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Loss of skills since schools were shuttered in mid-March is one big issue that families of children in special education — more than 80,000 statewide — are grappling with as a new school year dawns against the backdrop of a pandemic. And while all families have to navigate the changes wrought by COVID-19 — from hybrid learning to social distancing in the classroom — special-needs children face even greater challenges. (Pagones, 8/17)

More time in front of screens, whether for school or for fun and connection, can result in eye strain, fatigue and headaches, but experts offer simple ways for parents to protect their kids’ eyes during a time when screens are a bigger part of everyday life. (Hoover Greenway, 8/17)

As schools start remotely across the Bay Area, working parents are under inordinate pressure. Although some dads have stepped up to care more for kids, mothers are disproportionately bearing the responsibility for child care, and their careers are more likely to suffer collateral damage in the pandemic economy, experts say. National data show more women than men lost jobs as the economy shut down, dropped out of the workforce voluntarily, and took on more child care responsibilities. (Moench, 8/17)

A recent Washington Post-Schar School nationwide poll found that 50 percent of working parents said it would be “harder” or “impossible” to do their jobs if their children’s schools provide only online instruction this fall, while 50 percent said it would have no effect. Not surprisingly, working parents with younger children expected the greatest disruption, with 66 percent of those with a child entering kindergarten through second grade saying all-online schooling would make it more difficult or impossible for them to do their jobs, as did 60 percent of parents with a child in grades three to five. (Heim and Clement, 8/17)

Like Mendoza, parents across the country face tough calls about sending children back to the classroom or trying remote learning. For North Texas families whose jobs don’t allow working from home, online learning just isn’t feasible or is barely manageable. Others are rearranging schedules or leaning on relatives. It’s a balancing act for parents to help their kids learn while they’re also working to cover food, rent or mortgages, and the other costs of daily living. Those parents who can’t work remotely worry both about helping their children keep up with lessons and about protecting their kids, and themselves, from the virus. And as the sole breadwinners, single parents in that situation are doubly challenged. (Branham and Garcia, 8/17)

A Kansas high school teacher created what is believed to be the first national database tracking the effects of COVID-19 in K-12 schools, which has now chronicled the spread of the virus at more than 700 schools. What began as a personal project to assuage her anxiety about students returning to the classroom turned into a crowd-sourced database manned by around 35 volunteers, Olathe High School theater director Alisha Morris told The Washington Post.Morris told the Post she believes it is the first national database on school outbreaks. It includes schools in 41 states, as of Monday afternoon. (Bikales, 8/17)

The Los Angeles Unified School District on Sunday unveiled a plan to provide regular COVID-19 testing and contact tracing to school staff, students and their families. The plan will begin Monday in a measured fashion, with the first test provided to staff already working at schools and their children. The program will then be expanded to provide testing to all staff and students over time, with a goal in the early phase to establish a baseline, the district said in a release. (Klar, 8/17)

Coronavirus cases are already surfacing in K-12 schools that have reopened, but the federal government is not tracking these outbreaks, and some states are not publicly reporting them, making it more difficult to determine how the virus is spreading, experts say. Scores of students and staff members have been quarantined because of potential COVID-19 exposure in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana, among other states. (Sarlin and Khimm, 8/17)

Fever checks have widely become the first level of coronavirus detection as businesses, stores and schools try to reopen, but a new study cautions that relying on them as a single screening tool could lead to a false sense of security. Fever is generally the first symptom of a coronavirus infection, according to a study from the University of Southern California, followed by cough, nausea, vomiting and lower gastrointestinal symptoms, such as diarrhea. (Carroll, 8/18)

After weeks of debating how best to begin the new school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, school officials in Reno postponed reopening classrooms Monday due to unhealthy air quality and other concerns about a nearby California wildfire. Washoe County schools had been scheduled to reopen Monday for the first time since March as part of a district-wide plan to combine in-person and distance learning. (Sonner, 8/17)

Across Europe, the start of the new school year was meant to signal a return to normality. Countries such as Italy kept pupils at home from March to the summer holidays, while others such as Denmark allowed schools to reopen for the remainder of the term after the worst of the pandemic's first wave had passed. (Barigazzi, 8/16)