Volunteer corps could assist students, parents, teachers

State and local school officials are doing their best to try to return some sense of normalcy to Delaware’s education routine in this challenging time of corona. There are no great answers, just answers that will at least improve on this spring’s troubled experiment with remote learning.

The hybrid model gives parents and students choices based on their comfort levels with coronavirus. Those who choose to attend in-school classes on the part-time basis offered by the hybrid model will be afforded the important social contact – albeit in a masked and distanced setting – that mental health workers say is now sorely lacking, especially in the absence of so many community events postponed or canceled.

There was a time when students itched to get out of school. Now most are itching to get back.

The best news to parents of young children is that elementary students will be able to opt for the five-day-a-week learning sessions so important for building basic reading, writing and math skills as the foundation on which the rest of their education will be built.

Sanitation and good hygiene in schools will be critical. Without constant attention to that, and steady monitoring of student and staff health, the customary spread of cold germs that accompanies return to school could quickly force all schools back to remote learning only. The good news is that strict measures in summer school settings elsewhere in the country are warding off outbreaks, keeping students and teachers safe.

A final component outside the official educational channels also should be harnessed to enhance the effectiveness of this new educational model. Sussex County is blessed with a strong contingent of retirees. A volunteer corps could be tapped to team members remotely with one or two students each to reinforce the reading and math skills being taught each week. Regular sessions would help teachers and give parents some breathing room as they go about raising their children while also earning a living.