I think you missed my point. Surely, all schools will have sick children stay home? And notify parents if the children in their kid's class have CoVid? And as teachers go out with CoVid, there's a stop/start while a long term sub or a regular sub is found.
I did not say that was the model. I said that fully in-person school necessarily has those risks. So, both the districts and the parents want that model and think it will work (as opposed to consistency in teachers and daily activities, as happens with online education).
My entire point (and remember, I've been a teacher for more than 40 years) is that even exceptionally good adult students have trouble with constant pivoting. School starts, Classrooms 1-50 are all great the first day. Next day, classroom 27 is home on quarantine. Those kids now have to pivot to online - which on average takes a week. Really, most college and university profs will tell you it takes 2 weeks. The entire first day is spent learning to mute and unmute and half the kids/students never show up as they are unfamiliar with the interface (as are the teachers!)
Then, classroom 27 parents are notified that yes, Kid 27-R has CoVid. Class advised to go for testing, students not allowed back on campus without a negative test (really, it should be an immediate test and then one a week later, obviously). Does the school pay for that? I think not in most models. At any rate, the parents have to take their kids (all their kids, if they're smart) for testing.
2 weeks later, Kid 27-R has tested negative twice. Everyone is called back into the classroom. Yet, unknown to everyone, Kid 27-A actually got CoVid from 27-R two weeks prior, but had just one test and it was too soon to pick up a positive. No one knows about that one, so all of the kids in 27 get CoVid - and all but one merely have the sniffles.
Meanwhile, Room 11 has a kid whose parents tested positive at work and now that class has to stop until Kid 11-B is tested.
And all of this, in this "model" is considered a good plan by the parents. As I said, I think it meets certain social needs and perhaps even some academic ones. But it isn't a good plan for teaching math or science.
I totally get their decision to have their children mostly in school.
But I do think some kids will be very anxious and others, thrilled to have school stop and start (with little accountability for them), and still others will be just fine, as they are self-driven learners anyway.
In all my years of observing distance ed (including such places as reservations or isolated villages), the thing that mattered most (IMO) was consistency. Also, family harmony. Some kids learn really well at home with their families, going about fairly regular lives.
It's cool that families get to choose, but I don't buy the argument that either method is educationally superior. I doubt we'll see much data about this chaotic year, but it would be a great project for a school of ed. grad student in your state.
Sweden actually gave the same options as what you described - they continued with "regular school." Some parents immediately created ad hoc "private schools," which were based on online learning. The demographics of these schools were different (just as I'm betting they will be in any place with these two systems). The only difference is that Sweden didn't give much support to the online learners, although...their existing online learning system is better than most of ours, so, it remains to be seen whether we can do it as well as Sweden.
When people got sick, their communities found out, and people quarantined (a lot) when they found out they had been exposed - it just wasn't required. Here, it can be required (but people don't do it - and no one was made to do it in Sweden, which was my point).
The Swedes are getting through it, their economy is no better than Denmark's or Norway's, and all three nations do not yet have data about education.
Will schools where you are have any ability to enforce CV+ employees or students to quarantine?
If answer is yes, then much less like Sweden.
If answer is no, then very much like Sweden.
(And very unlike, say, Utah).