To open, or not to open, that is the question (apologies to W. Shakespeare). This is a not trivial decision governments the world over are currently trying to grapple with. In the US Trump has threatened schools with cutting funds if they do not comply, and similarly in the UK, Prime Minister Johnson insisted that the reopening of schools, many months after no physical on-premise classes, was now the “national priority” of the government. Non-teachers might well be wondering whether this is a case of political expediency rather than looking at the potential health risks. According to the National Education Union in the UK, “School staff are, uniquely, being asked to work in classes of 30 or more children – with neither social distancing or PPE and often in rooms with poor ventilation”. It is scant consolation that primary school age children, thus far, according to the Guardian newspaper, “tend to be either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms when they contract Covid-19”. This factor ignores the potential peril for teachers, in particular older ones or those with a prior (even mild) medical condition. If schools do open then, if they use Escudo Web classroom management software, at least they will be protected online from inappropriate content. If they attend partly at home and partly at school but use our software they are similarly protected and the teacher can still manage effective classes and keep children on-task, being able to see a thumbnail of each child’s desktop and share URLs and much more.
