Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Prevention | CDC

Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Prevention | CDC

Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Prevention

Summary of Recent Changes

• Revised physical distancing recommendations to reflect at least 3 feet between students in classrooms and provide clearer guidance when a greater distance (such as 6 feet) is recommended.
• Clarified that ventilation is a component of strategies to clean and maintain healthy facilities.
• Removed recommendation for physical barriers.
• Clarified the role of community transmission levels in decision-making.
• Added guidance on interventions when clusters occur.

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View Previous Updates

Key Points

1. Evidence suggests that many K-12 schools that have strictly implemented prevention strategies have been able to safely open for in-person instruction and remain open.
2. CDC’s K-12 operational strategy presents a pathway for schools to provide in-person instruction safely through consistent use of prevention strategies, including universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing.
3. All schools should implement and layer prevention strategies and should prioritize universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing.
4. Testing to identify individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination for teachers and staff provide additional layers of COVID-19 protection in schools.

On This Page

• Essential Elements of Safe K–12 School Operations for In-Person Learning
• Health Equity Considerations
• Prevention Strategies to Reduce Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Schools
• Indicators of Community Transmission
• Phased Prevention
• Additional COVID-19 Prevention Strategies in Schools
• Testing
• Vaccination for Teachers and School Staff

Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Prevention | CDC

Virtual learning exacerbates racial disparities: There are better ways to guard against COVID-19 while prioritizing all kids’ education - New York Daily News

Virtual learning exacerbates racial disparities: There are better ways to guard against COVID-19 while prioritizing all kids’ education - New York Daily News

Virtual learning exacerbates racial disparities: There are better ways to guard against COVID-19 while prioritizing all kids’ education

Despite society’s earnest push to confront systemic racism head on, we have actually fallen further behind in ensuring an equitable education for our nation’s children. Virtual school is widening racial disparities, as in-person learning has become yet another white privilege.

Race is a strong predictor of whether students are receiving in-person instruction. A survey of public schools covering more than 13 million children, found that districts where the vast majority of students are white were three times as likely as school districts that enroll mostly students of color to be open for in-person learning.

It’s not only that in-classroom instruction is likely to be superior to online classes, especially when too many low-income kids lack the devices or quality internet connection they need; the social interactions that happen in school buildings contribute to children’s overall emotional wellbeing.

Low-income children in particular rely on in-person school for basic needs, and when in-person school is unavailable, we are perpetuating inequalities. Nearly 32 million underserved children rely on school-based meals, and millions more receive vital access to special education, therapy and counseling services.

Despite society’s earnest push to confront systemic racism head on, we have actually fallen further behind in ensuring an equitable education for our nation’s children. Virtual school is widening racial disparities, as in-person learning has become yet another white privilege.

Race is a strong predictor of whether students are receiving in-person instruction. A survey of public schools covering more than 13 million children, found that districts where the vast majority of students are white were three times as likely as school districts that enroll mostly students of color to be open for in-person learning.

It’s not only that in-classroom instruction is likely to be superior to online classes, especially when too many low-income kids lack the devices or quality internet connection they need; the social interactions that happen in school buildings contribute to children’s overall emotional wellbeing.

Low-income children in particular rely on in-person school for basic needs, and when in-person school is unavailable, we are perpetuating inequalities. Nearly 32 million underserved children rely on school-based meals, and millions more receive vital access to special education, therapy and counseling services. CONTINUE READING: Virtual learning exacerbates racial disparities: There are better ways to guard against COVID-19 while prioritizing all kids’ education - New York Daily News

CURMUDGUCATION: Is Betsy DeVos Flip-Flopping?

CURMUDGUCATION: Is Betsy DeVos Flip-Flopping?

Is Betsy DeVos Flip-Flopping?

Betsy DeVos visited a private school in Grand Rapids that is currently open for face-to-face school, and she observed that not re-opening school buildings is a "tragedy."

This seems like a radical shift of direction for the secretary of education. For one thing, one of her mantras has been that we should fund students, not institutions or, presumably, the buildings in which those institutions are housed. DeVos has also been a huge advocate of computer-run education, insisting that the modern miracles of technology should set students free from traditional school-in-a-building.

But with the advent of the pandemic, DeVos seemingly shifted gears, going so far as to threaten public schools with funding loss if they don't open up right away. And here she was in Grand Rapids, praising a private school that opened up and sadly castigating public schools that haven't. 

So did Betsy DeVos suddenly change her mind? 

That seems unlikely; DeVos is nothing if not singleminded and focuses. Tales of her career in education reform do not include any sudden epiphanies that lead to a new shift or focus. So how to explain this sudden apparent 180 degree flip. Let me offer a couple of theories.

One theory is that she is simply following Trump's lead, and Trump on education (as with some other policy areas) is best understood as the cranky old grampaw who thinks the world would be a lot better if everything was the way (he thinks) it was Back In His Day. Though DeVos was not a Trump fan back in 2016, she has become a solid team player for her boss, one of the few who has never, CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Is Betsy DeVos Flip-Flopping?

