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No time like now to return kids to school

It’s been almost exactly a year since students all around Ohio were sent home for remote learning due to COVID-19.

Now, at the urging of Gov. Mike DeWine and aided by slowing numbers of virus cases and upticks in vaccination rates, students in many school districts are heading back to their buildings.

We couldn’t have been more pleased to hear this week that Warren City Schools will be among those districts to return to five-day, in-person learning for most students effective March 15. Superintendent Steve Chiaro made the announcement this week, and advised Warren City Schools Board of Education that some three-fourths of the students will return to class. About a quarter of the district’s students will finish the school year remotely.

“Since last March our goal for this past year has been to get our students back into the schools and increasing their time in the classroom,” Chiaro said. “We feel confident we can do this and follow all health and safety guidelines. It is time for us to take a step in this direction.”

Bravo!

Chiaro has always had the intention of getting students back as soon as possible. Now with health and safety rules like social distancing and masks in place, they should feel comfortable with the plan. Teachers will change classrooms, not students, with the exception of physical education, other special classes and advanced junior- and senior-level courses that have fewer students per class.

We are pleased to see this detailed return-to-school plan.

While some may wonder why send kids back to the buildings full-time so close to the end of the school year; we say there is no time like the present.

Indeed, many parents in local school districts may choose to keep their children in remote learning for now, and that should be their decision. But we believe strongly that the schools should be open in order to give these families that important option.

We are fearful about the effects this past year of online learning has had on students. Teachers may be able to see the effects this year has had on both academics and socio-economic issues, and they may be able to communicate it anecdotally.

Still, the fact remains that there will be no clear measuring tool anytime soon. The lack of in-depth school report cards and state testing over the past year have all but eliminated benchmarks that could have analyzed exactly how our students and educators have coped with a year of limited access and online learning in many school districts.

That’s a problem that can be overcome only by getting back to school right away.

There is no better time than now to do that.

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