Stone Oak Highlights:
Back To School Under The Coronavirus: How Much Risk Is Too Much?
August 2020
On July 17th, the Bexar County Health Authority
announced that area schools (K-12) will no longer be able to hold in-person schooling until after September 7th. This is after a long and muddled struggle to implement a school plan that works for students, parents, and teachers. Whether that’s been achieved, however, begs to be examined. Some parents feel they are sending in their kids to a dangerous environment. “I feel like [TEA and school districts] let the students and faculty down by lack of planning for a safer learning environment” Brandi, mother of 3 young boys, says. “The number of cases are considerably higher now than when we were under lockdown in March-May. So how was it unsafe to have schools open then but safe [to go back] in 4 weeks?”
These questions seem to echo among parents. Most parents are hesitant to allow their kids back to school under these conditions. Teachers, too, are afraid for their students and themselves. Sebastian, a teacher at a lower socio-economic school district, says that most of the parents he talks to are concerned. He realizes the decision is not an easy one among parents, and most of those who choose to keep their kids at home are financially privileged. Another parent reiterates this sentiment, saying “it’s hard to keep [my kids] home when [you] need money to live! You can’t just up and quit [your job], but you don’t want [your kids] sick.”
School districts have tried to accommodate the challenging nature of the pandemic we are in--now, with the mandated order to resume schooling after September 7th, some school districts are fighting with the new problems that resolution brings in. Comal ISD in particular is not happy with the mandates, citing that only five out of their 33 schools will be affected. What will happen to the other 28 schools that will resume in-person learning on August 25th? Some community members see the answer in an extension in unemployment benefits to allow the opportunity for parents to actually teach their kids at home. As a social worker and also a parent, Pam Frias also asks for more funding for childcare outside of the classroom. “Some parents rely on school as [a form of] childcare because parents can’t afford [daycare]. As a parent, I feel conflicted--I don’t want my kid back in school, but as a social worker, [I understand that school] is how some kids eat.”
For parents in the Stone Oak and surrounding areas, though, an unlikely solution is evolving--hiring teachers for one on one interaction with their kids. It seems that parents are coming together through social media to call upon tutors and retired teachers to help get their childs’ education on track. Without this extra help, however, most parents will end up either sending their child back into an uncertain school environment or face the consequences of teaching at home, exacerbating the disparities between poorer and more well-funded school districts. Only time will tell how the communities fare.
To read the article on the Stone Oak Highlights website, click here.