NYC Educator: Not As I Do

NYC Educator: Not As I Do

Not As I Do

It's remarkable to turn on the TV and see people broadcasting from their home computers. More remarkable still is when they speak from isolation demanding we open school buildings. Though it's too risky for them to get off their butts and go to a TV station, though it's too dangerous for the interviewers to be in the same room with these authorities on education, it's okay for over a million kids to visit NYC school buildings. 



 In fact, in New York City, indoor dining is considered too dangerous, so New Yorkers may only eat outside of restaurants. The city, in fact, started a program to enable and expand this. They don't seem to have bothered preparing this much for school next year. We've got an outlandish program that proposes two teachers for every class, one online and one in person. Guess what? The city doesn't have enough teachers to accomplish that. 

We get hopeful letters from the chancellor, saying they care about our health and that of the students. This notwithstanding, it's simply inevitable that there will be new cases of Covid. And while we may have contained it for a while by being extremely careful, this particular experiment will move us precisely in the opposite direction. Eleven Kansas educators just went to a Branson educational retreat, and six came back infected. I'm pretty sure hotels in Branson are cleaner than NYC schools. 

Elsewhere, there are other disturbing developments. While it's comforting to entertain nonsense about how young people are at such low risk, a 7-year-old boy in Georgia with no complicating health issues just died of the virus. Does Mayor de Blasio or Governor Cuomo think that New Yorkers are somehow tougher, and therefore immune? What are they going to say after the first New York kid dies? It's the price of doing business?

I'm bone weary of hearing people say it's all about the kids, while ignoring not only the kids who get sick and die, CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Not As I Do

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters 

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year 

Dear friends–

Late on Friday, the DOE released the outline of a plan for school reopening in the fall, to be submitted to the State Board of Health.   They promise more details at the school level will follow. They released a rubric and protocol for individual school closures if Covid cases emerge among students or staff. The Mayor also announced that he will not reopen schools unless the positivity rate citywide remains under three percent by early September, while the Governor’s benchmark is a less restrictive five percent. As of today, the city’s rate is one percent – one of the lowest in the country. According to the Governor, there have been no Covid deaths in NYC for three days in a row.

The DOE is also letting parents decide whether they want to keep their children home for 100 percent remote learning next fall. Parents need to decide by this Friday, August 7 by registering their decision online.  Families can change their mind to choose full-time remote learning at any time, but if they alter their original choice to opt for in-person learning, this can happen only a few times a year.

This will be a difficult decision for many parents to make, especially as much information is missing in the DOE’s reopening plan, which does not say whether all schools will have nurses; doesn’t say how widely available busing will be; and doesn’t allow parents to know how many days per week their kids will be able to attend school if they opt for in-person learning. The disparities across the city regarding how little in-person learning will be available result from the awful inequities of class size and school overcrowding that plague our public schools.

Parents also do not know yet what full-time remote learning will look like and whether it will be improved from the version their children were subjected to this spring. The model used in summer school has apparently not gone well.

Rather than the DOE’s current plan, with all students offered “blended” learning and attending school only 1-3 days per week, other officials including City Council Education Chair Mark Treyger and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams issued proposals recommending that DOE should focus in-person instruction on elementary school children and those students with special needs, English Language Learners and living in temporary housing.

This makes sense as especially as children under ten are believed to transmit Covid less effectively and youngest students generally do worst with remote learning. If middle schools and high school buildings were closed with their students engaging in full-time remote learning, then younger students could theoretically be provided with smaller classes in those buildings and attend school nearly full time – if there were enough teachers.

Neither the UFT nor the CSA is satisfied with the current plans, and their opposition may prevent schools opening at all. Infection rates may also rise higher as the fall progresses, with schools closing at that point, but at least some kids will then have had the chance to meet their teachers and each other in person before that happens, as this epidemiologist points out.

In any case, no one can possibly fault you whatever choice you make for your child and family. Again, here is the link to fill it out by this Friday, August 7 .

Yours, Leonie

PS Please also check out the blog to see how in the midst of budget cuts to our public schools, 108 NYC charter schools received a windfall of federal funds averaging between $940,000- $2.2 million each, meant for small businesses.

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters 

NYC Educator: Dr. Fauci’s Experiment

NYC Educator: Dr. Fauci’s Experiment

Dr. Fauci’s Experiment

On the evening of July 28th, Dr. Anthony Fauci told the American Federation of Teachers the following:

“You’re going to be part of the experiment of the learning curve of what we need to know.”

I was a little surprised by that. First of all, I frequently see Dr. Fauci compared to President Trump, portrayed as the relative voice of reason. He seems to be truthful to a fault, and frequently speaks the bad news the White House would be happier to deny. I can only suppose that’s why he made this statement as well.

I’m not at all sure, though, that teachers, students, and our families ought to be participating in this experiment. The stakes here are literally life and death, and I’m neither inclined nor honored to be a canary in a coal mine. I’ve lost friends to this virus. I have young colleagues who’ve spent weeks in the hospital. Even more of my colleagues have lost parents and other family. In fact, we’ve learned a lot about COVID 19 in a relatively short period of time, and we’ve learned it the hard way.

