Each day since mid-August, more and more elementary, middle, and high schools opened for a first day. In some places, it’s the public schools. In others, it’s only the private schools that are allowing students in.
Some made the news in a bad way: Paulding High School in Georgia became famous after a student published a picture of a crowded hallway with many unmasked faces. Later, a few dozen people at the school tested positive for the coronavirus.
But thousands of schools have mandated masks, put down lane markers in the hallway, posted signs, shut off water fountains, permanently propped open windows, and set up outdoor classrooms. Nobody likes the changes, but most parents think it’s better than the alternative.
The public at large is pretty divided on the question of in-person schooling, it turns out, and a recent poll of 4,000 adults shows some numbers.
The general public said in-person schooling is dangerous: 47% said it was unsafe to let students return to school, compared to 40% saying safe. That includes about 17% of the country that seems to think everything is unsafe, including going shopping and going to a public beach.
But school parents have a different view. Those respondents who have a child in K-12 education mostly said they wanted schools open again. About half of all parents said they wanted their children in school full time, while less than a third favored full-time virtual learning. The difference (about 21%) wanted a hybrid. That means parents favored some sort of in-person learning to none by more than a 2-to-1 margin.
Meanwhile, only 28% said their children will be in school full time.
It’s the teachers who are most opposed to teaching in person: About two-thirds of them said learning should be mostly remote in an early August poll.
A large minority of the population is angry at the teachers: 44% believe teachers unions are being unreasonable in opposing the return to schools, which may explain why 25% of those polled had a very unfavorable view of teachers unions.
