蜜桃影视

The coronavirus pandemic isn鈥檛 the first time in recent memory an outbreak forced schools to close. It was just a decade ago that the swine flu killed thousands of Americans and shuttered hundreds of K-12 campuses in 24 states.聽

Though far less disruptive than the latest pandemic, the 2009 outbreak should have been a 鈥渨ake-up call鈥� that widespread school closures could sweep the nation, said Thomas Chandler, a research scientist at Columbia University鈥檚 National Center for Disaster Preparedness.聽

Most leaders missed the alarm.聽

鈥淭here has been a growing body of research from epidemiologists saying that it鈥檚 not a question of if but when this type of disaster could occur,鈥� Chandler told 蜜桃影视. But leaders across all levels of government failed to envision 鈥渁 pandemic that would go on this long.鈥澛�

At the time of the swine flu and even years earlier, schools maintained emergency response plans to meet a host of tragedies, from hurricanes to school shootings 鈥� including viral outbreaks. But experts said many of those plans didn鈥檛 take pandemics seriously, and those that did failed to adequately envision our current reality: months of campus closures and widespread virtual instruction.聽

Now, as a new school year is about to begin with many campuses still shuttered, the coronavirus has generated renewed scrutiny of schools鈥� emergency preparedness and prompted calls for major changes in the post-pandemic future.聽

Among those who sounded the alarm was Terri Rebmann, an epidemiology professor at Saint Louis University and director of the Institute for Biosecurity. Through lectures and articles, she鈥檚 warned educators for years about the possibility that a pandemic would force widespread remote teaching 鈥斅燼nd urged them to prepare. But she said the concept never seemed to stick.

In a of nearly 2,000 school nurses across 26 states, fewer than half said their district updated emergency plans after the 2009 swine flu outbreak despite major gaps in preparation. While nearly half of respondents said their schools had emergency plans that addressed pandemics, just 4 percent said they conducted drills for infectious disease scenarios over a two-year period. Meanwhile, less than a third of schools stockpiled personal protective equipment like surgical masks and gloves, and less than a quarter trained all staff members on how to apply their disaster protocols.聽

Though no national laws require schools to have emergency plans, the federal Government Accountability Office has observed holes in district preparation for . In , the federal watchdog found that 70 percent of districts maintained protocols on infectious disease outbreaks and only half outlined how to keep district operations afloat 鈥� or how to resume schooling after tragedy subsides. For example, one district鈥檚 plan didn鈥檛 鈥渃omprehensively address鈥� how to maintain continuous operations but noted the possibility of online lessons should campuses close for an extended period.聽

鈥淗ere we are five years later, and it turns out that鈥檚 certainly one of the most important things that districts are wrestling with,鈥� said Jackie Nowicki, director of GAO鈥檚 education, workforce and income security team. 鈥淔olks can make their own judgment as to whether they believe that schools and districts were really prepared,鈥� she said, but figuring out how to offer remote learning over the long haul 鈥� and how to return children to classrooms 鈥� has 鈥渞eally turned out to be where the rubber hits the road.鈥�

Most district plans outlined procedures on how to respond during a range of emergencies 鈥斅爏uch as when and how to evacuate during a fire 鈥� but several factors hindered their ability to maintain them. More than half of district leaders said they struggled to balance the demands of emergency planning with other key priorities like classroom instruction.聽

Despite a federal investment of millions of dollars in emergency plans, the GAO found that the government took a 鈥減iecemeal approach鈥� and that insufficient coordination between agencies may have hindered their ability to help schools prepare for a disaster. Since the GAO issued its report, government agencies have made strides, Nowicki said. After the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, for example, federal agencies partnered that compiles resources on school safety, including recommendations for crafting emergency plans.聽

But are districts using these resources? In the 2016 report, the GAO found that despite the availability of federal help, more than two-thirds of districts hadn鈥檛 relied on it.

During school visits, district leaders said they 鈥渞eally relied more on their state for guidance rather than on the federal government directly,鈥� she said. 鈥淧erhaps some federal standards and guidance were not tailored to their needs.鈥�

But calls states to task as well. Prior to the pandemic, all states except one 鈥� New Hampshire 鈥� had rules outlining how schools should respond to a disease outbreak, but the content and rigor of those policies varied widely, according to the recent analysis by the nonprofit Child Trends. Many states don鈥檛 require school leaders to prepare for issues such as emergency staffing, remote instruction or providing students crucial services like meals.聽

