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I believe it's hard to appreciate the frustration and costs that closing schools causes, at least for children to be too young to be left without supervision.

I believe it's hard to appreciate the frustration and costs that closing schools causes, at least for children to be too young to be left without supervision. I can't think of any other measure that gets even close. The effects of restaurant closures can be mitigated by throwing money at the problem. If you have to stay home and take care of children, your career will suffer even if you are compensated for lost income. There really isn't an easy solution to it. Maybe getting creative on the local level would help: taking turns among a (small) group of parents, or hiring a single person to take care of maybe 5 or 6 kids. Maybe getting the older children to watch the younger ones, etc. But everything comes with its own drawbacks, usually by reintroducing pathways to spread. One measure that seems to be missing, and that I cannot find fault with right now, is changing structures to keep classes fixed, possibly with only a single teacher (per week?). For younger children, it's quite possible for, say an English teacher to also teach biology. Having fixed classes is also common in many countries. It means you can't accomodate electives, of course.

kylebyproxy 5y ago
> at least for children to be too young to be left without supervision Maybe school openings should just focus on that age group instead of being all-or-nothing? They could give extra focus to preschool & kindergarten, reallocate teachers from higher grades to decrease student-teacher ratios and help spread the infection risk thinner.
- watwut 5y ago
  When schools move online, the higher grades teachers keep teaching higher grades - except online. But I agree, it should be perfectly possible to close higher grades and leave lower grades open.
- Talanes 5y ago
  The teachers might not want to move from the "Almost definitely not going to shit themselves" grades to the "Might still shit themselves" grades. The massive change in responsibilities between grades likely means that the schools can't just reallocate teachers without negotiation.
rhn_mk1 5y ago
Slightly off-topic, but how are children dealing with non-fixed classes? Thinking about 7 year old children (or even adults), getting on time from one to another classroom according to an indvidual schedule would not be an easy task. Are there provided with extra help, like single-purpose classrooms according to subject? Do teachers announce where the next lessons take place? Are students split into sub-groups sharing the entire schedule, so they can team up and not lose track of it?
DarylZero 5y ago
> If you have to stay home and take care of children, your career will suffer even if you are compensated for lost income Not that big of a deal. Most people don't even have careers really, having children is already a career disadvantage, careers are mostly zero-sum competition so it balances out, etc.

kylebyproxy 5y ago

> at least for children to be too young to be left without supervision Maybe school openings should just focus on that age group instead of being all-or-nothing? They could give extra focus to preschool & kindergarten, reallocate teachers from higher grades to decrease student-teacher ratios and help spread the infection risk thinner.

watwut 5y ago
When schools move online, the higher grades teachers keep teaching higher grades - except online. But I agree, it should be perfectly possible to close higher grades and leave lower grades open.
Talanes 5y ago
The teachers might not want to move from the "Almost definitely not going to shit themselves" grades to the "Might still shit themselves" grades. The massive change in responsibilities between grades likely means that the schools can't just reallocate teachers without negotiation.

rhn_mk1 5y ago

Slightly off-topic, but how are children dealing with non-fixed classes? Thinking about 7 year old children (or even adults), getting on time from one to another classroom according to an indvidual schedule would not be an easy task. Are there provided with extra help, like single-purpose classrooms according to subject? Do teachers announce where the next lessons take place? Are students split into sub-groups sharing the entire schedule, so they can team up and not lose track of it?

DarylZero 5y ago

> If you have to stay home and take care of children, your career will suffer even if you are compensated for lost income Not that big of a deal. Most people don't even have careers really, having children is already a career disadvantage, careers are mostly zero-sum competition so it balances out, etc.