Parents hoped they could safely send their children back to school this fall. The Delta variant of COVID-19 has dashed that hope. What’s worse, families have found themselves thrust into a war over face masks. Those who don’t want their children to be forced to wear masks all day might reside in districts with mask mandates. Those who are worried about their children being around unmasked and unvaccinated children are just as likely to wind up in mask-optional districts. School board meetings across the nation are erupting into shouting matches, parents are protesting, and many are likely to simply withdraw from public education.
The mask war has yet again highlighted the folly of assigning children to schools based on their address. According to the National Household Education Survey (NHES) administered every other year by the U.S. Department of Education, just 69 percent of K-12 students attended their assigned public school in 2016 — before anyone knew of the havoc a pandemic could wreak. As that percentage continues to creep down, the powers that be are clinging to an antiquated system of drawing circles around buildings to determine where and how children are educated . . . but they’re losing their grip.
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