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Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2021)

Chapter: Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities

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Suggested Citation:"Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26100.
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Suggested Citation:"Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26100.
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Page 80
Suggested Citation:"Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26100.
×
Page 81
Suggested Citation:"Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26100.
×
Page 82
Suggested Citation:"Reopening K12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Critical Findings on COVID-19: Select Publications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26100.
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Page 83

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Reopening K–12 Schools During the COVID-19 PA N D E M I C Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities SUMMARY The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented with respect to (1) what is known (and not known) about challenges to the nation’s K-12 education system. The rush COVID-19, (2) what is necessary to know about schools in to slow the spread of the virus led to closures of schools order to make decisions related to COVID-19, (3) how across the country, with little time to ensure continuity of determinations about reopening schools and staying open instruction or to create a framework for deciding when and can best be made, and (4) strategies for mitigating the how to reopen schools. States, districts, and schools are spread of COVID-19 in schools. now grappling with the complex and high-stakes questions of whether to reopen school buildings and how to operate Equity and Reopening Schools them safely if they do reopen. These decisions need to be The committee was particularly concerned about how the informed by the most up-to-date evidence about the SARS- persistent inequities of the education system might CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19; about the impacts of interact with similar disparities in health outcomes and school closures on students and families; and about the access in ways that could devastate some communities complexities of operating school buildings as the pandemic more than others. Every choice facing states, districts, and persists. schools is being made against the backdrop of entrenched In response to this need for evidence-based guidance, the economic and social inequities made more visible by the Board on Science Education of the National Academies of disparate impacts of the pandemic on Black, LatinX and Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in collaboration with Indigenous communities. Without careful attention, plans the Academies’ Board on Children, Youth, and Families to reopen schools could exacerbate these inequities. (BCYF) and Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Disease, convened the Committee on Guidance for K-12 COVID-19, Children and Transmission Education on Responding to COVID-19. The committee Evidence to date suggests that children and youth (aged 18 was tasked with providing guidance on the reopening and younger) are at low risk of serious, long-term and operation of elementary and secondary schools for the consequences or death as a result of contracting COVID-19. 2020–2021 school year. This report documents the committee’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations

However, there is insufficient evidence with which to youth. Working caregivers would have affordable, reliable determine how easily children and youth contract the virus childcare for school-age children, and families would be and how contagious they are once they do. Similarly, while better able to access services offered through the school, some measures—such as physical distancing, avoiding large such as provision of meals and other family supports (e.g. gatherings, handwashing, and wearing masks—are clearly mental health services, school-based health services). important for limiting transmission, there is no definitive If and when schools reopen, staffing is likely to be a major evidence about what suite of strategies is most effective for challenge. A significant portion of school staff are in limiting transmission within a school setting when students, high-risk age groups or are hesitant to return to in-person teachers, and other staff are present. The fact that evidence schooling because of the health risks. In addition, some of is inadequate in both of these areas—transmission and the strategies for limiting the transmission of COVID-19 mitigation—makes it extremely difficult for decision-makers within schools, such as maintaining smaller class sizes and to gauge the health risks of physically opening schools and delivering both in-person and virtual learning, will require to create plans for operating them in ways that reduce additional instructional staff. transmission of the virus. Weighing the Risks of Building Closures The Decision to Reopen While many guidance documents for reopening schools Keeping schools closed to in-person learning in Fall 2020 exist, many state-level guidance documents do not poses potential educational risks. Students of all ages explicitly call on districts to reopen schools; rather they benefit from in-person learning experiences in ways that pose a series of questions for districts to consider in cannot be fully replicated through distance learning. The making decisions about reopening. This approach to educational risks of extended distance learning may be providing guidance allows for regional variation and higher for young children and children with disabilities. In flexibility. However, it also leaves district leaders with a addition, without careful implementation, virtual learning tremendous responsibility for making judgments about the alone runs the risk of exacerbating disparities in access to risks of reopening while also responding to the needs of high-quality education across different demographic groups students, families, and staff. and communities. Weighing all of the relevant factors to arrive at a decision Opening school buildings to some extent in Fall 2020 may about reopening and staying open involves simultaneously provide benefits for families beyond educating children and considering the public health risks, the educational risks, Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: 2 Prioritizing Health, Equity, and Communities

