40
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
⬤ THE EDUCATION ISSUE
9.13.20
Left: Eli Durst for The New York Timeshave. Among teachers and parents, we have
the entire spectrum from, ‘‘The science is
clear, bring all kids back, kids need to be in
school,’’ to ‘‘Don’t let anybody back until we
have 14 days with no coronavirus cases.’’
What has been really surprising to me,
frankly, has been the lack of clarity from the
medical experts. We’ve been meeting weekly
with them to create a decision-making matrix
for reopening. With school starting this week,
we fi nally fi nished it.
Hannah-Jones: What’s confusing to me is the
science doesn’t change based on whether you
have a child care provider or a teacher in the
building. If we’re saying we don’t know enough
for teachers to come back in the classrooms but
we know enough for low-wage child care work-
ers to come back in — I don’t understand that.
Cordova: I agree 100 percent. That’s part of
why we have really been pushing to have a
decision-making matrix that helps us com-
municate why it’s safe to be back, by looking
at the data. But yes, it’s a crazy world when
we’re saying it’s not safe for teachers but peo-
ple who make $15 to $20 an hour can come
back. I’ve said to my teachers, I’ve said to myschool board, ‘‘I don’t want to be the leader of
an organization that believes that.’’
Bazelon: Nikole, what other inequities do
you see?
Hannah-Jones: I was reporting on schools in
Louisiana, and I talked to parents in a mostly
Black district that didn’t even mandate that
there had to be instruction when school shut
in March. Meanwhile, in a parish a few miles
away that was predominantly white, stu-
dents were getting instruction. Some aff luentparents are moving to places where schools
are opening. Some are putting their kids into
independent and private schools that are hav-
ing in-person instruction. I have this deep pit
in my stomach about the disparities and really
the devastating impact that this period is going
to have on us.
Pedro mentioned special-ed students: A
friend of mine from college has a child with
autism who had made so much progress in
school, and she has seen signifi cant reversion
since there’s been no special-ed services being
off ered to those kids.
White: We have a very high number of
English-language learners, and meeting those
students’ needs virtually is, I won’t say impos-
sible, but it’s nearly impossible to me.
Noguera: For all kids, sometimes when they log
on, you don’t know what they’re doing. They
could be playing with the dog, as my daughter
was doing, while Zoom was going on. When
school is functioning as normal, we expect kids
to show up, and then we have them. Now we
are really dependent on the families to make
sure their kids are participating from hour to
hour. When parents have to work, then there’sNeedville Junior High School, Needville, Texas
The seventh-and-eighth-grade symphonic-band class meets on
the first day of school to discuss plans for the year.Brenijia Barnes, 17
Senior, Alain LeRoy Locke College Prepa-
ratory Academy, Los AngelesI understand why online school has to take
place. But what if parents don’t know how
to instruct their child who has Individu-
alized Education Program classes? I have
family members who are struggling in
class — one has an I.E.P. — and they need
some extra help. I have six siblings, and
they can come and interrupt anytime. I ask
my mom to keep them quiet or I put on my
headphones to tune them out.