I live in a place with very low community infection until the beginning of Nov and even now it's still low compared with the rest of the country. Many wealthier public schools have open for months with much lower infection rates than community even after being forced to test a large number of students and staff. The poorest district with the most students of color did not open despite the majority in favor of returning. The argument that it's mostly white parents who wants the kids back in school is not necessarily true - they are just more likely get attention and be heard. Poor students of color are much more likely to be homeless or have their home lives destabilized by the pandemic.
The issue, as I've seen it, is that the district doesn't have enough money to keep students and teachers safe and everyone either knows it or doesn't trust that it can be done like it has in the suburbs (hiring more staff, adequate cleaning and sanitation, leasing more space for lower, spaced out classes, upgrading ventilation and new windows).
The teacher's union, primarily composed of white middle class teachers, many who live with their own kids in other districts, have been fighting tooth and nail to stay remote even when it's clear that not only are the students falling tremendously behind, many are just disappearing altogether. I'm not saying they are wrong to be afraid of covid (I'm married to a teacher), but if teachers are going back in other districts without an increased risk of infection compared to general population, this argument starts to feel forced.
Wow, do you live where I live?
So many people saying how "it's either safe or it's not, why aren't the public schools open? Why are these 5 schools open and why can they stay open when new schools can't?"
The schools that are open are small, and rich. Public or private. They have enough money to have small classes and enough space to have outdoor space. They can afford more cleaning, better ventilation, and more teachers. If 20% of the families want to stay remote? Fine. Here, we'll hire another teacher.
The public schools have less money and orders of magnitude more students. The private high school locally had, maybe, 30-35 students in last year's graduating class. My 9th grader has 500 students in his grade, and at least 30 in every one of his 4 classes, with no student overlap. There is not enough space to even go hybrid (half the class at a time) and maintain 6' distance.
The elementary schools often have 600 students, at least 30 per class in the upper grades. If 20% of the students want to be remote, they literally would not be able to keep their teachers. There's no money to hire extra teachers. There have been job openings for more janitors and playground supervisors for months.
It's hard to explain that it's not "either/or". Safe or not safe. It's a spectrum, and money is needed to make it safe. At this point, even though it's predominantly the white folks wanting their kids back, I think the district should just figure out how to find the money to have the neediest 25% of students be at school and in person, and leave everyone else remote.