What Will School Look Like Come Fall in New England?

Officials in Massachusetts are planning on how to conduct school this fall.  It won’t look like any other school year.  If schools get the go-ahead to proceed with opening, and that is a big “if.”  Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley wrote in a memorandum that it depends on the availability of “key safety supplies,” according to reporting by WHDH.com.  He went on to say, “We are issuing this guidance on key safety supplies now so that districts can begin the ordering process for critical items that may be harder to procure and/or have longer potential delivery times.”

Hand sanitizer business is going to have to step up production because schools are going to need a lot of it. There will also be an increased need for face masks and disposable gloves and other protective sprays and disinfectants.  According to discussions between Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the COVID-19 Command Center’s Medical Advisory Committee, it will not be necessary to temperature check staff and students due to the record of false negative and false positives for fever according to reporting from WHDH.com. Time will have to be allowed for frequent handwashing.  And, how many times have I been called to the school because one of my children forgot their homework?

The schools will have to have an extra supply of masks on hand in case a child loses, or one breaks.  The children will have to maintain a six-foot social distance so smaller class sizes will be necessary.  When school children do fall ill, of anything, special accommodations will be needed to be in place to isolate the ill students.  It’s the start of a discussion of how we can get back to the new normal school year.  Next year, and possibly the future, of schooling, is going to look drastically different than years past.  Let’s just hope we can get the kids back together somehow this fall.