Today I found myself right in the middle of the most fraught political, social, and educational issue for America: whether or not public schools can or should schools open up in the Fall with an out-of-control pandemic raging all across the country.

I guess there couldn’t be a better place for someone writing about politics to be in this country. I had lunch in Mike Tolan’s office; we talked about how to open the school. Sue Silverstein was there, so was Christine Cioffi, the school secretary.

There are almost too many serious issues to even list, let alone resolve.

And there is little or no coherent leadership from the nation’s leaders to guide Mike, as politicians and health officials battle over who gets to talk about what to do.

Sadly, these issues, so critical to children and their families, have just become another intractable political conflict. We can help provide some of the material things so urgently needed.

I’ve never been in a meeting more fraught, complicated or urgent than the session today at Bishop Maginn High School, where I was invited to see if we could help this small but vitally important institution open up by late August.

It has become important to me as well; the school, working with the Army Of Good, put up a new Bishop Maginn Opening Amazon Wish List this afternoon so they can get the safety equipment and cleaning materials they must-have in the next few weeks to open.

I began the day by ordering six Web Cams for the classrooms so the school can accommodate children whose parents want them to stay home or who have underlying conditions that make going to school dangerous.

With the Web Cams, teachers can broadcast their classes and lessons to the kids who aren’t present or arrange safe face-to-face conferences. Earlier this year, we bought laptops for the kids who need them.

There must have been a hundred things we went over today, and a hundred things for the school to face in just a few weeks. I agreed to join the faculty as an adjunct to continue teaching my writing workshop.

We talked about how to make this safe for me (I have heart disease and diabetes.) But of course, no one can claim there is no risk at all; I understand that. Zinnia will be happy to join me there.

I am confident I can visit the school weekly with Zinnia and teach my writing workshop safely.

She misses those kids. Me too.

I am also eager to help the school get some of the things they need, and glad they asked me to help.

The  Wish List has only eight items on it; the items range in price from $14.99 to $39.40. To open, the school needs disinfectant cleaner, plastic spray bottles, 30 protection hats, two pairs of latex cleaning gloves, reusable household gloves, 15 protective earloop face masks, 12 rolls of paper towels, and some privacy window film strips for meeting rooms and classrooms.

You can see the Wish List Items Here. All of the items should be sent automatically and directly to Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202, 518 463-2247.

If you don’t care to purchase items online, you can send them to me, and I’ll use the money to purchase some of the items.

You can contribute via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, P.O.  Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

All over the country, thousands of school districts are struggling to figure out complex opening regulations and maneuver around the raging political battles that seem to accompany every single thing that has to do with the raging coronavirus.

No one seems to want to take responsibility for opening the schools so soon; everyone has strong ideas on how it should or shouldn’t be done.

I am so glad that I am not a parent with school-age kids, a principal, a student, or a teacher. Everyone is in the dark, rolling some dice to figure out what to do.

It will be tough enough for Bishop Maginn; I honestly can’t imagine how large high or middle schools can do it safely.

The issue is so very complicated. I would think the welfare of children would be one of the things that would transcend partisan politics. I guess there is nothing that can do that.

New York State health officials have given the green light for the school to open, providing the state’s infection testing rate stays below five percent.

Neither the state nor the federal government is offering any financial support.

The schools need to convert their facilities into a virus-free environment overnight. Bishop Maginn has very little money.

Some children are in danger and can’t come to school. Some teachers are older and are afraid of seeing scores of kids every day in close range. Some parents are violently opposed to the school’s opening up while the virus spreads so rapidly, and some parents are fiercely opposed to the schools staying closed.

Teachers everywhere are angry and fearful; administrators are confused and overwhelmed. Fifty percent of the student body will be in the school at any one time.

Each child will have his or her temperature taken when they arrive. Each child will get a fresh paper mask every day.

Any child without a mask will be sent home. Virtual teaching will be offered to any student who can’t come or has a physical reason for not coming. Assignments won’t be on paper; they will be submitted and graded virtually.

The CDC has issued recommended guidelines, but the President has given different instructions. The state has presented its own guidelines. Each school has to make up its own mind and take its chances.

The President and his chief medical expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, are not speaking to one another.

President Trump has threatened to cut off federal aid to schools that don’t open. Most schools say safety will be their primary concern. His ham-handed bullying on so important an issue is not working.

New polls today show that 62 percent of Americans feel it is not safe to send their children back to school in the Fall.

What I feel and see is a staggering lack of unified leadership from the federal government.

But kids need to be in school and  Bishop Maginn wants to open, so I hope we can move through this wish list quickly – time is of the essence. The school is still putting their plans together.

My heart goes out to the families and the faculty. These are the choppiest of waters, and there is a little clear direction for anyone to follow. If the pandemic should veer North again, Bishop Maginn will shut down immediately.

The President sees the opening of schools and vaccines as the two things that will move the economy the fastest in advance of his re-election efforts.

He is urging the schools open and stay open no matter what.

There are lots of hard decisions to make. Mine is easy. I want to help; I want to help get the school to open up safely. The safety signs and stickers we bought earlier are all in place.

I sympathize with the parents; I sympathize with the kids, my heart goes out to the faculty and staff.

If you can help, that would be wonderful. You can see the Wish List and buy things from it here. Thanks.

Note: from left to right in front of the statue the students call “High-Five  Jesus” are Principal mike Tolan and Art and Theology Teacher Sue Silverstein, each high-fiving Jesus. So did I.