The Biden government’s guidance on how schools can “open safely” will come from several federal agencies and departments, according to several people familiar with the plan.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to disclose an “operational strategy” stating that it would be safe for K-12 schools to reopen if they applied recommended “mitigation” practices, according to an email sent by an official Department of Education requesting feedback from education groups and obtained by CBS News.
The CDC’s guidance, due out this week, is based on guidelines already released by the agency, a federal official told CBS News. It is expected to focus on five COVID-19 mitigation areas in schools, rather than relying on teacher vaccinations as a precondition for reopening.
Mitigation practices include ensuring that teachers and students wear masks, maintain adequate social detachment, and institute a good “hand hygiene” program with proper etiquette for coughing and sneezing.
Advice on cleaning and ventilating the facilities, implementing a strong contact and isolation and quarantine tracking program will also be included in the guidelines, according to the official.
The Biden administration will be warning that teacher vaccination is complementary, suggesting that if school districts adhere to recommended mitigation practices, mandatory vaccination for all teachers is not a precondition for reopening schools. There was already a strong indication that this would be the position adopted by the government, since the director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, had already said that last week.
“There is growing data to suggest that schools can reopen safely and that the safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated,” said Walensky on Wednesday, reiterating that vaccinating teachers “was not a prerequisite.”
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Walensky was speaking in his “personal capacity” since the CDC’s guidance had not been released.
This has been a point of contention for some teacher unions, which have insisted on vaccinating educators before schools can be reopened. However, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told Boston Public Radio on Friday that vaccinating teachers “was not a precondition” for the reopening.
But teachers are already in a priority group for vaccination: according to the vaccination recommendations of COVID-19 established by the CDC’s Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, educators are in Phase 1b.
Since February 9, at least 26 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have made some or all of the teachers eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine, notes Education Week.
The guidance should cover all elementary and high school students, contrary to the current goal of the Biden White House to reopen schools, which aims only at elementary and high school. Asked about Biden’s goal on Tuesday, Psaki said the goal is to reopen “most schools – then more than 50%” with teachers teaching “at least one day a week” on the 100th.
But sixty-four percent of K-8 students are already receiving some form of face-to-face instruction, be it full face-to-face instruction or a hybrid part-time learning model, according to data collected and analyzed by Burbio is reported by CBS News.
In an interview on Sunday, President Biden told Norah O’Donnell of CBS News that the guidance could be released on Wednesday. But a federal official later said the launch date was likely to be Friday. Several employees told CBS News that the guidance is still being finalized and could potentially change.
“Right after” the CDC announces its updated guidelines, the Department of Education plans to release “volumes” of its own guidance, according to the email sent by Kimberly Watkins-Foote, acting director of the Department of Education’s national engagement team .
He will begin to focus on the “practical application” of CDC guidance: how to plan in-person learning and involvement and additional “supports” and “protections” for students and educators, with a focus on “informed trauma approaches to address the socio-emotional needs of students and staff, “says the email. This guidance will also advise districts on how to use funds allocated to schools and state and local governments to make schools more secure.
The second volume is scheduled for the “next few weeks” and contains ten topics for now, according to the email. “Draft topics” may change, but today they address the social and emotional well-being of students and educators, how to bridge the learning gaps that arose because of COVID-19, “support for educators, including advancing diversity of educators “, online and classroom learning, school nutrition and” digital equity “.
Another topic is “extended learning time”, which may reflect a change in the school calendar this year or changes in the summer school, which is briefly referenced in Mr. Biden’s national strategic plan for COVID-19.
The Department of Education’s guidance can also take a look at other concerns about “equal resources” in racial and socioeconomic issues, “school discipline” and increased data collection “to support students, parents and educators”. Last week, the federal government announced a plan to track how many schools in the country are teaching in person or virtually.
The Department of Education started soliciting feedback on these topics from education groups. In his early days in office, Mr. Biden issued several executive orders directing the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a “manual” for reopening schools.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House and the Department of Education declined to comment.