Since January, there has been mounting pressure on school administrators to reopen their schools to in-person instruction.  One compelling factor is that nearly half of America’s students have not been receiving any in-school instruction and students are increasingly receiving failing grades and falling behind in curriculum content. In addition, there have been public reports warning that COVID-19 is having a “devastating impact” on children’s social and emotional development.

Moreover, the pressure has been coming from powerful quarters. In his inauguration speech, President Joe Biden proclaimed that “we can teach our children in safe schools” (this despite a striking uptick in COVID cases at the time) and more recently pledged to open most of the nation’s schools during his first 100 days as president. For its part, the Center for Disease Control published an inauguration day report emphasizing that the COVID spread seen in other high-density work areas “has not been reported in education settings in schools” and has generally championed the opening of schools. Even the president of the nation’s most powerful teachers’ union, Randi Weingarten, has pledged to get students back in classrooms. “We have to get this done,” she told the New York Times in February.