Smart Learning Institute

Although US President Trump issued general guidelines on how to lift coronavirus restrictions and reopen part of the US economy, including schools. But education officials in most states say their schools are open until at least late summer or autumn. According to Education Weekly statistics, as of this Tuesday afternoon, 35 states and Washington, DC have ordered or recommended to continue to close schools to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Schools in the corona virus outbreak area may not even be able to open in autumn, but some schools in rural areas are expected to open in May.

Leaders in some states say the problem is that neither Betsy DeVos, the Minister of Education, nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have expressed much opinion on how schools should plan for the future. State and local education leaders are joining forces to develop their own plans. Others said that schools in the United States have been managed locally for a long time, and the current epidemic situation will not change this.

Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, criticized the CDC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for "inconsistent guidance" about the way and timing of school reopening. Because the second part of Trump ’s three-phase plan to restart the economy requires the school to be reopened, but it also prohibits groups of 50 or more from gathering and requires the distance between people, Domenech said that the school hardly May be achieved. "If you think you can keep the children 6 feet apart during school, then you are dreaming."

 (Excerpt from USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/04/21/coronavirus-schools-reopen-closures-fall-2020/5167726002/, April 21, 2020)