Should Boston Public Schools Open In September?

By: Phuong Nguyen

8/9/2020

Boston Public Schools should not be opened in September since our students and teachers are not ready to face this pandemic. 

For instance, according to The Boston Globe, provides, “Cassellius estimated that, under current physical distancing guidelines, a school bus that typically holds around 65 students might be reduced to around 13 passengers. For Boston, which already has the second-highest per-pupil transportation costs in the country, expanding bus service would be astonishingly expensive.” (Malcolm Gay, May 26th, 2020)

As the evidence shows above, we can see that the school bus won’t have enough space to carry students to school because they will have to maintain social distance and only available to 13 passengers. Not all parents can have time to drop their kids to school and not all parents can afford expensive transportation costs.  

Teachers are also concern about their safety when returning to the classroom. A report by Wgbh, explains, “The lack of confidence about safety measures, and the continued spread of COVID-19 may permanently drive some teachers from the classroom. I can’t blame them, even as many others will head back to reopened classrooms answering a call to serve their students, but not feeling safe. Perhaps this pandemic-forced new normal will help us not take their sacrifice for granted.” (Callie Crossley, July 20th, 2020)

The teachers are the guiding light for students toward the learning environment and they should not be the sacrifices for the pandemic. If we can’t ensure their safety, the lecturing quality will also affect our students’learning, and they won’t get the education that they deserve to have. 

The problem is also laid on our weather in Massachusetts. For example, Harvard University proves, “Our projections suggest warmer times of the year, and locations, may offer a modest reduction in reproductive number, helping with efforts to contain the pandemic and build response capacity.  Pressure, precipitation, diurnal temperature, lack of humidity, SO2 and Ozone all modestly contribute to increased transmission rates.”(Harvard University, n.d, 2020).

Cold weather can also be the reason for the transmission to increase, especially in a state like Massachusetts, where it has one of the most infectious cases. Boston Public Schools should not be open in the fall, since as the season changes to winter, it will be colder and it’s an opportunity for the virus to grow stronger. Instead, the schools should be open when this pandemic slows down or during the warmer season to prevent the spreading of the virus.

Finally, those are not only the reasons for our teachers and students for not being ready. The reason is the school itself. As demonstrated by The Atlantic, “Classroom layouts, buildings, policies, schedules, extracurricular activities, teacher and staff assignments, and even curricula must all be altered to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission.” (The Atlantic, July 6th, 2020).

As you can see, if we try to reopen Boston Public Schools in September, we will have a lot of problems to deal with it. While social distance is required during this pandemic, we simply do not have enough space for students to stop the spread of the virus. In my experience, my high school was Boston International High School, which could contain over 500 students and about 20 students for each classroom. How are we going to keep the desks six feet apart? Besides, we will have to reschedule many events from teacher assignments to students’ extracurricular activities that happen every year. All of these have proved that Boston Public Schools are not ready this fall. 

September is arriving but the pandemic doesn’t seem to slow down, which can affect students’health and teachers’safety. I believe the best solution to solve this crisis is to continue with remote learning, in which we have done so far since March. Students would still have their education and they won’t be at risk of exposure to the virus.

From one of my readings, there is a survey that finds, “93 percent of Americans do not think the economy should reopen immediately—even in states that are currently moving in that direction.“ (In Environment, H. 2020, May 27)

If over 90% of Americans agree that we should not open business during this pandemic, then why should we open schools? If they can understand the risk of exposure to the virus, then they can understand the danger of letting their kids mingle in the fall. 

Now there is a question or a wonder in our mind:

When is going to be the best time for us to open schools? Or, what is it that the Boston Public Schools should do to ensure everyone’s safety?

The answer is either when this pandemic decline dramatically or when we complete winning this battle against COVID-19. Until that, we should apply remote learning and Boston Public Schools should not be opened.

Work Cited: 

Crossley, C. (2020, July 20). If Schools Reopen, We Must Prioritize Teachers’ Safety. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://www.wgbh.org/news/commentary/2020/07/20/if-schools-reopen-we-must-prioritize-teachers-safety

Gay, M. (2020, May 26). Reopening of public schools this fall would come with daunting issues – The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/26/nation/reopening-public-schools-this-fall-would-come-with-daunting-issues/

Kayyem, J. (2020, July 07). Reopening Schools Was Just an Afterthought. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/reopening-bars-easy-schools-are-difficult/613861/

Weather, Air Pollution, and COVID-19 Transmission. (n.d.). Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid19

In Environment, H. (2020, May 27). New survey shows U.S. public is ‘firmly opposed’ to reopening the economy immediately. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://shorensteincenter.org/new-survey-shows-u-s-public-is-firmly-opposed-to-reopening-the-economy-immediately/

Picture source: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/home-school-teacher-offers-parents-tips-amid-closings-due-to-coronavirus