When can students safely return to schools?

Nearly one year into the coronavirus pandemic in the United States,

this is one of the country's major questions,

with an answer that feels difficult and elusive.

President Joe Biden has promised both on the campaign trail and since taking office,

that he can put the country on a path to in-person learning.

He's vowed to reopen most schools within his first 100 days in office.

We'll also do everything we can to keep our educators and students safe,

to safely reopen a majority of our K through eight schools by the end of the first 100 days.

We can do this.

But Biden's promises have also been vague at times, and the specifics of how to help the

country get more schooled open still aren't completely clear.

Biden faces a complicated political predicament.

Teachers unions are a loyal constituency for the president,

and trying to balance pressures from the unions with pressures from parents and students,

puts Biden in a dicey position.

Plus, Republicans have united around a message that Democrats are ignoring data

and keeping students home in response to union pressure.

What's more, what happens at a local school level isn't exactly dictated by decisions in Washington.

So, can Biden really come through on this promise of reopening most schools within his first 100 days?

How much can the president affect when and how schools welcome students back into the classroom?

And what are the political consequences?

...