That's a troubling thought down here in eastern Georgia, where it has been in the high 90F (35-37C) range for the past few weeks, with heat index north of 100F (38-40C), and no shortage of humidity. And that's not even remotely as bad as it gets closer to the Gulf coast.<p>And it stays pretty unbearable until late October or so.<p>Yes, I know the article wasn't insinuating that the entire country, regardless of climactic region, should hold outdoor classes. But enough of the US sits below "unbearable" latitudes enough of the year that I don't think this suggestion has much applicability beyond what is explicitly considered "the north". Besides, I've been to New York City in August and September before; depending on the day, the heat, and especially the humidity, can give the South a run for its money.
Speaking as someone who:
1) lives in a Sun Belt state (Texas)
2) went to grade school in an un-airconditioned building<p>Yes, it could be done, and should be considered. However, school years used to start at Labor Day, for this reason, and there were a lot of serious metal-bladed fans to make it bearable. Even outside, you would need shade (perhaps canopies?) and fans.<p>It was also a lower population density than modern urban schools. All that body heat makes a difference.<p>However, definitely worth considering, and in many non-urban areas I believe it could work.
When I was a senior in high school I made a point of asking our English teacher every day if we could go outside. Rain, shine, snow, whatever. It became a running joke. Finally, towards the end of the year, on a lovely Spring day, she agreed we could go outside.<p>But there was a catch: we had a pop quiz. 20% of the grade was some question about a book we read. The other 80% was to write a short essay: Explain the educational benefits of going outside.
This is precisely what my children's school is doing right now, and consequently they've had much greater adoption from parents of sending their children back to school. 75% vs the county average of 33%.
large pavilions with picnic tables, lighting, and fans works well and we should be building them all over our communities.<p>They're cheap to build, keep everyone dry, shaded, and reasonably cool. It's obviously not as good as air conditioning, but I've worked under them when on a camp staff in central Georgia during some extremely hot summers in the '90s (and the 90s/100s F) and it is tolerable for most people.<p>Brief research tells me the construction cost is generally under $25k which is a blip in most education budgets. As a bonus we have more outdoor community space when we manage to get past this.
Some good ideas exist in this article. I could see this strategy implemented in my district as one of several starting in the Fall. But it's not going to be easy.<p>I'm in New England. The sheer number of students and the percentage of them who have inadequate Winter clothing and food would make the strategy impossible to implement as a one size fits all approach.<p>A quick search shows that my school district has 10,479 students. The number of students on free or reduced price lunch is a good indicator of access to adequate Winter clothing as well. We have 44% of the students on free or reduced price lunch. To implement a strategy of windows open or outdoor classrooms, we would have to account for 4,610 students' Winter clothing needs for temperatures ranging from 0F-55F.<p>Some communities have much higher percentages of students on free and reduced price lunch. A quick look at a neighbor city 15 minutes' drive to the north shows 95% on free or reduced price lunch.<p>Districts less affected by poverty could probably implement an outdoor or windows open strategy. But a mountain of logistics exist in trying to implement in communities like mine. Unfortunately, in our county, communities like mine are the norm.
Traffic noise is a problem for many schools in urban areas — another reason you don’t want to open windows or teach outside.<p>Moreover, some schools have only small 100% paved outdoor areas.<p>Example:
Ánimo Westside Charter Middle School (funded by Gates Foundation)
<a href="https://goo.gl/maps/Wn2bu5kkh97Ygqt88" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/Wn2bu5kkh97Ygqt88</a><p>Nearby public elementary school adjacent to nature area, with ample unpaved space, somewhat less noisy, bit still problematic.
Playa Vista Elementary
<a href="https://goo.gl/maps/tydUVn1X9ppB7p699" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/tydUVn1X9ppB7p699</a><p>(Not complaining about charter schools, but this is an interesting juxtaposition, unrelated to the main point of this topic.)
Can one seriously compare COVID-19 to a TB plague? Especially in context of schools where mortality rate for the school aged appears to be less than any seasonal flu on record.
Obviously, easier said than done, especially for urban communities.<p>But I bet students could have better learning outcome, considering that indoor space are often poorly ventilated and have an excess of CO2
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/health/conference-room-air.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/health/conference-room-ai...</a>
This is just a Red Herring. The solution is not outdoor classes, redesigned schools or open windows but good governance. American's have convinced themselves that electing smart people who are skilled at government is a bad thing and that electing populist morons who will say anything to get elected is the path we should be taking. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, Americans would not be in this situation and we would not be taking about these pointless side issues. The US would have dealt with this pandemic issue months ago and not talking about these Red Herring pointless topics. Just a distraction and chasing miracle cures that don't exist.
Also, the fact that many schools in the US have classes with no windows should be made illegal, when I first heard about that I thought it was a joke (until I saw some photos). The communists did a lot of things wrong in my country when they came to power after WW2 but one of the things that they did do right was to build lots and lots of new schools, and every one of the classes in those schools had big windows by mandated design, not just as an afterthought.
So students should be expected to operate in hundred-degree heat? It's well-know heat harms focus and productivity. This is fine for kids in new york who can just bundle up against the cold, but one can only do so much against heat in places like Texas where temps can top 110.
It is unhelpful to only look at risks due to covid without looking at those risks in comparison to others. Optimizing for least covid problems may cause death or morbidity due to other things to actually cause more damage.<p>Hospitalization rates in the US for covid is:<p>0% for 10 and under<p>.1% for 10 - 20<p>In the US, the number of deaths for covid is:<p>20 (total!) for 0 - 14<p>125 (total!) for 15 - 24<p>By comparison, suicide caused 514 deaths for 10-14 year olds, and 6500 deaths for 15-24 year olds in 2017.<p><a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml" rel="nofollow">https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml</a><p>By comparison, the CDC estimates that around 600 children died of the flu in 2017/2018.<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/children.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/children.htm</a>