Closing of colleges: university outbreaks and parental anxiety

Problems with college: parties and fraternities

The coronavirus is already spreading in colleges and universities at an alarming rate – and some of the largest clusters have been at sororities, fraternities and off-campus parties.

The Times has linked at least 251 cases of the virus to fraternities and sororities across the country, including in Washington, North Carolina, Berkeley, California, and Oxford, Miss.

Last weekend, at the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, bars and sidewalks were filled with sorority members and other students who were amused by their ritual of returning to school, sparking the anger of university officials.

“The basic functions of daily life in sororities and fraternities increase the risk of spreading the virus,” our colleague Amy Harmon said.

• The University of Notre Dame announced that it would move to online instruction at least over the next two weeks to monitor a growing outbreak, with a number of cases linked to two off-campus parties.

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is relocating undergraduate classes entirely online due to four clusters of infections, including one in the Sigma Nu fraternity home. “The frats are frats: they have their parties,” a UNC sophomore told The Times.

• At least 165 of the 290 cases on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington are associated with their Greek series.

• At Oklahoma State University, a huge sorority is in quarantine after 23 of its members tested positive.

Even before the pandemic, houses and sorority houses were often semi-autonomous zones with limited university supervision. But individual students bored for parties, instead of building infrastructure for public health, may not be a winning strategy, two professors wrote in The Atlantic last month.

K-12 parents brace for chaos

A large majority of parents have withdrawn to do so only during the pandemic school year, according to a new survey for The New York Times.

• Just one in seven parents said their children will return to full school this fall.

• Four in five parents said they would not have personal help to care for and care for them, or from families, neighbors, grandparents or caregivers, according to the survey.

• Eighty percent of parents who both work remotely during the pandemic will also handle child care and education.

“All choices stink,” Kate Averett, a sociologist at the University of Albany who has been interviewing parents since the spring, told The Times.

In families where both parents have to work outside the home, there are of course logistical challenges. Three-quarters of these parents say they will also have the supervision of their children.

“As parents, we all feel it individually, and because of the nature of this pandemic, it can begin to feel like we’re alone in it,” said our colleague Claire Cain Miller, who wrote about the survey. “But everyone feels it, across all demographic lines.”

The survey found very few differences based on demographic characteristics such as race, location or the age of children. However, mothers do most of the planning, and spend most of their time caring for and educating their children. And parents with more resources had more options, such as taking an unpaid leave or hiring a private tutor or nanny.

In other distance learning news:

Around the country

• On Wednesday, trainers are in Detroit will vote if you want to argue about plans to return to personal learning. Trade unions of teachers in New York City en Chicago I also put pressure on local officials.

• There are more than 1,200 job openings for teachers, bus drivers and replacements Tennessee, a state already dealing with chronic shortage of teachers. Many districts have reopened for personal lessons.

• In Maine, schools provide food for both personal and home students. In New York City, the union that represents, among other things, lunch cooks, puts constant pressure on Mayor Bill de Blasio to delay the start of school.

• One kindergarten in Cleveland, Ohio, is customizable – from toothbrush demos to toothbrushes – to keep children safe.

• Utah told The Times that 200,000 packages of disinfection weeks it ordered for the next school year would not arrive until mid-September, weeks after some districts began a person classes.

• Connecticut’s largest union of teachers recommended postponing the start of the school year, despite the state of the empty case. But in New Haven, some at least want some personal schooling started because not all students have access to the internet or computers.

Tip of the day

Even though classrooms are open, most students in the U.S. will spend at least part of the week online. As a parent, there are steps you can take to protect your children’s health and to maintain a normal life.

Keep your child’s eyes healthy by performing regular breaks and tests as they stare at the screens for hours. Adjusting screen time can also help your child sleep better: bedtime habits have changed worldwide since quarantines began.

Psychologically, it can be difficult not to bleed school the rest of the day. Set up a remote learning space at home so your student can keep thoughts of the classroom out of playtime.

Teachers, how are you?

Terri Ball, a 52-year-old elementary school teacher in Prescott, Ariz., Recently resigned from her job after more than 30 years in education.

“We’re opening too soon,” said Ms. Ball, who has several medical conditions. “I love teaching, but not enough to die for it.”