SCRANTON, Pa. — The school year is getting closer, and there is still a lot of uncertainty.
Nationwide, experts say no one plan fits all schools. Each district has to come up with one that fits its students, its buildings, and the health situation in that particular area.
A new plan was just unveiled by the Center for American Progress. That plan calls for schools to try to return to buildings for in-person learning but for districts to have a solid virtual learning plan, too.
"A uniform plan for an entire country and even for an entire state is really challenging, we know that there are different virus hot-spots in different communities in different spots in different states, so the public health conditions on the ground are going to be very different so mandating that every school has to reopen in the fall is simply not possible," said Scott Sargrad of the Center for American Progress and co-author of the plan.
Those researchers said in order to make this year a success for everyone, more help has to come from the federal government.
"It's pretty clear that there are enormous new costs associated with reopening like personal protective equipment, with cleaning, heating and ventilation systems all of these things and layer that on top of the massive budget cuts that a lot of schools are going to be facing because of the economic downturn so this is an area the federal government just has to step in and provide additional support."
Experts from the Center for American Progress said whatever plan a school district chooses, it may have to change a few times throughout the year.
Officials will have to keep updating things based on the health crisis.
"They need to be looking at things like the incidence of virus in their community, looking at testing that's available and looking at specific conditions in the individual schools," said Sargrad.