Dayton Reporter

Danea Connolly, a Dayton mother with two children attending school in Montgomery County, hopes that in-person learning for all will return soon.

In July, she was happy when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement containing data that indicated it was appropriate to allow students back into the classroom.

“Parents are understandably concerned about the safety of their children at school in the wake of COVID-19. The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Death rates among school-aged children are much lower than among adults,” the CDC noted in a statement. “At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant.”

Connolly believes that eLearning has been lackluster and agrees with the CDC that students thrive better when physically inside of the classroom.

“ELearning has been a bit of a pain. Especially last year. Teachers were not organized and many did as little as possible. Getting answers to questions is still difficult, training was not impressive, and you are pretty much on your own with ours,” she said. “So it’s more like an adult learning platform than one for children. No video teaching at all. I think it may be harder for those with kids who want to fight about doing the work.“

Currently, Connolly has one kid learning in-person and one in an eLearning program.

“One son in school. He is fine. Don’t think he thinks much about it at all. [My] other son [who is] online, I think he is ready to be back with other [students],” she said. “He is improving his study habits I think. I didn’t know I would have to be the teacher, partly.”

Some residents feel that the issue of schools reopening during the coronavirus pandemic has been turned into a political football with a sense that bit is going to be tossed around until the November presidential election.

“I don’t think it’s going to benefit any in the long run. It just prolongs the contact until November. And we already have a flu season to deal with at that time. Those most susceptible will continue to avoid contact,” Connolly said.

With the flu season approaching, parents have been asked whether they believe the seasonal flu is comparable to the coronavirus. Some, however, suggested schools maybe should close during the flu season. Connolly hopes that does not happen.

“I hope not. I don’t know that one is more dangerous to the other for children without an immune-compromised system, but neither is very dangerous to children. I believe masks may become more prevalent,” she explained.

The unions that represent teachers have become increasingly concerned regarding the safety of teachers if they are required to return to the classroom. Connolly says she understands the concerns, but leaving in-person learning out of the equation is excessive.

”I’m not a big fan of teacher unions, but I understand the concern,” she said. “I think not having school may be excessive, but I think that if a teacher needs to be away from high contact areas, the school should be understanding of that.”