York joins us to discuss the response to their coronavirus. Later, Michelle Moore talks more michelle ever talks about appointment assistance. In just over one month, School Systems across the country will begin the new school year. That safely is still being developed and debated. Good morning, welcome to washington journal. We will start the program asking about should k12 schools open . If you are a parent of a student, that line is 202 7488000. If you are an educator, that line 202 7488001. For all others, 202 7488002. Look forward to your text, that is 202 7488003. Tell us your name and where you are texting from. At cspan wj. Are take a look at the other news. Question after a conference at the white house attended by Administration Officials, educators, and others, and reported in the wall street journal. White house once glasses to reopen in the fall. The benefits of in Person Instruction for children. School Officials Say more federal funding is needed from congress to operate. They point out that mike pence, theled the task force for coronavirus, said Additional Guidance would come next week, but it was not meant to replace local decisions. In april, the president said he would force states to reopen businesses before backing off the effort. Betsy devos is the education secretary. She was there as well. Reporting on that, this is a political headline. Divorce Blasts School districts that plan to delay reopen blasts betsy devos School Districts that plan to delay reopening. The result was not intensifying teachers with teacher unions and leading school groups. The charge against the Trump Administration is a qom a vacuum of leadership. The dispute leaves the white house deeply at audits with many involved in making decisions in the next few weeks about reopening schools. If you are a parent of a student, that line 202 7488000. Ducators, 202 7488001 others, 202 7488003. [video clip] we all want to reopen the schools. The mortality rate is at a level that people do not talk about. It is down tenfold, tenfold. You are looking at deaths way down from this horrible china virus and it is a disgrace that happened, but it did, and we hope most schools will be open. We do not want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. We are very much going to put pressure on governors and everyone else to open the schools, to get them open. It is very important for our country, for the wellbeing of the students and the parents, so we will be putting a lot of pressure on open schools in the fall. Host should those k12 schools reopen this fall . 202 7488000 for parents, educators,001 for all others 202 7488003. The cdc director issue guidelines. Teachers and school staff, once your school reopens, clean frequently, space desks, creating oneway routes, close communal shared spaces. That is from the cdc director. Mike is first to calling from mike is first, calling from brooklyn. That opening the schools is irresponsible. I am a student myself. I believe if we open the schools, we are not thinking about those of us who live with people who have preexisting conditions or elderly people. I think it is utterly irresponsible. Host how did you finish the Spring Semester . Was that done online . Caller online. I am a law student. It made things more difficult, but we are in unprecedented times so it takes unprecedented measures. To openthere was a rush things back up and now we are seeing the same thing with school. The thing about grade school, there is this new disease, i believe the name is called kawasaki disease seen in smaller children. I think it is irresponsible to open the schools backup. Host the Washington Post reporting yesterday. The quote from the president we went to reopen the schools. K12 school iny the United States closed this spring. The system worked reasonably well, but was a failure in other districts. Colleges and universities also shut down, though their Remote Learning was generally seen as more successful. Now schools are struggling to develop plans for the fall. Rachel is joining us from buffalo, new york. Morning. Ood i work with special needs students. Oneonone they need attention and a little bit more attention, specialized attention, then the mainstream students, but i think it should be delayed. The reason being is because when youre dealing with special i think it has to do with when you are dealing ash little kids, you cannot, it was stated before in the previous report, the idea of take king keeping a mask on and other sanitary measures, if you will, it is difficult for the younger students to grasp that. I am probably not conveying my idea. Host sure. What is the age group you typically work with . Ofler kids between the ages four and 10. They are predominantly autistic. Age, tryingd that to get them to line up straight is a challenge i suppose. Caller yes. I am also including transportation too. Which a lotbuses, of kids do utilize, they are in confined spaces or whatever else and that can be a challenge as well. I do not think they are taking that into consideration. Your area, when with the schools open . I have no idea because the governor was very vague as to that issue. I just pay footnote attention to it and nothing is mentioned. In passing, yes, but nothing specific. I have been off since the 16th of march and i have no idea as to when. There is not even a tentative date. It rightpast years, is er labor day coming before or before . Usually goes until the last week of july and then it is the first week of september, right after labor day. Host thank you for your experience. We hear from a parent, tshirt in seattle. In seattle. Here is my problem. Datave been watching the on what is going on as far as the globally how many deaths there have been. We have seen how many people have been affected. Not same time, we are they are not telling us how many people have recovered. They are not telling us what they have used to recover. They shut down our whole economy. It is like, how many people actually die from the flu . The coronavirus, the coronavirus, the coronavirus. Each symptom is also a symptom of a flu. Are not telling us how this is like allergy season also. How many other people would actually pass away during that time . 