The New York Times - USA (2020-08-03)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020 N A

A TYPICAL AMERICANschool day requires

proximity: High school lab partners leaning

over a vial. Kindergarten students sharing

finger paints. Middle schoolers passing snacks

around a cafeteria table.

This year, nothing about school will be

typical. Many of the nation’s largest districts

plan to start the academic year online, and it

is unclear when students and teachers will be

back in classrooms. Others plan hybrid mod-

els, while some are determined to go five days

a week.

When school buildings do reopen, whether

this fall or next year, buses, hallways, cafete-

rias and classrooms will need to look very

different as long as the coronavirus remains a

threat. Even teaching, which has evolved in

recent decades to emphasize fewer lectures

and more collaborative lessons, must change.

“This is the biggest adaptive challenge in

my career, and in the history of public educa-

tion,” said Cindy Marten, superintendent of the

San Diego public schools.

Education decisions are largely made at the

local level, and leaders are relying on a host of

conflicting federal, state and public health

guidelines. There is still considerable uncer-

tainty and debate over how easily children of

different ages contract and spread the virus,

and whether some of the recommended safety

guidelines would help or are even necessary.

As a result, schools are adopting a wide

range of approaches for the pandemic era. But

those recommendations largely agree on at

least some adaptations, and they all come

down to eliminating one factor: proximity.

On the following pages, a guide from taking the

bus your first day of kindergarten to the last

year of your high school career.

How to Go to School

In the Strangest Year

Keeping your distance will be difficult, and

classrooms will look unfamiliar. This time,

the first-day jitters may last months.

Text by DANA GOLDSTEIN | Illustrations by YULIYA PARSHINA-KOTTAS

‘This is the biggest adaptive challenge in my career, and in the history of public education.’

CINDY MARTEN, superintendent of the San Diego public schools

Tracking an OutbreakEducation