Parents Grow Anxious for In-Person Learning

Fall semester for U.S. schools begins as early as next week, and a wide range of plans are being implemented to deal with continued COVID-19 restrictions. While some schools around the country are staying strictly remote, many are pushing forward with partial in-person classes or full-time classes. A new survey shows parents are growing more anxious about full-time in-person classes as the school year approaches.

A new survey from Gallup shows parents are now 20 percentage points less likely to favor full-time in-person classes for their children than when the survey was conducted in May and June. Just 36 percent of parents are in favor of full-time in-person classes compared to 56 percent a month ago. Those in favor of a mix of in-person and remote learning has remained unchanged, while those in favor of full-time remote learning has grown by 21 percentage points.

Complementary to this data is the growth in parents “very worried” about their children catching coronavirus at school. The survey showed 15 percentage point increase from May/June to July in parents “very worried”, rising to 27 percent.

The Department of Education and the Trump administration have been urging schools to reopen for in-person classes despite a continued rise in case numbers and a huge uncertainty on how COVID-19 will behave inside densely populated classrooms, cafeterias and hallways. School districts will be monitoring the virus closely and can hopefully adjust procedures quickly if outbreaks are detected.