Experts and parents alike agreed that schools should have remained open. Instead, the US was the standout among Western nations at not getting kids back into the classroom: https://webarchive.unesco.org/web/20220629024039/https://en....
Teachers' and their unions also became somewhat bad actors here too - undermining good faith attempts to resume classroom teaching and constantly moving goalposts well after the vaccine was available. It also pitted teachers directly against their local policymakers and voters.
The irony is that while everyone stayed home for a year and studied up on social justice, the lack of schooling will hit poorer families much worse. We were able to put our kid in a private school. Time will tell the lingering effects on less fortunate families.
Really telling is that almost no one is attending PTA meetings anymore (unless to yell at teachers or to yell at the people yelling at teachers). Anyone who actually cared about partnering with/challenging teachers to improve education has since moved on.