The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on February 12 an operational strategy guide for the safe delivery of in-person instruction at K-12 schools. The Department of Education also issued a plain-language companion to the CDC guidance. It’s the first new school-specific guidance issued by the CDC during the Biden administration, and it has been eagerly awaited by families and educators who want to get physically back to in-person learning as soon as possible, as safely possible.
School districts be not be required to adopt the strategy. A majority of the nation’s school districts are already operating at least partially in person, and the guidelines say that they may continue to do so, even when community transmission is high.
It is possible to look up your community’s test positivity rate and the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days (these numbers are often available on state or county websites, though you might need to do some math to get the rate per 100,000 people), then compare the agency’s policy recommendations for that level of transmission with what your school is doing. But the guidelines acknowledge that some schools have been safely open at higher levels of community transmission than the recommendations advise.
Dana Goldstein and Kate Taylor of The New York Times report …
“Some local teachers’ unions are demanding teacher vaccination, accommodations to allow teachers with vulnerable relatives to continue working from home, and more stringent safety measures in buildings. But the guidelines might help districts and unions reach consensus by pointing to established research on how to operate schools safely during the pandemic.”
(Dana Goldstein and Kate Taylor. “The C.D.C. Has New School Guidelines. Here’s What You Need to Know.” The New York Times. February 12, 2021.)
The guidelines were greeted warmly by many coronavirus experts, who have long argued that schools should be the last places to close and the first to reopen amid the pandemic.
The CDC guidance calls for “layering” five mitigation strategies that are essential to safe delivery of in-person instruction. All five measures must be in place “to provide the greatest level of protection,” the agency says.
The measures are as follows:
Requiring the “universal and correct use of masks” by everyone in all settings;
Strictly enforcing physical distancing of at least six feet if community transmission rates are substantial or high and to “the greatest extent possible” where rates are lower;
Requiring hand-washing and respiratory etiquette and providing the necessary supplies and training;
Cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities, which includes disinfection and ventilation;
Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine.
(“Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Mitigation.” Centers for Disease Control.” February 12, 2021.)
The guide also calls for engagement with the entire school community to develop and implement successful reopening plans and provides a “phased mitigation” framework for deciding how to provide instruction and extracurriculars based on community transmission rates as well as whether the district or school uses screening testing in addition to other strategies.
In-person instruction is prioritized over extracurricular activities, including sports, but they can take place, the guidance says,"if they can be held outdoors, with physical distancing of 6 feet or more." In communities with high transmission, they say, these activities should be virtual only.
The CDC continues to emphasize …
High-risk educators and students and those with high-risk family members may require accommodations such as remote learning to protect their health and safety.
Resources to overcome longstanding inequities between schools. “Plans for safe delivery of in-person instruction in K-12 schools must consider efforts to promote fair access to healthy educational environments for students and staff.
Resources to address these disparities in funding to implement all mitigation measures, address healthcare needs, improve digital learning, and in prioritization for vaccines and testing.
Many schools, especially those attended by Black, brown, indigenous, and poor white students, have severely outdated ventilation systems and no testing or tracing programs. Leaders cannot pick and choose which guidelines to follow and which students get resources to keep them safe."
Vaccinations
The guidance does not suggest that all school employees must be vaccinated, instead it describes vaccination as another mitigation strategy to "layer" on top of the other strategies described above as essential.
States and localities decide vaccine priority. CDC’s guidance calls for states to consider giving high priority to educators after health care workers and long-term-care facility residents because vaccinating educators will make schools safer.
(Cindy Long. “NEA: CDC Guidance Good First Step - But Now It’s Time For Action.” NEA Today. February 12, 2021.)
In response to the guidelines, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says …
“There's a lot of layering to the mitigations. And I think the point to make, it's totally understandable, teachers' concern. I mean, we appreciate that. The issue is that there are a lot of things that can be done. And they are really delineated pretty clearly in … the guidelines that are coming out that would make the risk less.”