3 Million People, out of that 100,000 have died. Did they have conditions . Where they are . Any that. Any of that. Say peoplegoing to have died at of 11 million cases, that does not make any sense to me. Nobody has a cure. Host the wall street journal reporting on the latest figures. ]cases s head a daily record in the hits a daily record in the u. S. The question should k12 schools reopen this fall . 202 7488000 for parents, educators,001 for 202 7488002 for all others. Morning. Ood thank you for taking my call. I do enjoy hearing. Isant to say that i think it wonderful that they are can reopen schools that they are going to reopen schools. The media are finger mongers fear mongers. Think about 100 years ago. We are all going to have situations. Briefly thing is i watched something this morning with a man named danny. He used to be in jail. Journey is dueis to his higher power. Those of us who believe god is positive, have a voice who say, i have got this. Trying to control and saying these people are authority. I just want to say i hate the mask and if you think it is working, how do you tell us that the numbers are going up . It is insane. Thank you. Host from the atlantic, professor of economics and Columbia University professor writes a better fall is possible. Persontes that in education is crucial for so many reasons. Students attending Virtual School have lower test scores and are less likely to graduate high school. Outcomes from emergency alike emergency Online Education could be worse. Schools help detect child abuse and neglect. That is at the atlantic. California on our line for educators. Good morning to ann. I am an adjunct math professor at a twoyear college. Experience, my classroom is packed in is tightly as tightly as possible and their students at every desk. Intel schools can reorganize until schools can reorganize classrooms and take care of things and have the scientists learn as much as they can about this virus, i think they need to weigh and do it and we can do it safely. Did you do sue Classes Online did you do some Classes Online . Caller i have not done it in a while, but i have two High School Students i am a parent of an they are chomping at the bit to go back to school. It is a mixed bag. The online can be done in the well. The teachers at their high school did not quite get the concept of Online Learning. Online learning means you are teaching online. They just kind of gave assignments and let the kids do them. That is not distancelearning. That is not Online Learning. Host any idea for your two High Schoolers if their high school will open up . Caller it looks like they will do some type of hybrid opening. We are still waiting to hear the specifics. Host similar to your experience, a text from susan in new york. I feels, as a professor, large classes should be held online into small labs should be on site online and small labs should be on site. And from texas, will parents have to sign a waiver . Another, my name is leroy. My grandchildren are in school. I think they open up school, i think it should be on alternate days. They should spread those kids out in class and practice social distancing. I am still worried, but it might work. Governor fromhe missouri spoke yesterday at the white house. [video clip] when the president said he was going to put pressure on governors to open the schools up, i will say he can put pressure on you. I will say that. Sometimes we all need a little push to get things going. What the first lady said which he talked about the kids was so important to me as a grandparent, as a father. I think about all the kids that need to be in school. There some that have the privilege of going every day. For a lot of schoolkids, it is a safety blanket, a way to get nutrition, counseling, for someone to help them when they cry out for help. That is also why getting schools back open is so important. If you want to take that one step further, it is about making sure people will be qualified for the workforce of tomorrow. This virus cannot shut down our country down or our states down. We have to deal with it as we would anything else we have dealt with in this country. We have to move forward. An economy and life goes on. Education is part of who we are. Host checking social media. Deborah from facebook says, kids can adapt older kids can adapt. Bill says come of the safety of students and staff is number one. Hoping to feed the ego of the president should be moot. Another, children who do not contract covid19 are less likely to transmit it. Is important that children go back in school, but i must be a planned schedule. It must be a planned schedule. And in ae well planned rotation cycle so they were not too close. Cannot make up for the interaction that teachers need with students. Important, very good planning should the schools open. Host here is scott in douglasville, georgia. Caller good morning. I appreciate the conversation. A greato say i agree deal with the comments of the governor of missouri. I live in the state with a republican governor. I think it is unfortunate that the response to this virus is divided down political lines, which does not seem to make a lot of sense when it is a medical issue, or should be. I firmly believe students should go back to school on a regular schedule. I think one of the challenges guidance of six foot distancing, when you have 28 students in a room, is really not possible for most schools. You have more of a conservative Republican School approach that says open schools, but you have morence that is giving liberal School Boards and leadership the cover to choose not to bring kids back. I think kids need that personal accountability. Host scott, you are in douglasville, georgia on our parents line. What grade are your kids in . Caller elementary and middle school. Middle school has done a better job of distancelearning. When you have more than one child and you are juggling Laptop Computers and time and investment, even parents who are otherwise good struggle with giving the attention to their children. There is a reason that it is better to be in a classroom then to be home for most families. I think we will see a dropoff in performance for all of these kids if we do not get them back to school. Host thanks for calling. Line for parents 202 7488000 , for educators 202 748800 2. 