This week, The Daily, a podcast of The New York Times featured a special episode called “Children and Covid: Your Questions, Answered.” The focus of the feature was to help parents answer all their COVID-related questions as they try to make school decisions. The most interesting moment in the episode, however, was a moment where the interviewers were listening to the numerous parent questions, and they admitted every family needs to have different priorities in their decision making process. Take a look:
Interviewer:
“So let’s acknowledge right up front that no two family situations are the same. No two school districts are the same. No two situations are the same with respect to making decisions about this virus.
But I guess what I heard in these questions, aside from what do I do about my specific situation, is some version of a question like, how the heck am I supposed to even make decisions about my kids right now? Is it possible to look at the data and listen to the experts and make a good decision that you can have a lot of confidence in? Or are parents just supposed to kind of fumble their way through it?”
Journalist:
“I guess the guidance I would provide is that I think the most helpful approach is for families to decide together what their top priority is. Is their top priority to keep their child from getting infected with the virus at all costs? Or maybe their top priority is to keep their child from bringing the virus home or passing it on to an elderly or immunocompromised relative. Or maybe their priority is just to make sure that their kid doesn’t fall farther behind in school this year.
And once you decide what that priority is, the rest of your decisions can follow from there. It’s not that the answers then become easy at that point, but I think they become a bit easier if you have a framework like that.”
In other words, the best advice this expert had for families was to consider the individual needs of your family. Don’t try to decide what the world needs to do. Decide what your family needs to do based on your set of family priorities.”
But why would this only be the case during a pandemic? When thinking about the best school options, shouldn’t families be able to consider their priorities every year? Priorities like...
Best resources for a child with special needs
Closest in proximity to home
Most individualized attention
Emphasis on particular culture or values
Focus on arts or sciences
(We could keep going but you get the point)
Every family in America has unique situations, priorities, and children every year. So, why do we try to fit them in a one-size-fits-all system? It shouldn’t take a pandemic to recognize families in our communities have different priorities. All families should be able to make the school decision that fits their needs. But what would that look like? Take a look at options that exist in your community, and learn more about school choice options today.