1 In 5 Parents 'Uncomfortable' Sending Children Back In Fall

RACINE COUNTY, WI — About one out of every five parents said they're not comfortable sending their children back to school in the fall, according to a Racine Unified School District parent survey.

District officials said 4,554 parents responded to the survey, which was conducted online earlier this summer, as officials draw up plans for how school will look in fall amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin.

The district asked parents with children in elementary, middle and high school groups how comfortable they would be sending them to school in the fall.

In each of the age groupings, the largest number of parents said they were "comfortable with minimal to no concerns" about sending their children back to school — representing about one-third of all parents surveyed.

The rest — roughly half — had varying levels of concerns about sending their children back to school, but fell short of having a certain opinion one way or the other.

Survey Results

All figures are in percent.

Elementary School Parents

34 Comfortable with minimal to no concerns.
30 Comfortable, with concerns.
19 Not at all comfortable.
17 Somewhat comfortable.

Middle School Parents

29 Comfortable with minimal to no concerns.
29 Comfortable, with concerns.
22 Somewhat comfortable.
20 Not at all comfortable.

High School Parents

34 Comfortable with minimal to no concerns.
25 Not at all comfortable.
25 Comfortable, with concerns.
16 Somewhat comfortable.

According to survey results, symptom checks, sanitized spaces and a readily-available stock of sanitization supplies were the three things parents said would make them feel most comfortable about returning to school.

The cost of childcare if schools are closed, social distancing including mask use, and the dropoff in educational quality in a virtual setting were the three things that came up the most during the course of the survey.