The State of New York has given itself two more weeks to ponder that question, having asked each school district to submit a re-opening plan by August 1.

Parents have a right and a need to know as soon as possible whether or not their children will be in a classroom or at home in front of a laptop - or perhaps some combination of the two - come September. Working parents who may have gone back to work themselves will need to arrange for childcare or perhaps coordinate school drop-offs and pickups. There are also a myriad of other concerns to be addressed, like making sure the classrooms and the buses are clean, social distancing guidelines are met and what to do about physical education classes that require use of locker rooms and whether it is safe to prepare and serve meals during the school day. Also at stake are the athletics and extracurricular activities that are deemed important in the education of a child. Plans need to be made for athletic physicals and to coordinate the start of fall practice. Finally, the safety needs of non-students must also be addressed: teachers, administrators, clerical staff, lunch providers, bus drivers and the parents who come to pick up their child at the end of the school day.

Compounding the sense of urgency is President Trump’s threat to cut off federal education funding for those states that don’t open the school buildings. Is that edict open to interpretation if, for example, the kids are in school for something less than five or six hours per day or five days per week? U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said that without specific federal funds New York schools might not be able to reopen safely come fall. Schumer is pushing for $175 billion for K-12 schools across the country.

At the very bottom of all of this is that very fundamental question: do the educational rewards for bringing students back into the classroom outweigh the health risks of this pandemic that appears to be far from over?

We have precious little time to decide.