School choice during COVID: US edition

Post date: 2020-08-01 04:08:31

I'm trying to decide whether to put my third-grader in in-person school this fall part-time, or keep her at home for the school's fully-virtual option. Both are feasible for us logistically. How are MeFites thinking through this decision for their own families? What features should "safer school"* have? What epidemiological guideposts are you using to decide how much community spread is too much -- and at what level (county or state)?

Our specific situation: we live in Dane County, Wisconsin, where the rolling average of percent positive is staying under 5% and the healthcare system isn't swamped, but the absolute count of cases per day is high, contact tracing is failing, and there's considerable uncertainty in posted test data more recent than ~2 weeks. Most public schools have chosen to start at a distance (our school is an outlier locally). The broad strokes of our school's plan seem reasonable -- e.g. reducing mixing and density of students to some extent, mandating masks -- but there's an enormous "first contact with the enemy" factor here. Our daughter will do fine academically either way, but we're a little worried about SEL loss if we keep her home when her peers aren't (and this is more significant for her than it would be for most). In theory we can reverse our decision, but I know it'll be a PITA for the school if too many families do that.

But I want to hear about what you're balancing in your choice and how you're deciding. Sometimes that's more helpful than advice specific to my own situation.

*yes, this also fills me with yikes

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