VOA慢速英语--关于学校重新开课的争论让美国社会产生分歧

The Decatur, Georgia school system, near the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is in a community full of health professionals.

Decatur is a politically liberal area outside Atlanta. Many public health and medical professionals in the community gave suggestions about how schools should operate during the coronavirus crisis. Yet, deep divisions between the parents appeared.

The disputes in Decatur demonstrate the issues many American communities have faced while trying to decide what is safe and acceptable for schools in the middle of a health crisis.

Disagreements

Parents in the Decatur school system had different ideas about reopening schools.

One emergency medicine doctor said early reopening plans for the system's 5,000-plus students were not safe enough. A doctor doing work for the CDC suggested reopenings should be delayed.

Others, including a leader of the CDC's COVID-19 vaccine¹ efforts, argued the district could get students back in classrooms safely. They suggested that not returning students risked their development and mental health.

David Dude heads the Decatur school system.

"The challenge for me has been trying to weigh all of these things that I'm being told by experts and non-experts alike to try to make the best decision that we can," he said. "And that's what I, and I'm sure other superintendents³, have been struggling with."

Superintendent² is the term used to describe the head of schools in a particular area in the United States.

Science and political questions

In the school reopening debate, each side argued that data and science supported their view. The debate sometimes became angry and unpleasant.

Health officials say there is growing evidence that children are not the main drivers of community spread. Virus spread is fairly low in schools where mask-wearing, social distancing and contact tracing are in effect. The CDC says that for schools to open safely, they and their surrounding communities must take preventive measures.

But without clear reopening rules from federal and state leaders, school officials have had to consider the science themselves, Dude said.

When Dude released a reopening plan for the fall, some parents and teachers questioned whether it was safe. When he stopped the reopening, other parents got angry, criticizing the quick change. Some suggested online schooling⁴ was not something that could work for long.

Tiffany Tesfamichael is a single parent who moved to Decatur because of the schools. She was concerned about neighbors who were against opening schools, but did not oppose opening businesses.

"Why aren't they out here with signs protesting restaurants if they really, really mean it?" she said.

Dude ended up asking a large group of volunteers to make suggestions for reopening schools.

He then decided⁵ on a new plan for January. The plan called for younger students to attend school for part of the day in small groups. Older students would continue with online learning.

Some CDC employees and other health professionals objected to part of the plan. They argued in a letter to a community news website that safe, in-person learning was possible for older students if the right preventive measures were taken. They suggested that decision-makers were misreading evidence about virus spread in schools.

A hospital doctor treating COVID-19 patients sent her own letter, warning that reopening schools as cases increased would be irresponsible.

Lasting⁶ disputes

Around Decatur, people tried to avoid the issue in everyday discussions with their neighbors. But the disputes continued during school board meetings and on social media.

In a Facebook group for parents, the disagreements got so bad that some users said their social media posts had been shared with their employers by others trying to insult them.

Kerry Ludlam is a parent of middle school students in the Decatur school system. She worries about the discussions yet to come.

Ludlam said people insulted each other from behind their computers, "forgetting that at some point, the world is going to get back to normal..." she told The Associated Press. "And we're going to have to face the things we said to each other and the things we accused each other of," she added.

Words in This Story

challenge – n. a difficult task or problem : something that is hard to do

mask – n. a covering for your face or for part of your face

contact tracing – n. the process of identifying people who may have come into contact with an infected person

board – n. a group of people who manage or direct a company or organization

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

3 superintendents   

警长( superintendent的名词复数 )； （大楼的）管理人； 监管人； （美国）警察局长

参考例句：

• Unlike their New York counterparts, Portland school superintendents welcomed McFarlane. 这一次，地点是在波特兰。
• But superintendents and principals have wide discretion. 但是，地方领导和校长有自由裁量权。

4 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。