Administration, Vaccination, and Education
By Avani Sethi and Katherine Lamont
From rejoining the Paris agreement to rescinding the Mexico City Policy, the majority of President Biden’s executive decisions so far have just been “… to undo the damage Trump has done,” as said by the President himself. In his first two weeks, Biden has rescinded more than 30 executive decisions signed by President Trump. While the sheer number of his actions may seem peculiar, most presidents’ initial actions in office have to do with changing the previous President’s actions, especially in cases like Biden’s, where both he and Trump were of different parties. Going forward, Biden will likely continue this trend before he sets to work on his own policies. Of the 42 executive orders, he has signed, COVID-19 and healthcare seem to be more than half of his concerns. Even high schoolers and school administrators seem to be more concerned about the new president’s actions, wondering about his decisions to reopen schools and wave the standardized tests.
Of the various issues the country has faced in recent years, COVID-19 is without a doubt at the forefront. Since the pandemic’s rise in the beginning of 2020, the United States has consistently had some of the highest numbers and case rates in the world. As of this article’s publication, the US has a total of nearly 27 million cases and 460,000 deaths. Joe Biden has moved forward with an additional stimulus plan to provide another $1.9 trillion in relief. In addition, he has approved an accelerated course of action for the distribution of vaccines. Now, with access to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines ranging from 90-94% effectiveness, the government has bought another round of doses worth over $200 million in hopes of administering 150 million doses within the first 100 days of the Biden Administration. With such an accelerated plan, things are looking up in 2021 for a slow recovery and reduction in case rates. Since March, the majority of schools have been closed for distance learning and millions of students have faced the challenges of online school. Now with an end in sight, many schools and educators are scrambling to adjust their plans.
After the schools shut down almost a year ago last March, everyone has been anxious waiting for a safe reopening. The Biden administration hopes to reopen schools within its first 100 days. Evidence from the CDC has shown that schools reopening has a very small risk of spreading the virus if precautions are put in place. With masks and social distancing, most in-person schooling can occur with low-risk. The question then goes to indoor sports. In order to prevent disease transmissions, school administrations will probably need to alter or cancel them to insure safety in schools. A CDC study on elementary school through high school from Wisconsin revealed only 7 out of 191 — 4 % — of Coronavirus cases originated from in school transmission. In light of this new information, a small school like ours may be able to reopen safely within the next few months.
As we saw last year, learning safely isn’t the only challenge that we continue to face. Last spring, AP tests were converted last-minute to two question free response exams that could be taken online to account for the sudden spike in Covid-19 numbers. After more than a half a year in quarantine, by October College Board had adjusted their testing routines appropriately. With yet another development in the pandemic’s status, this begs the question of what lays ahead. The SATs, traditionally, are administered at school over a course of strictly scheduled hours. The pandemic, however, has sharply curbed schools’ capacity to safely do this. Instead, this year’s round of SATs will be offered on weekend sessions in centers which strictly adhere to CDC protocol. In addition, College Board will be offering online full-length AP exams come May.
Many school administrators are hoping for the upcoming Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, to waive the standardized tests just like his predecessor Betsy Devos. Based on his latest remarks, “If the conditions under COVID-19 prevent a student from being in school in person, I don’t think we need to be bringing students in just to test them,” it’s beginning to seem like educators may get their wish. But, with the rate of cases decreasing and vaccine distribution increasing, students may just have to wait and stay prepared if they still wish to take standardized tests. If all turns out right, soon schools will be able to reopen safely and administrators will be able to assess students’ status and decide if testing should occur.
Sources:[npr.org, cnn.com, washingtonpost.com]