With the school year quickly approaching, parents throughout San Diego and Riverside counties are deciding on how best to provide their children with an education. Furthermore, school districts are deciding how to provide safe and effective learning for students both in the classroom and from a distance. At Children’s Primary Care Medical Group, we have received lots of questions from parents about the return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus is so new that we don’t have all of the answers right now, but we can help guide you in your decision making. At the time of publication, the Governor of California has stated that our counties can not open until they are off the watch list for 2 weeks. Once it’s deemed safe to open schools by the Governor, you may still have concerns about the safety of sending your child to school. Here are things to consider:
Can children get sick with COVID-19?
The answer is yes. As of August 6th, 380,174 children have been infected with the virus. With summertime activities bringing children together, the number of child cases has increased by 90%. While children tend to have milder illness than adults, up to 8.9% of children with COVID-19 have been hospitalized and 0.5% have died. This means children are not immune to this virus. Unfortunately, this is based on incomplete data as not all states report their data and the definition of what age group is considered a “child” is variable.
Is anyone in your family high risk?
Your decision to send your child to school may be dependent on whether or not they, or anyone in your family, is high risk. This includes people less than 1 year or over 65 years old, people with diabetes, heart disease or obesity, and those with immune system disorders. Recent reports reveal that vaping also increases a person’s risk of complications of COVID-19.
Has your school or school district set up mitigation strategies that you are comfortable with?
The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested the following practices;
- Masks for teachers and older students
- Frequent hand washing
- Decreased class size
- Desks separated 3-6 feet apart
- Use of outdoor space when possible
- Regular sanitation of frequently touched surfaces
- Keeping students together in cohorts with lunch at their desks and teachers moving from class to class if needed.
- Some schools may go a step further and add a screening process.
Are you able to stay home and facilitate learning with your child(ren)?
Many parents will need to attend work in person and even more will be expected to do a full day’s work from home. That will make it hard for them to be able to help their children should they have technical difficulties or need help during independent work. Of course, many have to make the difficult decision of sending their child to school whether they want to or not due to the need to be at work without help at home, or a lack of resources for home learning.
For children with an IEP or who get services from the school, parents may not be able to provide everything their child needs. Many children did not get their services in the spring as schools closed. We recommend that parents work now to find out how their child will receive their special education services during the coming school year whether they are back on campus or not.
How did your child handle distance learning in the spring?
We know that many children suffered from anxiety, depression, and lack of motivation during distance learning this past spring. There was a lot of lost education time, lacking of special education services, problems with providing nutrition to families in need, and concerns for providing distance learning to families without the resources to do so. We also know that many children want to be back at school, and their parents want them to be there as well. For more information on why in person school may be the best option for many children once COVID-19 is under control, see my post here.
What if your child gets sick or exposed at school?
The Centers for Disease Control recommends staying home for 10 days after the start of symptoms. Your child can return to school once they are past the 10 days, symptoms have improved and they are fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medication. Furthermore, the CDC recommends anyone exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19 to isolate at home for 14 days after their last exposure. This is why keeping children in small cohorts is helpful. Isolating one classroom at home is better than isolating the whole school. For more information on what constitutes a significant exposure, click here.
Therefore, schools should not only have a plan for safe in person learning, but should also have a robust distance learning plan should there be a need to switch back and forth. Additionally, high risk children will need to continue distance learning, even once school campuses open.
How can I best help my child with distance learning?
This fall will not be your old school spring 2020 distance learning. School districts are expanding their expectations of both students and teachers. I know my district will be strict about taking attendance and will only be giving letter grades as opposed to allowing the pass/fail option. Parents should prepare their children now for a robust online learning schedule. Start by having them go to bed earlier and earlier each night and get them up at the time they will need to wake for school. Once school is in session, make sure they get up, get dressed, brush their teeth and eat a good breakfast. Have an area set up where they can be online and do their work with as minimal distraction as possible. You want them to be in the “school” frame of mind.
Try to maintain a routine that incorporates learning, independent school work, meals and exercise. Plan to pack lunches each day so that they have a healthy lunch ready to go during their lunch break. We want them to eat healthy lunches and snacks and move their bodies like they would if you sent them to school. Don’t forget to plan time for their hobbies and sports once the school day would normally be over.
Overall, your child’s safety is of utmost important to you. This includes allowing them to get a good education and socialize with their friends. No matter what you decide, you will be making the best decision for your family. Every family will decide differently and that’s ok. Take a look at this article quoting pediatricians (myself included) across the country on what they will be doing. You will see that we are all making different decisions that best suit our family’s needs.
Click here to see Dr. Friedman on Fox 5 San Diego talking about the return to school.