Schools are open despite the omicron surge. They should stay that way.
The leaders, teachers and families who are reopening schools during a surging pandemic should be celebrated.
Despite omicron pushing COVID-19 case counts to three times last winter’s peak, there is good news about the nation’s schools.
News stories about Chicago’s schools closing were reported across the nation after a teachers union vote against returning in-person last week. (Students returned to in-person instruction Wednesday).
Such narratives risk overshadowing the most important education story happening now: Schools are open.
The best available data shows that more than 5,400 schools closed or went remote during the first week of January because of COVID-19. In a nation of nearly 100,000 public schools, that means the vast majority, about 95%, are operating in person and on schedule.
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A quick comparison with the same week last year shows why that story deserves more attention.
The shift from remote learning
A year ago, only 22% of schools were in districts that returned fully in person, according to data from American Enterprise Institute’s Return to Learn Tracker.
More than 40% of schools began 2021 in fully remote districts – half of which remained so through February – and 38% were in districts that were partially open.
January 2022 is witness to a sea change in pandemic response from schools. The new pandemic normal is in-person learning, a marked shift from the default of remote schooling.
The reasons for this shift are complicated. Included are the availability and efficacy of vaccines, confidence in school mitigation strategies, decreased teachers unions' opposition to reopening or increased resistance to union pressure, overarching political pressures, the mildness of omicron and a determined avoidance of additional harm to students.
Whatever the motives, the leaders, teachers and families who are reopening schools during a surging pandemic should be celebrated.
That doesn't mean we should give a pass to the schools that are closed. However, it’s vital to separate sensible and unavoidable closures from dubious ones.
Most of this month’s school closures appear prudent or unavoidable, or both. Over the past week, an astonishing 1 in 100 Americans reported a new case of COVID-19.
That includes teachers and bus drivers who are essential to daily school operations. With substitutes in short supply, logistical challenges and staffing shortages are ample justification for the majority of individual school closures.
The justification does not easily extend to districtwide closures, and so far this year, we are not seeing many districts close completely.
Short-term district closures undertaken to allow testing before returning may be reasonable, and in areas like Washington, D.C., and New York – where about 1 in 50 residents have tested positive a week – prudent.
Not only do targeted closures have reasonable justifications when made with the intention of getting students back to schools quickly and safely, their short duration poses much less harm to students than the extended closures that were the norm a year ago.
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Longer-term closures, especially those that are districtwide, deserve greater scrutiny. The announcement in December that all 209 public schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland, would go remote for the first two weeks of this year is a prime example.
The extended and expansive closure of one of the nation’s largest districts will exacerbate the substantial harm done to students who spent seven months last year fully remote.
Keeping schools open despite surge
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we cannot predict the future, even next week. That applies to the default status of in-person schooling.
The omicron surge continues, and the resources necessary to keep schools open – including personnel, good-quality masks and the sometimes scarce COVID tests – are not guaranteed. Sporadic school closures, and related widespread quarantines, will likely persist into February, bringing unavoidable chaos for families and missed instruction for students.
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Or, the pandemic could worsen dramatically, and result in widespread closures. However, if omicron in the United States parallels the track seen in South Africa and London, the U.S. peak might recede quickly. And educators’ brave default of keeping schools open will help students weather the second pandemic winter far better than the first.
This good news is worthy of headlines everywhere.
Nat Malkus is the deputy director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.