Schools face tough road to fall opening

Just weeks before fall classes are scheduled to begin, school districts across the country are racing to implement new measures meant to protect teachers, students and parents from the coronavirus.

But as they prepare for socially distanced lunch hours, constant hand-washing and possibly even staggered attendance to minimize the number of students in the building at one time, education officials are watching with concern as schools in other nations become epicenters of new flare-ups.

Nearly 100 schools in Israel shut down in early June, after students or teachers tested positive in the weeks after the nation reopened its education facilities. A week after France reopened about a third of its schools, dozens of students tested positive and some institutions shut down once again. And in South Korea, hundreds of schools were open for just a few days before the Ministry of Education ordered them closed.

More