[Source:  Edutopia]

Education leaders are laying out plans to reopen schools in the fall, but without the safety net of a vaccine, the school year looks unpredictable at best.

It’s suddenly clear to everyone—although teachers have been aware the whole time—that schools are a crucial piece in an ecosystem that keeps America afloat. They aren’t just where kids are educated—though that remains their indispensable objective and cultural contribution—they’re also where millions of parents start their own days, dropping off their kids before heading out to jobs that pay the bills.

With the emergence of Covid-19, that critical dependency has been thrown into sharp relief. Parents are getting a firsthand glimpse of the work involved in overseeing a child’s education, all while simultaneously juggling their professional responsibilities—or worse, the very real prospect of unemployment. Understandably, there’s enormous demand for schools to reopen so that teachers, parents, and school-aged kids can return to some semblance of productive normalcy.

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