There are a lot of moving parts with the coronavirus pandemic and it’s hard to know the best way to reopen schools, writes Maddie Hanna and Kristen A. Graham for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Upper Darby could divide its 12,000 students into groups, then alternate in-person and online learning in half or full days.  That’s one of four plans being considered.

There was “very little guidance” when they first looked at plans for reopening, said Superintendent Dan McGarry. Now people are encouraging the schools to get the students back in class.

The size of Upper Darby School District won’t make that easy, particularly at the 3,800-student high school where spacing students even three feet apart would be a challenge.

In the cafeteria, 1,000 students go through there at a time, exceeding Pennsylvania’s group gathering limit of 250 people.

Upper Darby is keeping a virtual option for the fall but a shortage of teachers could mean students working remotely on their own, “not the best virtual learning environment,” McGarry said.

There are other concerns. What to do if a student won’t wear a mask? What to do if staffing falls short?

The coronavirus “was real here. Social injustice has happened,” McGarry said. Schools “need to be equipped for both.”

Read more about school districts’ reopening dilemma here.

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