Thank you for your article. If teachers are essential, then schools must be opened only with an abundance of caution. I understand that everything is not about Donald Trump but I really don't see how anyone can seperate these issues. News editors have made this issue about reelection. However, despite reelection chances, this is an issue about leadership during a crisis. He has called the virus fake news, encouraged states to open early, refused to wear a mask in public, and has said that public schools should open or they risk funding. Since their funding is being jeopardized, how can this not be about Trump? Even if this was his second term, we would have to consider what the leader of the country thinks about such an important healthcare crisis.

And even if we do take Trump out of the situation, teachers deserve to be put in safe environments so that they have minimum spread. How can that happen without it being political since any mention of safety and preacaution creates a dynamic where those opposing advocate freedom.

It should not be a binary choice between safety or freedom. In the end, many of these decisions will be made on the state and local level, especially since the federal government has not chosen a unified method. Some schools may open completely, others will use a hybrid system, while some will open for only online classes.

The path forward has nothing to do with Trump but the history of this issue is riddled with politics and that won't go away.