In most parts of America, children have been out of school since the middle of March, and in-person learning has been canceled for the rest of the academic year. With a wave of summer camp closures rippling across the country, there is now a raging debate over whether schools will even be in a position to open in the fall.

Their closure would be an unacceptable outcome. If the response to the coronavirus is to keep schools closed going into another academic year, then the response should be viewed as an unmitigated failure.