Eddie Munson
This year is my year. I can feel it. ‘86 baby!
- Jul 11, 2008
- 6,611
- 1,795
The discussion was Massachusetts, not the country.
Massachusetts is probably one of the best equipped to attempt to get schools open. Off the top of my head they’d probably have to do half days, so feeding the kids aren’t an issue. Do a morning and afternoon session. Temperature check all children before they get on their bus or upon school entry. Leave every other desk/seat open in a classroom to remain distanced. Hire temporary janitorial staff to help with disinfecting high touch surfaces, bathrooms, etc. constantly. Stockpile masks, hand sanitizer, thermometers, and cleaning products.
There’s the basic premise for what they need to do. Then becomes the logistical problem of getting a bunch of children to keep their masks on, not touch each other, not touch their masks or rub their eyes. You also have air being circulated in a small confined space which isn’t a great idea. Add to that the financial burden. In Long Term Care we’re already seeing companies telling the state that without additional funding, they will go bankrupt due to the new regulations and the costs associated with it. Schools are notoriously under-funded with teachers being expected to pay for most of their supplies to begin with. Where’s the money coming from for extra staffing, a few dozen thermometers running 80-160$ a piece, a few thousand masks always on hand, increaseD cleaning supplies, etc?
I hope they do re-opening schools right because in Long Term Care they love to mandate before creating the mechanisms for reimbursement or for compliance. It puts a financial burden and undue stress on companies and forces them to make tough decisions of which schools may not have the luxury of doing.
It’s a tough, tough call. If anything I think the fall semester needs to be done at home and the schools need to look to the spring to re-open. The metrics in Mass could always shift one way or the other making this decision easier either way but right now I just can’t imagine they can hammer out all the logistics and safely get everyone back by September/October aka the beginning of the Flu season and possibly a second wave.
Just my 0.02¢