Arne Duncan is experiencing the novel coronavirus like the rest of us: worried about his family, worried about his community and worried about our country as a whole. But he’s also experiencing it as the leader of community work to reduce gang violence in Chicago, as a managing director at Emerson Collective — one of America’s leading philanthropic organizations — and, of course, as a previous urban school leader and a former U.S. secretary of education.

If the economic downturn due to COVID-19 is anything like the last one in 2008, that means bad news for Nebraska’s teacher pension plan. Bellwether’s Chad Aldeman recommends a different approach. 

Schools should stay open over the summer this year, for the good of students, teachers & schools themselves. If there ever was a year to hit pause on a full-throated summer, this is it. It might be what we have to do to live up to the promise we made to students what seems like an eternity ago — last fall, when this school year started.