If teachers are now getting the vaccine, why can’t we go back to school?

At the beginning of the 2020 virtual school year, I completed my homework right after class. I turned on my camera in Zoom meetings. I asked questions. But as the semester wore on and the hope of returning to school diminished, I grew tired. I counted the months — now 10 —that passed since I stepped inside the building of Henry Clay High School. I completed my homework when I had those few and far between surges of motivation. I turned my camera off, as did my classmates. Now, I roll out of bed, log on to Zoom, put my phone on my nightstand, and listen with my eyes closed.

Online school started out well because it was meant to be temporary. But in my eighth month of virtual learning, a schedule of Zoom meetings that was only supposed to last a few months does not hold up well.

The American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit behavioral research organization, reports that online school harms students who need the most help. Virtual learning fosters procrastination, distraction, and isolation. When assignments aren’t due until 11:59 p.m., why start homework at 2 p.m.? Most teenagers simply have not developed the self-discipline required for online school. When students become distracted during school, by their phone, the TV, or a family member, there is no accountability system. Teachers can encourage students to turn on their cameras, but can’t enforce it. A student diligently taking notes looks identical to a student with their Zoom muted. Further yet, online school effectively destroys all the little conversations students have between classes, the lunches where students take a break from studying to socialize, and the time before and after school when clubs meet and students congregate. Discussions are turned into chat boxes, lunches are eaten alone, and isolation intensifies.

As for safety concerns over returning to school, the research speaks for itself. Gambia and Vietnam’s cases rose during the summer, but dropped when schools reopened. South Africa and Thailand fully reopened schools and found no apparent impact on the rise or fall of cases. At an information session held by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Michigan, Dr. Preeti Malani, explained that “data so far does not indicate that schools are a superspreader site.” In Spain, at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Enric Álvarez examined cases in different regions before and after schools reopened. No region experienced a spike in cases with the reopenings. One region even experienced a drop in cases after schools opened. Álvarez explained that “school being opened makes absolutely no difference.”

If reopening schools doesn’t spread COVID-19, and teachers began receiving the vaccine on Jan. 18, why are we not back in school?

In October, the school board was supposed to create a definite plan for returning to school. After their meeting, board member Tyler Murphy tweeted: “The time and effort required to implement less instruction would not be beneficial...There simply isn’t enough time for our schools to design an effective path forward to make a return in November feasible.”

It had been seven months—how had there not been enough time? I didn’t expect a normal return to school, but why wasn’t a hybrid plan at least outlined? I asked the school board the reasoning behind their decision at this meeting, if it had to do with funding, or another issue. Not a single member replied.

In the words of Dr. Fauci: “Close the bars and keep the schools open.” It’s been frustrating to watch all other businesses take precedence over public schools. It’s been frustrating to watch the board postpone returning again and again, instead of creating a concrete plan and sticking to it. It’s been frustrating to watch private school students return to in-person instruction while public school students remain at home. But most of all, it’s been frustrating to pretend to learn, instead of actually learning.

Sarah Clark is a senior at Henry Clay High School in Lexington.