To move forward, I believe we need a complete reframing. Stop asking whether schools are safe. Instead, acknowledge that in-person instruction is essential; then apply the principles we learned from other essential services to keep schools open.

There are children for whom in-person instruction has been essential throughout the pandemic, who depend on school for food; who have special needs that can be met only in school; and who lack technology to engage in distance learning. Many other children are facing significant consequences from not being in school, including increasing behavioral and cognitive deficits and mental health challenges. The need for parents to work is also a factor.

For millions of families, the theoretical risk of contracting the coronavirus is already far outweighed by the real benefit of returning to school. Parents are choosing in-person school not because they think it’s safe, but in spite of possible risks, because of how essential schooling is.

Similarly, hospitals had to keep operating during the pandemic not because they were safe, but because they were essential. So they made every effort to limit transmission there. They banned visitors, strictly enforced mask-wearing and implemented many infection control measures.

And because health-care workers bore the disproportionate burden of virus risk, they were prioritized to receive vaccines. No one said that hospital operations had to close down until every doctor and nurse got vaccinated, but they were at the front of the line because of their occupational risk and the societal recognition that their work was essential.

We should be viewing school staff members the same way. Many are already teaching in person, including in schools where mask-wearing, social distancing and other mitigation measures aren’t fully in place. The federal government can play a decisive role to give them the additional protection they need. It can force the hand of the more than 20 states that haven’t made teachers eligible for vaccinations as a specific group by sending vaccines directly to school districts. They can deploy the National Guard as vaccinators. There’s sufficient supply that, within a month, all teachers who want to be vaccinated can be.