First, nothing but kudos to District 91 for the full-stop reversal of its school opening plans announced just Monday afternoon.
Instead of the all in-person opening recently announced to the consternation of teachers, many parents and families, the district will now be fully remote at least through Halloween.
It is the wise choice, the safe choice. Difficult for certain on many levels. Fully remote learning is less effective academically even if improved from the improvised spring version. Kids need the social benefits of being in school. Many of our children need the wraparound services — counseling, meals special ed — that are far better delivered in person.
And then there are the challenges families face whether it is more weeks stuck together at home with parents taking on great schooling responsibility or, more treacherously, parents deemed essential workers who must leave home to earn a paycheck and expose themselves to great infection possibilities.
In this pandemic chaos there are no good choices. Life is fully disrupted. We do not have control. And the control we do have as a nation has been squandered by inept and failed leadership from Donald Trump.
But given the rotten choices, D91 has made the right one. We need to protect our children and our families, our teachers and our school staff. Losing classroom time is better than losing lives.
