To quote New London school board member Brian Doughty, "Every family is thinking about this right now." Yes, and every teacher, school bus driver, staff member, state and local administrator and health official is also thinking about whether, how and when to reopen schools.

The state Department of Education gave comprehensive although conditional guidance to K-12 schools in its "Adapt, Advance, Achieve" plan, issued at the end of June. The bottom line is this: Children should be in school, not only for their education but for long-term well-being and social-emotional learning.

Nonetheless, as we have all learned, a pandemic has its dangerous highs and milder lows, varying from extremely unsafe conditions of contagion to relatively manageable risks. Thus the state education department is asking school districts to prepare for a full reopening this fall if health officials agree that is reasonable when the time arrives next month to decide. Not that this will be a return to familiar ways of eating lunch, taking phys ed, moving through the hallways or a thousand other practices that were taken for granted. It means a highly orchestrated school day for students and teachers, from bell to bell.

And if the risks rise to moderate levels as determined by health officials, schools must have planned accommodations such as staggered class schedules and modified busloads. Finally, if in-school classes must be cancelled as they were last spring, schools need to be ready with "blended learning," defined as "online digital media with classroom methods." In other words, as much like school as possible at each stage. By Friday all schools in Connecticut, public and non-public, are due to file a plan with the state Department of Education.

Many parents face dilemmas over whether to send children to school or how to handle at-home studies if they do not, and what to do if they must return to work. Yet children benefit from classroom education and social interaction. Preparing a range of options and accepting that remote learning will have to be a component seems the prudent course for schools this fall. We agree with the efforts of the education department and its many educational and public health partners behind the thinking in the state plan; this is the way to go.

There will be some risks, as there have been to frontline workers who kept the grocery stores open and to first responders. It is not reasonable to await a time of no risk. Instead, mitigate risk. For teachers who identify themselves as medically at risk and families that are uncomfortable with having their children in school, the state wants schools to be ready with alternatives, such as assigning them to on-line lessons.

Last spring there was not time for preparation, but now preparedness is key. That was Lesson One from the real-time education we all received. Lesson Two was that trying to substitute remote learning for classroom time put the inequalities among Connecticut children into stark relief. Access to high-speed internet, even with a donated laptop or tablet, was often impossible. At the same time, the COVID epidemic disproportionately infected and killed people of color and their families and inflicted more job losses and economic hardship on them than others. Connecticut's plan pledges "equity, access and support" to those communities.

Obviously, it will cost schools large sums to purchase protective gear, modify bathrooms and lunchrooms and provide dual learning systems for children in school and to those who parents want home. The state association of school superintendents, CAPPS, is working on bulk purchasing, among other cooperative efforts. Still, New London alone is estimating $2.5 million, only partially offset by funding from the federal CARES act.

Under Connecticut law, boards of education have the ultimate right and responsibility to make decisions for the schools they oversee, but in practice they rely on federal, state and local partners for support of all kinds. Parents are key partners in their children's learning — never more than the past semester. Throughout the pandemic, cooperation at state and local levels and from the public has worked well for Connecticut. We see that kind of leadership in the return to school guidance from the education department, promising a much better fall than spring for the children of Connecticut.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.