Of course there is still a lot we don’t know about the virus. It’s shocking, however, that any medical doctor, let alone Dr. Fauci, would suggest that the way to learn about it is to send Americans into schools and find out exactly how many of them get sick and die. While it’s true that this information might prove of value, we’ve already got 150,000 dead and millions more sick.

I’m not a doctor, and I won’t pretend to know much about disease. I do know, though, that doctors take an oath to first, do no harm. I’m baffled as to how sending tens of millions of Americans to schools to find out just how the virus spreads entails doing no harm.

Furthermore, we have a pretty good idea of what school openings can be like. In Israel, we now know that opening the schools prematurely was a disaster that brought about a CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Dr. Fauci’s Experiment

Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Are principals being set up to take the fall?

The mayor was planning to reopen NYC public schools in September. It is a disaster on the NYC horizon. But it is far enough away to be avoided. The mayor now coyly claims he doesn’t know which way he will decide,  and that he won’t decide until the eleventh hour. The UFT and CSA (principals union) are talking about problems with plans. The UFT has focused on staffing and safety. The CSA has a broader attack, including how unrealistic the “scheduling models” are. But neither UFT president Mulgrew nor CSA president Mark Cannizzaro have openly come out and called for the plans to be halted. Skeptical, but political.  I hate political responses, especially when a right/wrong response (this won’t work, let’s plan for remote) is available.

II

Imagine, if you will, a ‘normal’ year – first day of school. Parents, mostly moms, arriving with kindergartners. Many of the kids are excited. Some are scared, and clutch at their parent’s pant leg. Some are in tears. Introduction. Separation. Some parents leave fast. Others stay…. While five other grades are finding new teachers, new classrooms, and some new classmates. Now imagine this masked. Now imagine some parents there on the A day, when their child is a C. Imagine tiny children confronted by strangers in masks.

Or imagine if you will, the first week of high school. Assume they start September 21. (What, you say, no CONTINUE READING: Are principals being set up to take the fall? | JD2718

Randi Weingarten: COVID-19: Teachers are ready to open classrooms if Congress acts

COVID-19: Teachers are ready to open classrooms if Congress acts

Randi Weingarten: Teachers want to be in a classroom — Congress must make it safe
Teachers aren't waiting for a vaccine to reopen schools, but we do need to keep students and educators safe. Where is the support from lawmakers?

We can usually count on a president and Education secretary to prioritize children’s and teachers’ well-being and safety. That certainly should be the expectation during a pandemic. But just as President Donald Trump has downplayed the virus from the beginning, now he and Secretary Betsy DeVos have demanded schools reopen regardless of the lack of a thorough plan, the necessary funding, or the safety considerations that scientists and public health experts tell us are needed.

Teachers are not waiting for a vaccine to reopen schools; they know in-person schooling is really important for kids, academically, socially and emotionally. But particularly as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in many states, teachers and our students need both a real plan to reopen safely and the resources to do so.

According to a recent poll of our members, 76% of educators support going back to school if we have the proper safeguards called for by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts — safeguards such as ensuring low community spread (New York calls for a daily infection rate 5% or lower), daily deep cleaning and sanitizing of school facilities, physical distancing, masks and other appropriate personal protective equipment, ventilation, and reasonable accommodations for those most at risk. CONTINUE READING: COVID-19: Teachers are ready to open classrooms if Congress acts

As fear of the virus wins out, a fast retreat from in-person learning - The Washington Post

As fear of the virus wins out, a fast retreat from in-person learning - The Washington Post

As fear of the virus wins out, a fast retreat from in-person learning

From the moment schools shuttered unceremoniously in March, one thought dominated: How to return.

Officials across the Washington region huddled to make plans for a triumphant resumption of in-person learning. Discussions persisted into the summer: Superintendents held listening sessions to solicit safety suggestions, parents tried to convince kids that face masks aren’t so bad, and educators scoured YouTube for videos depicting what socially distant teaching looks like in other countries.

Fairfax County Public Schools was the first to promise that kids could return, if only for two days a week. Still, administrators there offered a choice: Parents could also keep their kids home for 100 percent online learning. Almost immediately, several nearby school systems debuted near-identical plans, built around what became known as the “hybrid option.”

But as July rolled around — and coronavirus cases held stubbornly steady in the D.C. area, while surging to unprecedented heights elsewhere — momentum for in-person school stalled. Then it shifted in the other direction. A vocal coalition of teachers, staff and parents clamored for online-only instruction. They sent long emails and made angry phone calls. They flooded virtual board meetings, where teachers gave tearful testimony about how they were being forced to pick between their jobs or their lives.

Despite mounting pressure from President Trump to reopen full time, district after district gave in. In the span of two weeks, at least half a dozen school systems in D.C., Maryland and Virginia — the CONTINUE READING: As fear of the virus wins out, a fast retreat from in-person learning - The Washington Post