In Ohio, for example, school districts are , but protocols on pandemics are only considered a 鈥渂est practice.鈥� Meanwhile, in Georgia, districts to craft policies that consider the effects an infectious disease could have on school operations, and district employees are required to receive training on containing an outbreak. In Oregon, establishes a school lunch program in the event a pandemic-related illness forces schools to close for at least five days.聽

Although the bulk of schools鈥� pandemic plans focus on strategies to slow the spread of an outbreak, only five states considered distance learning 鈥渙n a wide scale,鈥� said Deborah Temkin, Child Trends鈥� vice president for youth development and education research. Many states considered how to provide services to critically ill students, but none weighed the possibility that on a moment鈥檚 notice, all students would be sent home from school for months.聽

School district plans suggest that many local leaders failed to envision extended campus closures. One Connecticut district鈥檚 plan, published in February as the pandemic began to sweep across the U.S., notes that protocols to maintain school operations during campus closures have 鈥渘ot been determined at this time.鈥� A Colorado district鈥檚 plan, also from February, notes that if students were forced to miss 鈥渟everal days of instruction,鈥� the district would launch a 鈥渞eturn to learning鈥� program to get students back on track and that some assignments could be eliminated.聽

Inadequate preparation has come with consequences for both teachers and students, Temkin said.

鈥淗indsight is always 20/20,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut what we鈥檝e seen across the country is that there鈥檚 been bungled rollouts of virtual learning and, frankly, that teachers themselves just haven鈥檛 been prepared.鈥澛�

Part of the problem comes down to money. Although districts鈥� emergency plans were 鈥渟ort of鈥� helpful when the pandemic became a reality, an inconsistent stream of funding to develop and maintain them hindered their effectiveness, said Jeff Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia. Though canceling in-person schooling and other public gatherings is 鈥渙n page one of the playbook鈥� for responding to pandemics, he said, districts鈥� failure to plan for continuous operations before campuses shuttered 鈥渞eflects the transient nature of our preparedness funding.鈥澛�

鈥淚t鈥檚 very expensive and it鈥檚 very time-consuming to do the type of preparedness to make this as smooth as possible, but I think we鈥檙e also seeing the cost of underinvesting,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he kids who are missing out on educational opportunities are going to be the ones who carry it with them throughout their lives.鈥�

The next wave聽

Though educators鈥� response to the pandemic varied widely, districts that had endured previous disasters tended to fare better when confronted with COVID-19, experts said. Among them is the school district in Miami, which has long maintained an emergency response plan that factors in the possibility of a pandemic and has been lauded for its quick response to the current crisis. The district was also prepared technologically: It already had some 200,000 laptops to distribute among students.聽

鈥淲e were able to obliterate the digital deserts almost overnight by simply deploying the assets that we had at school into the hands of students,鈥� Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an interview. The district bought the devices to combat the digital divide between affluent and low-income students, he said, but it left the district in a better position than others that scrambled to buy and distribute devices after campuses had already closed.聽

Maintaining operations for a long period became a key sticking point as the district braced for schools to shutter. Occupying a coastal city perpetually beset by hurricanes, Miami schools have had to confront interrupted instruction in the past, 鈥渂ut this was at a magnitude we really have not experienced before 鈥� and a prolonged period of time never before seen,鈥� Carvalho said.

To prepare, the district created an 鈥渋nstructional continuity plan.鈥� Before the pandemic, the district had maintained distance learning procedures, but they weren鈥檛 prescriptive, Carvalho said. The new plan outlined attendance policies, remote instruction strategies and grade-level course materials.聽

鈥淲ithin two weeks, we had a second version with accountability for teachers and students and parents, and the state of Florida by and large adopted our plan,鈥� he said. By preparing in advance, the district made its transition to remote instruction relatively seamless, he said. 鈥淥n the basis of access, we were able to guarantee equity from day one.鈥�

Miami was largely an outlier. Nationally, districts botched the transition to online learning, Temkin said. But she said it鈥檚 crucial that districts learn from their missteps.聽

鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 not the question of 鈥榃hat if they would have done this鈥�; it鈥檚 鈥榃hat they should do now,鈥欌�� she said. Going forward, she said, district planning should include educator professional development on online learning, technology access for low-income children and a greater emphasis on addressing students鈥� physical and emotional health.

In the near term, school leaders will need to be flexible as the pandemic unfolds. But as they prepare for the future, they need to think beyond the immediate academic effects, such as 鈥淐ovid slide,鈥� Schlegelmilch said.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 an immediate need to come up with viable educational strategies that are going to be applicable throughout this pandemic, which is nowhere near over,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then, this isn鈥檛 the last pandemic that we鈥檙e going to see 鈥斅爉aybe not even in our lifetimes.鈥�

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