Covid closed the nation’s schools,” the New York Times declared in a Sunday headline. But that’s not quite right. Though the event that initially prompted school closures was the pandemic, schools in America stayed closed for longer than their European counterparts — and stayed closed longer in richer parts of the U.S. than in poorer parts — because an influential minority wanted them to.

The results of that experiment are generally regarded as disastrous, so you would think that all that is needed to ensure that we don’t repeat it is our collective resolve not to. Not so, says Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli: “Clean air can keep them open.”

Mandavilli’s article opens with a clear premise, though it doesn’t remain clear for long: Covid cases are once again on the rise, so it necessarily follows that the menace of Covid-related restrictions looms large. But a return to the mid-pandemic status quo wouldn’t be necessary if school administrators had prepared for this moment. That preparation begins with ensuring proper ventilation.