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If you spend as much time as I do studying ed policy + politics, and are also a parent and live in an urban area (my kid’s preK is located in a neighborhood w/ one of the highest COVID rates in DC), you knew the CDC guidance would land with a thud https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
Allow me to (try to) explain. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
Last Friday, the CDC dropped its long-awaited guidance for how schools can reopen safely depending on the COVID-19 infection rates in the surrounding community and a school’s ability to adhere to various safety measures. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
Some important background: Trump administration took a lot of heat for its hands-off approach to helping schools figure out how to reopen during the pandemic. DeVos quite literally said it wasn’t her job, even though school leaders were begging for help. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-10-20/betsy-devos-not-my-job-to-track-schools-coronavirus-reopening-plans
It was a hot, hot mess. And yet they put incredible pressure on school districts to reopen without giving them a blueprint for how to do it. (CDC did release some rounds of guidance — often quietly, often without any teeth.)
So you can imagine when Biden waltzes in having promised to reopen the majority of K-8 in his first 100 days that all eyes would be on this CDC guidance — the FIRST specific to reopening issued since the pandemic closed school for more than 50 million kids https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
The political backdrop is key. City and teachers union officials in a few big city school districts have been in in a standoff over when and how to reopen safely. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2021-02-08/chicago-nears-deal-to-begin-reopening-schools-as-agreements-elsewhere-prove-elusive
At about the same time the WH clarified that a school offering in-person learning one day/wk counted as a school being open. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-09/bidens-goal-for-school-reopenings-suddenly-became-more-attainable
Republican lawmakers pounced, arguing labor-friendly Biden was putting teachers unions above children, and pointing to recent small-scale CDC studies that showed schools can reopen safely even in communities with high infection rates. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-02-03/mcconnell-accuses-biden-of-rejecting-science-on-school-reopening
Needless to say, many were waiting with bated breath to see what CDC would say. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
"I want to be clear," Walensky said. "With the release of this operational strategy, CDC is not mandating that schools reopen. These recommendations simply provide schools a long-needed road map for how to do so safely under different levels of disease." https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
Based on the color-coded system it devised, just 5% of counties in the U.S. fall into the blue, or low-risk, zone where the CDC recommends schools reopen for in-person learning w staff and students masked and socially distancing. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
90% (!) of counties in the U.S. fall into the red, or high-risk, zone, where CDC recommends only elementary schools open, and only if they enforce masks, 6ft social distancing, frequent sanitization + cleaning, asymptomatic testing, contact tracing, etc. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
The most important mitigation strategies are masks and 6ft social distancing. Others: Frequent sanitization, cleaning, asymptotic testing, contact tracing, good ventilation. But really the first two are key, as those are responsible for most outbreaks. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
What I found most helpful was when Walenksy spoke directly to parents, saying, essentially, children rarely contract COVID from other children, they rarely get it from staff and staff rarely get it from them, too. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
She also said that almost all infections occur outside of school, and in most cases, community spread is actually less when schools are open. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
But situation on the ground is complicated by the fact that schools have access to varying levels of resources needed to implement the recommended safety measures.
Many big city school districts lack the necessary space to adhere to social distancing, lack resources to provide PPE and sanitizer, or upgrade old ventilation systems, and lack the capacity and personnel to establish wide scale testing. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2021-02-08/chicago-nears-deal-to-begin-reopening-schools-as-agreements-elsewhere-prove-elusive
So while the CDC guidance provides a blueprint for how schools can reopen – and in doing so provides a path forward for some school leaders whose reopening plans have been waylaid by politics – it does little to nothing to change the reality for others https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-12/cdc-issues-guidance-for-safely-reopening-schools
I don’t pretend to know what the answer is. State chiefs, district supes, teachers — everyone who is anyone in the education world — has been begging for enough $ so they can create the safe environments that will allow them to reopen. Biden is trying to get them that money.
Federal aid won’t magically makes things better. But from my reporting, it seems like it could go a long way in some places. Same with vaccinations. Still, I get the frustration and pulling hair out on the part of everyone. This is MADDENING.
And who knows what’s on the horizon with the new more contagious variants. Walensky was quick to warn reporters that the CDC could very well recommend closures in the future.
As a reporter and as a parent I go back and forth, from jubilant “we’re so close to reopening” to doomsday “this is never happening.” I don’t know how to end this thread, but I do know who has a big job on his hands... https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-02-02/the-high-stakes-of-miguel-cardonas-senate-confirmation-hearing
