Why Teachers Aren’t Ready to Reopen Schools

<p>With the possibility that millions or tens of millions of American children will not enter a classroom for an entire year, school districts face an agonizing choice: Do the benefits of in-person learning outweigh the risks it poses to public health in a pandemic? Today, we explore how teachers and their unions are responding to demands from some parents, and the president, to reopen their schools this fall. Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/dana-goldstein?smid=pc-thedaily" target="_blank">Dana Goldstein</a>, a national correspondent for The New York Times, who covers the impact of education policies on families, students and teachers. For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily" target="_blank">nytimes.com/thedaily </a></p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>With almost 1,200 staff and students now quarantined, the reopening of Atlanta’s Cherokee County School District<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/us/georgia-school-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1?smid=pc-thedaily" target="_blank"> could presage a difficult back-to-school season</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/us/virus-teachers-classrooms.html?smid=pc-thedaily" target="_blank">Many teachers are anxious and angry</a>: They say crucial questions about how schools will stay clean, keep students physically distanced and prevent further spread of the virus have not been answered.</li><li>Our illustrator imagined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/29/us/schools-reopening-coronavirus.html?smid=pc-thedaily" target="_blank">what going back to school might look like</a> this fall.</li></ul>