A Different Kind of School Year

When children go back to school in a few weeks, it will be vastly different from this time a year ago. A year ago, school districts around the nation and even around the world were making preparations for the start of the new school year. There was excitement in the air, friends who hadn’t seen each other over the summer and those that kept in contact with each other, were all talking about going back to school. Parents were glad for school to start because they knew where their children would be for at least 6-7 hours of the day. But this year is going to different, so much different than 12 months ago. COVID-19 has crippled many nations since it became a health menace to billions of people the world over and it seems that the virus is not going anywhere just yet. But life as we know it has to go on. We can only put our trust in the medical profession and our leaders whether they are local, state or federal that the decisions that they make are on our behalf. The conversations that are going on now are, parents sending their children back to school in the midst of a pandemic that has killed over 150,000 people in this nation alone. Parents are rightfully concerned because COVID-19 has touched every corner of society. It has caused the hospital system to become overwhelmed with some of them at the breaking point. There is one hospital in a county in Texas where there will be decisions made by people on whether who to keep in the facility and who to send home to die. The people who make those painful decisions are said to sit on “death panels”, who may live and who will die.

Here on the local level, school administrators have been working over the summer to get the schools prepared for those parents who will send their children back to school. It is an agonizing decision for so many, as they know that their children need to be in school. Parents and school board members know that the risks are real and nothing is guaranteed concerning safety. Nonetheless they need to feel confident that the measures that are in place will ensure the safety of all of the children while they are under their care. Monroe City Schools Board member Bill Willson contacted the virus (has since recovered) back in June while school was out, letting us know that the risk at school exists. Parents who elect not to send their children to school have other options to educate them outside of the classroom. Then there are those parents who work and for them school is the best place for them to be than at home not being taught properly. However, experts also point to the fact that children(young)are less susceptible to infections and as they get older, they better understand why when they are in school, masks are important. Schools are also social gathering places for children, but there are plans on the local level for distance learning in the classroom. Sanitary measures will be completed throughout the day and a protocol is in place in case a child gets sick. Parents are faced with tough decisions because no one knows what is going to happen next before a vaccine is developed. Trials are starting in a large group study project to monitor how effective some potential vaccines may be. Nevertheless, in the meantime we are to continue the health practices that can keep us safe. Our children are depending on us. We still have a ways to go.