As a starting point let's see what the CDC says... Full Reopening of Schools Would Be ‘Highest Risk’ For Spreading Coronavirus https://www.mediaite.com/politics/r...ld-be-highest-risk-for-spreading-coronavirus/ As President Donald Trump aims to have students back in school by Fall, internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents warn that fully reopening schools would be “highest risk” for spreading the coronavirus, according to the New York Times. The 69-page report labeled “For Internal Use Only” was compiled to assist federal public health response teams in dealing with coronavirus hot spots. The document includes reopening plans and proposals in line with CDC guidelines, for state and district schools along with universities. Most of the document is made up of already publicly available CDC documents, according to the Times. Schools and universities are set to reopen in approximately another month, with some announcing all class instruction with be done online. Vice President Mike Pence announced during a White House briefing on Wednesday that the CDC would release their guidelines for reopening schools next week adding, “we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough,” according to CNN. Trump voiced his own criticisms of the agency on Wednesday in a tweet, “I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!! “I can tell you that those guidance that we put out are out, and they stand,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told CNN host Anderson Cooper. “But at the end of the day, these guidances are just that — they’re guidances, which the local schools and districts need to then incorporate into a practical, real plan that they can operationalize to begin to get these young people back to school safely.” It has not been confirmed if the president has been briefed on the CDC’s report.
Trump's push to reopen schools part of bid to boost suburban standing https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-bid-to-boost-suburban-standing-idUSKCN24D0AK President Donald Trump’s demand for U.S. schools to fully reopen this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic is central to an emerging re-election strategy that seeks to resuscitate his flagging support in the nation’s critical suburbs. Trump in recent weeks has taken stances on hot-button issues his campaign hopes will appeal to suburban voters, particularly women, who have soured on the Republican president since his 2016 election and continue to move away as the virus rages across the country and the economy sputters. Along with aggressively pushing for students to return to classrooms - “Schools must be open in the Fall,” he tweeted on Friday - Trump has warned of rising urban crime rates and threats to civil order in the wake of protests over racial injustice while pointing to the vibrant stock market as a marker of economic health. The messaging amounts to a fresh effort to position Trump as the candidate of public safety and social and economic stability, several people close to the campaign said. So far, there is little sign the approach is working. Trump trails his presumptive Democratic opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Joe Biden, in both national and battleground state polls. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week found that in the nation’s suburbs, just 36% said they approve of Trump, while 59% disapprove. Among suburban women, three in 10 approve of Trump, while four in 10 men support the president. Suburbs in key election states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida are filled with affluent swing voters, and many feature large, robust public school systems. Shannon K. Alsop, a 39-year-old doctor and mother of two school-age children in prosperous Bucks County outside of Philadelphia, said Trump is politicizing the reopening of America’s schools because he believes it will benefit his campaign. “At the end of the day, all of us parents just want our families to be safe,” Alsop said. “The question is, Can we open our schools and have them be safe? I want that decision to be founded in research and science. I don’t trust the president to make that call for us.” Trump’s campaign views K-12 schools’ reopening as one key to an economic recovery, allowing working parents with young children to be more productive while addressing concerns that distance learning is harmful to some students. Public schools also provide meals and other social services for at-risk children. “It’s about the economy. It’s about the education of their kids,” said Rick Gorka, a spokesman for the Trump campaign. “Parents are extremely frustrated.” “TIME TO GET BACK TO NORMAL” At a White House event on schools last week, Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos advocated for their opening in contravention of the guidelines set forth by government public-health experts. The president has threatened to strip schools of federal funds if they fail to comply. School districts across the country are taking a cautious approach to reopening as U.S. COVID-19 cases reached the 3 million mark last week. Many districts plan to will offer a mix of in-person and online learning, and say they will require masks and social distancing on school grounds. Some parents are keen to see schools reopen. Virginia Lee, 37, a registered nurse in Bucks County, said while she does not support Trump, she agrees with his push on schools. Her two school-age children learned little from the virtual instruction provided during shutdowns in the spring, she said. “I don’t usually agree with anything about Trump. I do agree schools need to open back up,” Lee said. “It’s time to get back to normal.” Bucks County split very narrowly in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2016, with the Democratic candidate winning by a 0.8 percentage point margin over Trump. Biden’s position on reopening has largely been in line with that of the teachers’ unions that back his candidacy, which have criticized Trump’s demands as dangerous. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, warned last week that a full reopening of schools could lead to an exodus of educators. The former vice president also wants schools to reopen, Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said, and has “laid out clear steps that would give schools the guidance, resources and support they need to do so.” Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist and parent who lives in Shorewood, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, said the issue is “coming up more and more” in his community but is too nuanced for Trump to gain traction. “Parents absolutely want kids back in school, but it’s not a straightforward either-or dynamic. The concerns are many and varied,” Zepecki said. “The president is casting about for a resonant issue he can latch onto that is overwhelmingly popular and gets him back in the game. This ain’t it.”
Teachers worry about how we'll keep them safe if their schools reopen 'Kids don't go to schools by themselves' https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/us/teachers-covid-19-return-school/index.html
DeVos has been demanding that K-12 schools re-open full time or otherwise she would pull federal funding (which is probably illegal to do) which amounts to 10% of the budget for most districts. Education secretary faces backlash after demanding schools reopen full-time amid pandemic Betsy DeVos has not provided a specific reopening plan. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/edu...manding-schools-reopen-full/story?id=71752468 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced backlash Monday for demanding that schools reopen for full-time in-person instruction in the fall -- even in places where the virus is surging in the American South and West and without offering a specific plan on how to do so safely -- and doubling down on a threat to cut funding to schools that don't. "American investment in education is a promise to students and their families. If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise," DeVos told "Fox News Sunday." "There's going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall," DeVos said Sunday, using language similar to the president. "And where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school by school or a case by case basis." DeVos didn't say under which authority she and Trump would have to cut off school budgets. While the administration threatens to slash funding, the School Superintendents Association has estimated necessary protective measures to keep schools safe this fall would cost an average of about $1.8 million per school district. There are roughly 13,598 regular school districts in the U.S. Asked about the DeVos demand that schools reopen five days a week, Monday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told ABC's "Good Morning America" he has "no idea" whether kids will go back to school in a matter of weeks as cases in the state surge. "Our superintendent is the one that runs our school systems and he has indicated that he's not going to put our children at risk," he said. "The education commissioner of the state of Florida has mandated schools be open but I'm not sure our superintendent is in agreement with that and certainly, you know, not if it poses a risk to our children or to the parent or those teaching." (More at above url)
Incredibly dangerous, there is not enough sq footage to hold all these kids. It will not happen, not here in Miami at least. I hope not. Right now we are in a hot zone down here, literally. More and more people I know are getting sick.
Here is the latest from your Miami School Superintendent.... seems like he is moving full speed ahead in opening the schools and having all the pupils on-site. This gets into the fact that it is impossible to practice social distancing in classrooms with all the students on-site and every desk filled. Miami superintendent: 'Conditions may be appropriate' to reopen in six weeks if masks worn, social distancing practiced https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday...-conditions-may-be-appropriate-for-schools-to
There is no way it opens in 6 weeks if the trajectory continues. No way, there would be no teachers to teach; they'd quit. As it is they have to pay nurses $1000 a shift to work down here.
Simple case of job abandonment. States are already creating laws that you can't sue your employer if you get COVID and that you can't not show up to work due to COVID. Don't show up to work.... well out you go once you run through your stockpiled sick time.