Summary: <br> Last week I was in a conversation with a principal from South Carolina, a member of a Mastermind for Reopening Schools that I have been leading. <br> <br> <br> <br> Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko – Creative Commons No known copyright restrictions https://unsplash.com/@lunarts?utm_source=haikudeck&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=api-credit<br> <br> <br> <br> Each week more than a dozen principals join me from across the U.S. to discuss the specific scenarios unique to their own school communities while beginning the new semester during a pandemic.<br> <br> <br> <br> The principal from South Carolina shared some data from his school with the rest of the group. His school has offered students the option of returning to in-person instruction or receiving their instruction virtually from home. When he looked at the percentages of students staying home, his numbers matched what I had heard from many others, representing around 30% of his total population.<br> <br> <br> <br> Surprising Demographic Data<br> <br> <br> <br> When he broke down his numbers by demographics; however, he saw something surprising. 48% of his black students are planning to stay home while 52% are planning to return in-person. The same trend was present in his Hispanic student population. But when he looked at his white student population, 20% were staying home while 80% had elected to return to school.<br> <br> <br> <br> When I asked him to reflect on these percentages, he told me some feedback he had been observing:<br> <br> <br> <br> First, many of his minority families depend on buses for transportation. Whereas white families were more apt to drive their students to school during a pandemic, some of his minority students did not have that option.<br> <br> <br> <br> Second, many children in the minority families live with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or in families with mixed generation members. Their concerns of infecting older family members seemed more pronounced.<br> <br> <br> <br> Third, many of his minority families have less access to high quality health care. The possibility of infection or hospitalization are leading some of them to difficult decisions in finding care or the fear of facing financial hardship if they do so.<br> <br> <br> <br> Possible National Trends<br> <br> <br> <br> As I have thought about these numbers, I came across a recent article from August 7, 2020 in the Hechinger Report, <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/why-black-families-are-choosing-to-keep-their-kids-remote-when-schools-reopen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Why Black Families are Choosing to Keep Their Kids Remote When Schools Open</a>, by Bracey Harris. <br> <br> <br> <br> In this article Harris explains the similar trends school leaders are seeing in Oxford, Mississippi. She has found data suggesting this may be a trend across the nation. “Almost 70 percent of Black households with school-aged children said they support or strongly support keeping all instruction online, according to a <a href="https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/evidence-base/parents-perspectives-on-the-effects-of-covid-19-on-k-12-education-april-july-2020/">recent poll</a>. Only 32 percent of white parents indicated the same,” Harris reports.<br> <br> <br> <br> As more schools begin to open nationwide, we may find these trends are more pronounced than school leaders realized.<br> <br> <br> <br> These numbers have caused me to think about some of the other statements I have heard about why schools must re-open. Many leaders have reminded us that re-opening schools is the best way to serve our most disenfranchised or marginalized community members. While it is true that our schools are often the best options for providing equity to communities, the emerging numbers may suggest that these same students are the ones most concerned about returning during a pa...