02 748800 still talking about colleges are as well. The National Education association testified on safely reopening schools. Heres what she had to say. [video clip] it has been challenging. Under the best of circumstances, it is frustrating. That is when mom and dad have a laptop or a tablet and it is just kind of annoying. But it can be alarming when you get into communities of poverty where the only technology in some homes was moms telephone and she took it with her to work because she stocked shelves in a Grocery Store. And the kids not even have adult supervision. Our members, americas tocators, have said we had race out and do the best we could to have the meaningful educational experience for the students. Now they are alarmed because they see politicians i know i am talking to some politicians to go making decisions back into the School Without the proper plan to distance, to disinfect, to have the ppe, to how the health to have the Health Checks and testing. No, we have to warehouse those kids. They are not worried that somehow they will be at risk or put their own family of risks, put their teachers in the lunch lady in the gene ater and at the lunch lady and the janitor that risk. Host in the New York Times, minimizing risk. They write that, in demanding the resumption of schools, mr. Trump weighed in on one of the most fraught issues confronting the country as a grapples with the deadliest pandemic in a century. And doctorscators, have urged schools to reopen, that schools remain but concerns remain high. The issuewrites come has enormous consequences for the country and the upcoming election. Home,any children at parents are not able to resume work. Masks, the issue of every opening schools has become more one more battleground in the ideological wars that divide america. On facebook. Corey says, to reopen or not is not the issue because at some point in Person Education should resume. The issue is how do schools reopen. So far, there has not been a clear plan. Sarah says, colleges need to open. They are businesses too. We cannot afford for a huge fraction of our colleges to close. From jude, no. The gop refused to refund the money required to make it safer kids to return. Our kids should be safe. Loretta from cleveland. Good morning. Caller good morning. Good morning, america. Theankly do not understand situation here. Incident will not clear up until we do the testing, until we do the contact tracing, until we do all the things we need to do to control the virus. Is itblem with this sounds like people are ready to send other people back into school so as to save the economy. Do, inow that schools essence, babysit during the day while parents are at work. Backhe economy is on its we have gainedt more cases, more cases, more cases, and i have not seen a site in the innercity yet. I am in cleveland. I think something needs to be done. How can we send it kids back into school and it is only to get people back to work . Host what is your sense of what the Cleveland School system will do . Caller keep it closed. They need to keep it closed until they get the contact tracing, until they do all of the testing because it is only going to grow. Go to harrisburg, pennsylvania and hear from dave who is a parent. Caller i have to agree with the women here, with loretta. They hit the nail on the head. Schoolsow we are making political. The failings of this administration. If we started in february when we should have instead of calling it a hoax, everyone would be further along when it comes to solutions. Dear ability to cope is stagnated when you hear someone at the top your ability to cope is stagnated when you hear someone at the top who does not see reality. Realize wenity to are in digital divides, haves and havenots. If the people who have to go to haveor the same people who gotten the virus. Who will be there to take care of the kids . Workers, frontline workers, and the same city environments that you went these kids to goings these kids to go to school in. T it andof looking a saying ok, these kids can go to school every other day and still. Et their social interactions now these other children who have Online Learning, say, tuesday and thursday, will be digitally enhanced. When something happens again, we will be prepared for it. We are getting the next generation of children the ability to get those jobs that they can for work that they can work from home in. The governor talks about the next generation of workers. You think the harrisburg schools did in their Online Learning . Sporadic. E online was it was not satisfactory to me because i also have children in other districts that are much better off. Involved with checking. We tried to bring this along years ago, to have children tech savvy, giving them a laptop. Something like this happens, it is not a big leap from them to just learn from home. Some of my kids have had Health Issues where they have had to keep up with their classwork from a hospital bed. You saying kids should do parttime online, parttime in person . Caller exactly. Make them two things, tech savvy and give teachers a smaller classroom. Host all right. We will hear from an educator. Sheila from purcell, oklahoma. Cal