Michael Hiltzik: Closing schools in the pandemic was bad. Keeping them all open would have been worse
If there's one aspect of pandemic policy that seems to have elicited agreement across the political spectrum, it's that closing schools and keeping them closed into 2021 was a blunder. The consequences of extended school closures were brought home, vividly, with the release late last month of reading and math scores for fourth and eighth graders, documenting a sharp slide in proficiency since ...
If there's one aspect of pandemic policy that seems to have elicited agreement across the political spectrum, it's that closing schools and keeping them closed into 2021 was a blunder.
The consequences of extended school closures were brought home, vividly, with the release late last month of reading and math scores for fourth and eighth graders, documenting a sharp slide in proficiency since the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Even before then, opinion was coalescing around the idea that the schools should have remained open. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in August, referring to the state's decision to switch pupils to remote learning
