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Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer
Cleveland Plain Dealer
State education officials seek feedback from Ohio parents on reopening schools
By Andrew J. Tobias
May 15, 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Education has asked Ohio
parents for feedback as they continue work on a plan for possibly
re-opening K-12 schools next school year.
State education officials have asked the Ohio Parent Teacher
Association to come up with feedback to their draft re-opening plan.
The Ohio PTA has set up a short online survey for parents, asking three
things:
1. What are your main questions?
2. Will you send your child to school if they reopen in the fall?
3. Will you send your child to school if masks are mandated?
Mandy Minick, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education, said
state education officials reached out to the PTA because they’re
“trying to be as inclusive as possible and it’s important that the
concerns and ideas of everyone impacted are shared and heard.”
Required masks currently are a part of the school re-opening plan,
framed by state education officials as a “discussion guide” for local
school districts to come up with solutions that make the most sense for
their communities as they work to re-open while managing coronavirus.
The document is a draft and remains a work in progress.
Much of the plan is open-ended. But the section about safety measures
is described as more of a series of requirements. The current version
includes required masks for all people on school grounds and for those
using school transportation, as well as at-home temperature checks,
widely available hand sanitizer and efforts to maintain six feet of
distance between students. DeWine has described schools possibly having
students come in two days a week in different shifts, with virtual
learning the other days, to maintain smaller classroom sizes.
Face masks, which health officials began recommending earlier this year
partially in response to a grassroots campaign, increasingly have
emerged as a hot-button cultural issue recently. As other countries
have reopened schools in recent days, some have required masks while
others haven’t.
Health experts say when worn properly, masks can help prevent the
spread of the coronavirus and other germs. But they aren’t for
everyone, including those with asthma or anxiety issues.
Safety measures are meant to protect students, families and staff.
While children are not believed to at great risk from COVID-19, experts
say they are likely to transmit it to others. Many Ohio teachers are
older or have underlying health conditions that make them more likely
to become seriously ill.
“Take a class of 25 kids, 26 kids, and they’re all from different
families,” Gov. Mike DeWine said during a Thursday appearance on Fox
News. “And they come in, and one of them is not showing any signs, no
temperature or anything. But we know many people who have this don’t
show the signs. And that child then spreads it to 25 other kids. You go
back to 25 families.”
DeWine also said he has not yet made a final decision on whether he will allow K-12 schools to reopen next school year.
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