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Whether or not to return to in-person classes this fall was an easy choice for Christi Tennyson and her daughter: Her daughter would be attending her eighth-grade year of school online this fall.
On July 20, most of the region's schools announced how they will reopen. The majority—including Tennyson's home district, Francis Howell—are offering families a choice: either in-person or virtual. The in-person options include a traditional five-day week or a hybrid with a rotating schedule, with the possibility of classes going completely online. An increasing number of districts, including Hazelwood, Saint Louis Public Schools, Clayton, and Kirkwood have announced they will start their fall semester with entirely online classes.
Decisions over whether schools should reopen have spurred debates nationwide. While some leaders call for schools to reopen completely, many teachers—including those in St. Louis—have staged protests and voiced their concern about unsafe conditions. Others, though, say returning to in-person may be the best option for their students after online learning proved to be difficult last semester.
But what are the parents thinking?
For many, the situation has created a complicated mix of emotions. Tennyson says it's an "impossibly hard" decision, but she believes reopening is irresponsible for students and teachers alike. "I appreciate that the board is trying to navigate a very sticky and ugly situation, but I don't think it's fair to the teachers," she says. "Particularly when case counts in Missouri, and particularly in St. Charles County, are far higher now than they ever were when the district originally shut down."
She's right: On April 9, the day Governor Mike Parson ordered all schools in the state to close, St. Charles County reported 20 new cases and Missouri reported 217. By the end of July, the county was reporting more than 50 new cases a day; the state reported more than 1,900 new cases on July 29.
Still, in survey data released by several districts, the majority of parents responded they would prefer to return to in-person classes. A Rockwood School District survey reported 74 percent of its families said their students would return to fully in-person classes. (It's important to note the survey was conducted in June, when increases in cases were not nearly as severe as they have been in July.)
For some parents, online schooling just isn't an option. School may have acted as childcare while they worked full-time jobs, or their kids may have struggled to learn virtually. Whatever the reason, there are families across districts advocating for in-person classes.
Gina Evans, whose third-grader goes to school in the Francis Howell School District, is one of them. She needs the childcare the school offers, both during school hours and after.
"I can't afford to stay home all the time. I've been home for the past couple of months, but it's really hard," she says. "I learned that I value [being home], I wish I could stay home with [my son] because that would be awesome, but [his father and I] just don't have the types of jobs where we can decide to work from home and do that for however many months we need to."
Besides, her son would prefer to be back in the building. "He does better in school, he loves his friends, he actually really likes to be at his school," she says. "I think he just does better overall in person."
Cindy Walters, also in the Francis Howell School District, has her own reasons for choosing in-person classes. Her 10-year-old daughter has autism and is primarily non-verbal. She thrives on structure and scheduling; any changes in her routine are difficult for her to handle. When schools went online halfway through last semester, Walters explains that her daughter just couldn't do the same learning from her desk at home as she could in a classroom.
"It's really hard because I'm scared about getting sick, but for [my daughter], it's just kind of necessary," she says. Although she says she's ultimately happy with the district's decision, she's worried about what will happen if schools needs to close again due to an outbreak, forcing her daughter back home and right back into the situation she's trying to avoid.
"I kind of wish it would have been a different option, that they would have focused on getting those kids that have to be back in school, in school, and then offering other things for other kids," she says. "I know there are so many families that are like, 'No way, I'm not sending my kids back; they're doing virtual,' and I would probably be on board with that if it wasn't for [my daughter]." Although her sons could stay home this semester, she says she offered them the choice and they both decided to go back.
Erin Joy, a mother in the Clayton School District, says that for her, it comes down to a balancing act between mental and physical health. Her daughter is going into fifth grade this year and was assigned her favorite teacher, who she'd already formed a strong connection with. She was also looking forward to having some of her best friends in her class. Online learning would mean missing out on these social opportunities.
"I love the idea of my daughter being connected with her community, being with her friends and being with her teachers, and the school faculty she has grown to love," Joy says.
But she still worries about the effects of the virus. "One of the things I am most concerned about is the instability that is likely to occur with an in-school experience. I don't see any way that there's going to be stability in the classroom once the first child has a stomach bug or sneezing or coughing or any of the COVID symptoms, which may or may not be COVID," she says. "And the whole thing is, of course, backlit by the concern about safety, period."
With schools having closed early in the pandemic, it's difficult to be sure about how kids could be affected, though outbreaks have already been seen in summer camps, such as the Kanukuk K-2 camp in Missouri.
Jill Hickman, who has kids going into ninth and fifth grade, has a clear-cut perspective: Her kids will be learning online, no matter what. As far as mental health goes, she believes the stress of sickness and possible school closures will be worse for kids in the long run. She's not willing to take the chance of her kids getting sick.
"My children are not test subjects or guinea pigs," she says. "Until we know more about the effects of this virus, both long and short term, we should not be cramming a bunch of people into small spaces to see what happens."
What it comes down to, though, it's what's best for that student and family. In the end, no one else can make that call. When Tennyson's daughter immediately said she didn't want to go back, Tennyson knew that was what was right for her.
"I'm not here to judge [other parents]," Tennyson says. "I'm just choosing what I think is the safest option for my family and my child."
