More than 420,000 students have been learning in an entirely remote setting in Washington, D.C., since the coronavirus pandemic closed schools in March 2020, as recently reported from the region’s school systems.

The percentage of Black and low-income students going into a school building at least once per week is shockingly low at only 28%.

The Washington Post reports that “45 percent of students — or 23,157 of the school system’s 52,000 students — are considered at risk, which means they are homeless, in foster care, their families qualify for public assistance, or they are high school students at least one year older than the standard age for their grade level.”

How students have still not returned to full learning in the Washington, D.C. region is beyond me, but one thing is clear–if our students are to receive a full and well-rounded education, it can’t always happen through a screen. At-risk students deserve the opportunity to learn in a classroom, and it’s time to prioritize getting students back to school.