As Boston schools slowly reopen, many parents opt to keep their kids at home

Without a combination of podding, PPE, surveillance testing and enhanced ventilation, it simply isn't safe to be in schools full time.

I'm in a privileged position out heah in the 'burbs; since mid-September my daughter's private school has been open all day for PK-5, M-Th half-day live, half-day remote for 6-8 (F am remote). They repurposed last spring's fundraiser to upgrade the HVAC, and buy CO2 detectors for every classroom (if the CO2 is above X, then open the windows, because any possible virus population will also increase). We have to attest (online) to their health and non-exposure every morning and if the attestation isn't filed your kid isn't allowed out of the vehicle.

We've had to send two grades remote for a couple weeks because of a teacher getting exposed outside of school. Individual students have had to go remote for two weeks because of possible exposure. It's hellish, but marginally sustainable. It's a vast improvement over last spring's all-remote-all-the-time schedule.

Now try to extrapolate that from one small school to a large district, including someone to keep unattested kids off the bus or out of school. Without a serious and possibly insane amount of money, there's no way to replicate this for Boston Public Schools. And with an entirely dysfunctional federal legislature, there is no chance in hell of getting sufficient funding for anything other than PPE and vaccines.

Note: Our public schools in Watertown were harassed by the Baker administration because they wouldn't risk opening with the high rate of transmission. We were right; the Baker admin was effing wrong and has never apologized.