“So, vaccinating teachers are part of it, but it's not a sine qua non. It's not something that you can't open a school unless all the teachers are vaccinated. That would be optimal, if you could do that. When you balance the benefit of getting the children back to school with the fact that the risks are being mitigated if you follow the recommendations and these new guidelines from the CDC, hopefully, I think that will alleviate the concerns on both sides.”
(Jack Arnholz. “New CDC guidelines do 'a lot of things' to protect teachers: Fauci.” ABC News. February 14, 2021.)
Ohio Perspective
Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro spoke of the new operational strategy …
“OEA is pleased to see leadership from the CDC on this issue and to see the importance of equity in the federal policies to direct resources to communities that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, including many communities of color or those with high-poverty, where actions like updating ancient ventilation systems in schools or addressing the digital divide have thus far felt out of reach.
“It is now up to U.S. lawmakers to follow through on these promises and pass President Biden’s COVID relief package, which will include over $130 billion in targeted support for PreK-12 schools, about $4 billion of which would go to Ohio.”
DiMauro explained …
“It is simply not possible to follow the CDC’s rules without the resources to do so, More than 60 percent of Ohio’s teachers are already teaching in person – some are doing so at risk to themselves. But they shouldn’t have to. Our members want more than anything to be in their classrooms with their students when it is safe, and we are all counting on Congress to deliver what we know is needed to make schools safe now.”
(“OEA welcomes CDC’s school reopening guidance, calls for federal support.” Ohio Education Association. February 11, 2021.)
Biden's Plan
High-poverty school districts would gain the most from President Joe Biden’s proposal to send nearly $130 billion to America’s K-12 schools, according to legislation released on February 8. The exact amount is $128.6 billion. That amounts to about $2,600 per public school student.
The plan, which could shape school budgets for years to come, represents a massive federal effort to address the academic consequences of two disrupted school years and to help schools reopen their buildings.
Specifics of the plan include the following:
Money would be targeted at high-poverty schools.
The money would largely follow Title I of the federal education law, which sends money to school districts with more low-income students. In other words, some states and districts would get more than $2,600 per student, and some will get less.
Twenty percent of the money districts get would have to be spent helping students catch up academically.
The legislation specifically mentions “summer learning, extended day, or extended school year programs” as possibilities.
Beyond that, school districts would have a lot of leeway to spend the new money.
The proposal says the money can be spent in the same way as the last pot of federal aid — which allowed schools to use it to “continue operations,” reopen buildings, and more.
States would also have a role in helping districts with learning loss.
Five percent of the total pot would be sent to states for them to use to help districts implement learning loss programs. That’s a small percent, but amounts to $6.5 billion — a large sum for state education officials.
The research arm of the U.S. Department of Education would study learning loss and how to address it. The Institute of Education Sciences would get $100 million to undertake this study.
States wouldn’t be able to make deep cuts to high-poverty schools.
Last recession, the country’s high-poverty schools faced the biggest state budget cuts. Under a provision in this bill, states wouldn’t be allowed to make larger cuts in 2022 or 2023 to high-poverty districts than to more affluent ones.
Private schools wouldn’t be left out altogether.
Of the 20% pot of money districts would have to use for learning loss, some of it would have to go to provide services to surrounding private schools. The amount would be based on the share of low-income students within the school district boundaries who attend private school.
(Matt Barnum. “Billions for learning loss: How Joe Biden’s stimulus plan would work.” Chalkbeat. February 8, 2021.)
An entire generation has seen its education interrupted.UNICEF reports that at the height of nation-wide lockdowns in April, approximately 91 per cent of the world's students in more than 194 countries were out of school. This has caused immeasurable disruption to the lives, learning and wellbeing of children around the world.
On February 12, 2021, President Biden promised …
“When my Secretary of Education is confirmed, I will task him with working alongside school administrators, educators, and parents to safely accelerate the process of school reopenings. As many states continue to follow the CDC’s recommendation to prioritize teachers for vaccination, I urge all states to follow suit.
“And given the irreversible costs of inaction, Congress needs to pass the American Rescue Plan right away — for our children, our families, our community, and our country.”
(“Statement of President Joe Biden on Safely Reopening Schools.” The White House. Statements and Releases. February 12, 2021.)
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