Summer School is a very bad idea.

The increase in COVID-19 cases isn't over yet. This is April and the number of new cases is still increasing in the USA. Louisiana especially started very late in ending social interaction for the lack of leadership to stop Mardis Gras.

School children love summer vacation and carry out assignments during the summer with reading expectations.

I think states really need to reflect on their failure to protect people such as Florida and Spring Break, too. They need to realize returning to social interaction is slowed because of the lack of leadership to end the danger and isolate the virus from spreading.

If I were a parent of a young child, I would never let them go to summer school until there is a real expectation the children were absolutely safe.

At this time it is best to cancel the rest of the school year and continue the online instruction and expect to return to a 2020-2021 "normal" school year. Anything short of that is foolish.

I think children need to perfect their online instruction skills at this point which is a skill set all by itself. Learning online is very different than in the classroom. There is a lot of distraction at home, however, children are comfortable at home and it can be an added benefit as well. There should be no bullying in the home. There needs to be a nurturing environment and the school systems should be defining what it means to have a nurturing school environment in the home. Sometimes having "Fido" laying under the desk can be a comfort that encourages learning, too. So, parents need to become well educated on how to facilitate learning at home.

April 7, 2020

Summer school, (click here) starting the 2020-21 school year early and customized education plans are among the ideas being tossed around if students end up missing more than two months of classroom instruction because of the coronavirus.

"There is going to have to be something that we do to help make sure that we give kids the opportunity to catch up," said Debra Schum, a former top official of the state Department of Education and a 42-year educator.

"Right now there are not a whole lot of answers," Schum added.

"People are brainstorming to see what are the possibilities."...