Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Homeschooling Applications Surge In Several States
AP: Interest In Homeschooling Has 'Exploded' Amid Pandemic
As parents nationwide prepare to help their children with more distance learning, a small but quickly growing number are deciding to take matters entirely into their own hands and begin homeschooling. Some are worried their districts are unable to offer a strong virtual learning program. For others who may have been considering homeschooling, concerns for their family’s health amid the coronavirus and the on-again, off-again planning for in-person instruction are leading them to part ways with school systems. (Hollingsworth, 8/12)
Dallas Morning News: Six Things Texas Doctors Say You Need To Know Before Your Child Returns To Campus
Later this week, over a dozen school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area — with nearly 57,000 students — will start in-person classes, offering both face-to-face and virtual instruction to start the school year. Other districts will start in the next few days with virtual-only learning, with plans to return to campus in the coming weeks. The Dallas Morning News asked local health experts for their suggestions for parents and students on how best to navigate the return to classrooms. (Smith, 8/11)
WBHM: How Students With Disabilities Would Go Back To School
As schools plan ways to reopen, parents of students with disabilities have an extra layer of concern. Some therapies can't be replicated at home, but going to school might not be the safest option. (Hodgin, 8/11)
AP: What Do The Kids Say? K-12 Students Sound Off On School
Parents have weighed in on reopening schools. Teachers have weighed in. Public health experts, too, along with cities, states and President Donald Trump. But what about the kids themselves? As the grown-ups fret, kindergartners to high schoolers faced with a range of scenarios for virtual and in-person classes are expressing both fear and glee over leaving home to learn. (Italie, 8/11)
Developments in Georgia, California, Hawaii and overseas —
AP: Over 900 In Georgia District Quarantine As High School Shut
A Georgia school district has quarantined more than 900 students and staff members because of possible exposure to the coronavirus since classes resumed last week and will temporarily shut down a hard-hit high school in which a widely shared photo showed dozens of maskless students posing together. The quarantine figures from the Cherokee County School District include at least 826 students, according to data the district posted online. Located about 30 miles (60 kilometers) north of Atlanta, the district serves more than 42,000 students and began its new school year on Aug. 3. (8/11)
The Washington Post: Children And The Virus: As Schools Reopen, Much Remains Unknown About The Risk To Kids And The Peril They Pose To Others
The photos showed up on social media just hours into the first day of school: 80 beaming teens in front of Etowah High School near Atlanta, with not a mask on a single face and hardly six inches of distance between them — let alone the recommended six feet. Amanda Seghetti, a mom in the area, said her parent Facebook group lit up when the pictures of the seniors were posted. Some people thought the images were cute. Others freaked out. Seghetti was in the latter constituency. “It’s like they think they are immune and are in denial about everything,” Seghetti said. (Willis, Janes and Eunjung Cha, 8/10)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. School Board Approves Agreement For Online Teaching
With families anxious about the quality of online learning, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan that will restore structure to the academic schedule while also allowing for an online school day that is shorter than the traditional one. The plan leaves some parents and advocates in the nation’s second-largest school system wanting more teaching hours. There also are parents who want fewer mandatory screen-time hours for their young children — a reflection of the complexities of distance learning and the widespread parent angst over the start of the school year next week at home, online. (Blume, 8/11)
AP: Hawaii Teachers Union Names Schools With Virus Cases
Hawaii’s teachers union said Tuesday that it has learned of nine campuses with recent coronavirus cases and that state officials need to publicize them as instruction is set to begin in less than a week. The union learned of the cases from teachers, Hawaii State Teachers Association President Corey Rosenlee said. (Sinco Kelleher, 8/12)
The Washington Post: Italy’s Schools Are Set To Welcome Students Next Month, But First They Need Millions Of New Desks
The request for proposals is marked "extremely urgent," and it lays out the details of what the Italian government is looking to buy: single-seat children's desks to replace the traditional two-person desks to allow the country to start the new school year with social distancing.But the request is a titanic one. The government wants a rush order, everything built and shipped within the next month. And it wants an extraordinary quantity — 3 million new desks, as many as all the Italian school-furniture companies put together would normally build in five years. (Harlan and Pitrelli, 8/11)
