This is the Coronavirus Schools Briefing, a guide to the seismic changes in U.S. education that are taking place during the pandemic. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.

“The pandemic has shattered the security of the ivory tower,” said Anemona Hartocollis, who covers higher education for The Times. “There will be a sense of urgency about our coverage that we would not have in normal times.”

To open? And when?

Many colleges and universities are delaying the start to the spring semester or are keeping classes fully online in an effort to keep the coronavirus away from campus. Other schools discouraged or delayed travel, fearing students would bring the virus back to dorms and surrounding communities.

But others planned to bring more students back this semester and offer more in-person learning, often despite protests from faculty and staff.

“I didn’t have any in-person classes last semester,” McKensi Bryce, 19, a freshman at the University of North Texas, wrote to us. “This semester, I have three that are face-to-face.”

It is still unclear how the vaccine rollout will affect the spring semester. Depending on the state, college faculty and staff may or may not have priority access. Often, college students, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, are near the back of the queue.

Lessons learned

“Did colleges learn any lessons from the fall semester, as they claim, and will they do things better this spring and next fall?” asked Scott Dodd, a national editor working on education coverage at The Times. “And then, really looking out: What can schools learn and do better for future pandemics?”

Last semester, colleges with mandatory, regular coronavirus testing almost always had an easier time keeping infection rates down. This semester, many schools have tightened testing regulations. One big theme that we’ll be following: tech, tracking and privacy.

“Colleges and universities last fall rushed to adopt all sorts of unproven digital tools like fever-scanning cameras, symptom-checking sites and virus-tracing apps to try to hinder the spread of the coronavirus on campus,” said our colleague Natasha Singer, a reporter covering technology and education.

“This semester, as access to the vaccine expands, I’ll be looking at how schools, colleges and universities are using tools like vaccine passport apps to track the health status of students, educators and other employees.”

Tight budgets for schools and students

Colleges and universities received about $23 billion in the latest round of stimulus, far less than what they had requested. Many schools have laid off faculty and cut entire departments, with more cutbacks still looming.

Students, too, are struggling with pandemic-era financial struggles.

“The virus has worsened disparities in learning and opportunity between the rich and the rest of students, at all levels,” said Shawn Hubler, our colleague who often writes about higher education.

Enrollment has dropped, especially in community colleges, as many people struggle to make ends meet. And some students say they’re not getting their money’s worth by paying pre-pandemic tuition for an online-only education.

“There are moments where it starts to feel like perhaps I will be back in the classroom getting the full worth of my education, and blind optimism,” Amanda Grennan, 20, a low-income student at the University of Southern California who does some part-time work for The Times, wrote to us. “Then there are moments I feel paralyzed by the weight of learning online.”

Changing campus culture

Last semester, parties sometimes shut down entire campuses. This semester, students are likely to be even more fed up with restrictions on normal campus life.

Sports schedules will continue to shift: Expect more game-day delays and prolonged quarantines as the virus continues to rip through programs. And expect graduations, once again, to have much less pomp and circumstance.

Schools During Coronavirus ›

Class Disrupted

Updated Jan. 6, 2021

The latest on how the pandemic is reshaping education.

• • New York City’s teachers’ union wants schools to shut again if the rate of positive virus tests keeps rising. The city is determined to keep them open.
  • Putting teachers on TV is the latest strategy to try to reach students without internet or computers during the pandemic.
  • Congress is sending more money to schools, but Covid-related costs and declining state funding are driving districts toward a financial “death spiral.”
  • Recent graduates are struggling to get hired as one of America’s formerly most stable industries cuts tens of thousands of jobs.

  “I’m in for a very depressing end to my senior year of college,” Sarah Decedue, 21, a college student in Charleston, S.C., wrote to us.

  Chicago’s first day back

  Today, as 6,000 prekindergarten and special education students return to Chicago school buildings for the first time since March, it’s not clear how many teachers will be there to greet them.

  As we’ve covered before, tensions are high between the teachers union and the third-largest school district in the country. Last week, less than 60 percent of the roughly 2,000 teachers who were expected to return to classrooms to prepare actually showed up.

  The union has argued that the city is not adequately safeguarding teachers and students for in-person education. The district plans to test staff once a month but is not doing any routine testing of students. It has also been criticized for setting up cage-like enclosures to isolate children with coronavirus symptoms.

  The union may strike if teachers do not have the option to stay home. On Friday, the district’s chief executive, Janice Jackson, warned that any teachers who stayed home without permission would not be paid.

  Around the country

  College update, football edition

  At 8 p.m. Eastern on Monday night, the University of Alabama will play Ohio State University for the college football championship in Florida. The state will pause vaccinations at the stadium to “accommodate” the game, the coda to a season plagued by virus outbreaks.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” The Associated Press wrote. “There’s nothing to celebrate as college football hobbles to the finish line of a grim season in the midst of a horrific pandemic.”

  The Guardian derided “a season and sport predicated on almost unbelievable levels of harm and exploitation.”

  And The Washington Post spoke with epidemiology experts who are also college football fans. “I was watching a repeated train wreck,” one said.

  In other news: On Saturday, Stanford University scrapped plans to bring the freshmen and sophomores back to campus, after repeatedly affirming those plans, Emma Talley reported for The Stanford Daily, the student paper.

  K-12 update

  New York State will begin vaccinating teachers on Monday.

  Tennessee paused vaccinations of educators in an effort to prioritize older adults.

  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan wants all K-12 schools to offer in-person learning by March 1, if not earlier. She stopped short of saying it would be a requirement.

  The DeKalb County School district, in Georgia, announced a pay raise for eligible employees as students plan to return to classrooms for the first time since March.

  A good read: California has prioritized vaccinating teachers. But teachers unions “have said vaccinations won’t be enough and are calling for additional measures not endorsed by public health experts,” The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

  Quotable: Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate, is drawing heat for considering a run for New York City mayor while living at his weekend home in New Paltz, N.Y. “We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” he said. “Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment and then trying to do work yourself?” (Yes, we can.)

  How to teach the riot?

  We’re interested in how teachers, particularly history, social studies, or civics teachers, are addressing last Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol with their students. If you are talking with your students about this — either in free-form discussions or carefully crafted lessons — please write to us here.

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