Schools face re-opening challenges; see county estimates of number of infected people likely to arrive in first week

New York Times map; click the image to enlarge it or click here to view the interactive map.

"While the Trump administration threatens to cut funding for school districts that don't reopen in the fall, rural schools try to find the best way to move forward in the era of covid-19 education," Isabelle Lee reports for The Daily Yonder.

Rural schools are more likely to reopen this fall with in-person classes, but that puts students and their families at a higher risk of spreading the coronavirus. Rural schools are at a disadvantage in holding distance learning though, since such areas have less access to broadband internet.

Some rural schools are assembling take-home packets for students to complete and drop off periodically instead of or in addition to holding classes online, Lee reports. When one rural Tennessee school district found that parents were slowing on turning in packets, they incorporated packet drop-off with a local food drop-off program and saw return rates increase.

Lack of funding is a significant hurdle for rural schools attempting to reopen, Lee reports.

Beyond the logistical and financial problems, in-person classes could further the spread of the coronavirus. An interactive map from The New York Times shows county-level projections of how many infected students or employees would likely arrive in the first week of in-person classes.