Will Lee’s Summit ignore health officials and reopen schools in a COVID red zone?
In Lee’s Summit, school district officials have struggled mightily with the question of how to educate students in the midst of a pandemic, vacillating between virtual options and in-person classes.
Now, despite the best advice of county health officials, momentum seems to be building again for bringing kids back to school — an option that remains fraught with peril.
On Tuesday, Lee’s Summit officials plan to plead their case with the Jackson County Health Department for in-person classes for K-3 students. A special board meeting is scheduled that evening.
But in the interest of public health, the school board should heed the recommendations of health professionals and offer only virtual learning starting Sept. 8.
The coronavirus outbreak is far from over. And based on guidance from the health department, nearby school districts in Center, Hickman Mills, Raytown and Grandview have canceled in-person classes to begin the 2020-21 academic year.
Most of those districts, if not all, intend to gradually phase in face-to-face learning. Public schools in Independence began in-person classes Monday — a risky move.
“We want all of the kids in school,” Ryan Murdock, Lee’s Summit School Board president, said. “We are not actually trying to keep them out. We are not set in this. When they say we can have in-person, we will.”
To be sure, leaders in Kansas City-area school districts are wrestling with tough educational questions that have no easy answers. But reopening school doors directly conflicts with guidance from the Jackson County Health Department.
Jackson County is considered a red zone, which represents the most significant community spread of coronavirus, according to gating criteria for elementary, middle and high schools.
The criteria include: new cases per 100,000 people, percentage of people testing positive and the trend in incidence rate during a two-week period. School districts can choose to ignore the health department’s recommendations. But at what cost?
At least 71 people in Eastern Jackson County had died from COVID-19 as of Friday. The percent of positive tests during the previous two weeks was an alarmingly high 14.98%, according to data from the health department. Nearly 330 new cases per 100,000 residents were reported, a disturbing upward trend from the previous two-week reporting period.
Under a red zone designation, school buildings should be closed, and students should be offered remote-learning only, health department officials say.
“We don’t recommend anyone going back into the school building at this time,” a spokeswoman for the Jackson County Health Department said. “Including students in the lower grades.”
Many Lee’s Summit parents have complained that the health department’s recommendations are too restrictive, and last week, a group hosted an Open Our Schools rally that drew hundreds. Some argued that schools should reopen for younger kids who perform better in a traditional learning environment.
Parents’ frustration with Lee’s Summit’s ever-changing, on-again, off-again plans for virtual and in-person classes is understandable. But until COVID-19 infection rates decline, school district officials should firmly commit to erring on the side of science and protecting public health.
Every precaution needs to be taken to slow the spread of a disease that has claimed hundreds of lives in the metro region. Until county health officials say otherwise, online learning should be the only option for all school districts.