Follow experts, not impulses

Once again, Trump bounces from one bad idea to another. Now he wants to push our kids back into the schools while the virus is still in high gear. Spokane schools need to avoid being pushed into caving to outside pressure.

Some plans I have seen bantered around to make schools safer include:

Kids wearing masks and distancing. How do you propose to get young, free-spirited kids to wear masks and stay completely away from their classmates?

Smaller class sizes. Where do the extra teachers and classrooms come from for all the additional classes?

Staggered schedules. Will parents with more than one child be willing to run to the school four or six times per day.

No matter how you do it, hundreds of kids, teachers, administrators, janitorial and cafeteria staff will constantly be in close contact in confined spaces. Trying to ensure all these people will always take the proper precautions will, as they say, be “like herding cats.”

I have three grandkids that my wife and I take care of during the week. I know how much they need to go back to school. I also know that school personnel will do their absolute best to insure the safety of every student. But if the risk can’t be mitigated better than what I am hearing, the stakes are just too high to be pushed into opening schools too soon. School boards need to make sure they follow solid medical advice and not questionable political impulses.

David R. Clark

Spokane