Over the past several months, schools and colleges across the country have had to make heart-wrenching decisions about whether and how to reopen. Should they have any in-person activities? If so, when? And at what pointand with what adjustmentsis it safe to return to fully in-person activities? If there is a flare-up in COVID-19 cases, should we scale back in-person activities? The debates over these questions have become rancorous. I argue below that this is because the questions themselves are very difficult to answer, and then offer some ideas on how to make the decisions easier and better.
Let me just start by assuming that everyone has the same, seemingly simple, goal: helping people live as long as possible and minimizing pain and suffering from the crisis. Even if we agree that this, or something similar, is the right goal, there are still six reasons why it would be difficult to decide what to do.
Its no wonder the reopening discussion has been so challenging and bitter. We have to decide whether to open schools and colleges while weighing the direct versus indirect effects, clear versus ambiguous effects, and mortality versus suffering effectsand how all of these affect different groups in different waysand do all of this while predicting what other people whom we depend on are going to do. And we have to make all of these difficult decisions under intense pressure and stress.
First, education leaders need to accept that there is no 100% safe option. This is a public health crisis, which means people will suffer either way. Reopening will have negative side effects, and so will reopening fully in-person. Leaders have to make the difficult choice about how to minimize that harm.
Second, if we find ourselves talking about anything other than loss of life, pain, and suffering we might cause to othersothers inside and outside our organizationsthen were probably on the wrong track. The possibility that your organization will collapse is a legitimate concern, because of the pain and suffering that could cause, not just for your employees but those who depend on them. The key challenge is ensuring that this type of reasoning doesnt degenerate into an excuse to act in our private interests and against the public interest.
Third, think creatively about new and different ways to reopen and stay open, in-person. In some sense, this in-person versus remote decision framing isnt even the right way to think about the problem. The question really is, how can I fulfill my organizations mission in the best way possible under these difficult circumstances? If you think that you cant get back to your mission until after you go back in-person, then you are almost certainly making a big mistake.
Fourth, give people in your organizations as many choices as possible. We all find ourselves in different situationsdifferent risk categories, different caregiving responsibilities. Many schools and colleges are giving families choices about whether their children return, and giving teachers and staff similar choices. This is the right thing to do when possible. When its not possiblegiving choice comes at a costexplain why.
Finally, remember that were all in this together. This isnt just a platitude. Even those who are not in a risk category might still be at risk as individuals, and almost everyone knows someone who has suffered from COVID-19. This fact alone should bring us together and help us empathize and think beyond ourselves.
Education leaders always bear a heavy responsibility even in the best of times, for all that schools and colleges do for society. The weight of that responsibility may never again be heavier than it is right now. By understanding the complexity of these decisions, I hope we can move forward more productively and avoid the mistakes of recent months.
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When should schools reopen fully in-person? - Brookings Institution
