New York City officials announced on Wednesday that its entire public school system will close again, beginning tomorrow.
This decision makes no sense scientifically because transmission of COVID-19 among children remains extremely low, and the spike of cases in the city does not appear to be caused by the reopening of school buildings. The city’s schools have been open for nearly eight weeks, and there have been few, if any, outbreaks in classrooms, according to data collected by the New York Times. Out of 16,438 staff members and students randomly tested in the first week of schools reopening, there were only 28 positive cases, eight of which were students.
Looking at these numbers, it is ridiculous that the city would choose to shutter its schools but allow restaurants and gyms to remain open, albeit in a limited capacity. Clearly, schools are not the super spreader sites many officials feared they would be. But recent evidence does seem to suggest that indoor activities, including dining, exercising, etc., are high-risk activities. Yet, each of these activities is still permissible in New York City.
All of this suggests that New York City’s decision to close schools has more to do with the demands of teachers unions than anything else. Union officials made it clear eight weeks ago that if virus rates in the city crossed a certain threshold, their teachers would not return to work. And instead of putting the academic and social interests of their students first, city officials caved without even putting up a fight.
It is difficult to overstate just how disastrous continued school closures such as this one will be for many, many students. Study after study proves that remote learning does not work, and the educational setbacks students face right now will take not just months, but years to overcome. Not to mention the effect this will have on working parents who now have to figure out how to find childcare at the last minute, or, more realistically, take time off of work to make sure their children are taken care of.
By closing the schools, New York City’s officials have chosen to ignore the very real costs that accompany closed classrooms. And they do so not just at their own expense, but at the expense of the children who depend on them.
