BZ.  Masks were required, and they had to follow CDC protocol with three layers of protection.  Class sizes were greatly reduced, desks were spaced out, and if you still weren’t comfortable as a parent, your child can participate in school virtually, a tablet propped up on a desk as if they were in the room.

From my friends with elementary school kids in the suburbs, I’ve learned one thing, their schools cannot stop the spread of germs entirely.  Their kids have been coming home with strep throat and even just the common cold, but now instead of a day or two at home to feel better, it’s a two-week stay-at-home order for the student in question and any of their siblings.  And since the state hasn’t issued a state-wide policy regarding how to handle in-person learning during a pandemic, each district is left on their own to figure out what policies and procedures will work best for their community.

For months now, schools have been at the center of this pandemic, all eyes on them as if they alone can somehow show the world that you can be open but with modifications in this new world order.  If schools can successfully stay open, then the nation can successfully stay open. Right now, school districts all across the Chicago suburbs are switching to all remote learning as the outbreak of COVID-19 has increased.  However, they are reporting that the source of these outbreaks isn’t the schools themselves, but rather the social gatherings related to and outside of the school where the real magical spread of germs happens.  Sounds to me if the nation followed the careful procedures, protocols and mandates as schools like Bernard Zell, maybe we could stay open through the winter.