Column

It’s Insane We’re Even Discussing Sending Kids to School This Fall

The Sophie’s choice between continued house arrest and potentially exposing our kids to the virus is no choice at all

Children in a pre-school class wear masks and sit at desks spaced apart as per coronavirus guidelines n Monterey Park, California. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

My kids aren’t going to school this fall. The district we live in has yet to formally enact its plans for the 2020–2021 school year, but it’s already issued statements saying that it plans on opening schools at an extremely limited capacity, in staggered groupings, with masks and distancing for students and teachers. They also plan on offering a 100% virtual curriculum to any parents who prefer it. That is what my wife and I prefer.

I can’t believe that she and I needed to think this over for as long as we did, but we did. That we even had to think it over is completely fucking insane given that Covid-19 is currently spreading across the country at a higher rate right now than it was when schools shut down en masse back in March. Long ago, the federal government and every state government should have recommended/ordered all schools closed for the entire fall, if not longer. Instead, Education Secretary/Frankenghoul Betsy DeVos has demanded schools reopen this fall, and White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that science — which is, you know, taught in school —…