Public school teachers in Washington, D.C., lined up “body bags” outside the school system’s offices to protest a possible partial return to the classroom.
Filled garbage bags were tied with duct tape and placed outside along with signs. One read, “RIP FAVORITE TEACHER.” Debbie Truong, an education reporter for WAMU 88.5, posted a photo of the bags to Twitter on Monday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser is expected to decide later this week if the city’s public schools will partially reopen. Parents have been asked to fill out a survey on the matter.
As the start of the school year rapidly approaches, arguments about this issue are being had all across the country.
Some say that children are better off in the classroom, that death rates for children from COVID-19 are very low, and that children are fairly unlikely to transmit the virus to the adults in their lives. Others assert that the data on transmission is still unclear and that the safest thing to do is keep classrooms closed, for now, in order to protect both students and their teachers.
The Trump administration has repeatedly pushed its desire for children to go back to school.