and other potential risks to the community. This kind of risk buildings. The financial costs of consistently implementing assessment requires expertise in public health, infectious a number of potential mitigation strategies is considerable. disease, and education as well as clear articulation of the While some highly resourced districts with well-maintained community’s values and priorities. It also requires a protocol buildings may be able to implement most of the strategies, for monitoring data on the virus to track community many schools and districts will need additional financial spread. To ensure that the process of reopening schools is support to institute and maintain mitigation measures. reflective of the community’s needs and values and attends Costs are a particular concern due to the budget cuts effectively to the multiple (and often conflicting) priorities resulting from the economic impact of the pandemic. of the numerous stakeholders, schools and districts will Poor-quality school buildings (i.e., those that have bad need to take care to engage a range of perspectives in the indoor air quality, are not clean, or have inadequate decision-making process. bathroom facilities) complicate reopening and may make it difficult for school districts to implement the recommended Implementing Mitigation Strategies health and safety measures. This poses a problem for Reopening school buildings will be contingent on equitable implementation of the strategies as children and implementing a set of mitigation strategies that youth from low-income families disproportionately attend limits transmission of the virus. The existing guidance schools with poor-quality facilities. documents offer an extensive list of potential strategies but little guidance on how districts and schools can or Finally, even if all of the mitigation strategies are in place should prioritize them. Many of the mitigation strategies and well implemented, it is impossible to completely currently under consideration (such as limiting classes eliminate the risk of COVID-19 in schools. Therefore, it to small cohorts of students or implementing physical is incumbent on school officials, in association with local distancing between students and staff) require substantial public health authorities, to plan for the possibility that one reconfiguring of space, purchase of additional equipment, or more students, teachers or staff will contract COVID-19. adjustments to staffing patterns, and upgrades to school RECOMMENDATIONS The committee formulated a set of recommendations designed to help districts and schools successfully navigate the complex decisions around reopening school buildings, keeping them open, and operating them safely. In its final recommendation, the committee identifies four areas of research that are urgently needed to fill the existing gaps in evidence: (1) the role of children in transmission of SARS-CoV-2, (2) the role of reopening schools in the spread of SARS- CoV-2 in communities, (3) the role of airborne transmission of COVID-19, and (4) the relative effectiveness of different mitigation strategies in schools. RECOMMENDATION 1 The Decision Districts should weigh the relative health risks of reopening against the educational risks of to Reopen providing no in-person instruction in Fall 2020. Given the importance of in-person interaction for learning and development, districts should prioritize reopening with an emphasis on providing full- time, in-person instruction in grades K-5 and for students with special needs who would be best served by in-person instruction. RECOMMENDATION 2 Precautions To reopen during the pandemic, schools and districts should provide surgical masks for all teachers for Reopening and staff, as well as supplies for effective hand hygiene for all people who enter school buildings. 3

RECOMMENDATION 3 Partnerships Local public health officials should partner with districts to: Between • assess school facilities to ensure that they meet the minimum health and safety standards School Districts necessary to support COVID-19 mitigation strategies; and Public • consult on proposed plans for mitigating the spread of COVID-19; Health Officials • develop a protocol for monitoring data on the virus in order to (a) track community spread and (b) make decisions about changes to the mitigation strategies in place in schools and when future full school closures might be necessary; • participate in shared decision-making about when it is necessary to initiate closure of schools for in-person learning; • design and deliver COVID-19 related prevention and health promotion training to staff, community and students. RECOMMENDATION 4 Access to States should ensure that in portions of the state where public health offices are short-staffed or Public Health lack personnel with expertise in infectious disease, districts have access to the ongoing support Expertise from public health officials that is needed to monitor and maintain the health of students and staff. RECOMMENDATION 5 Decision- State and local decision-makers and education leaders should develop a mechanism, such as a local making task force, that allows for input from representatives of school staff, families, local health officials, Coalitions and other community interests to inform decisions related to reopening schools. Such a cross- sector task force should: • determine educational priorities and community values related to opening schools; • be explicit about financial, staffing, and facilities-related constraints; • determine a plan for informing ongoing decisions about schools; • establish a plan for communication; and • liaise with communities to advocate for needed resources. RECOMMENDATION 6 Equity in In developing plans for reopening schools and implementing mitigation strategies, districts should Reopening take into account existing disparities within and across schools. Across schools, plans need to address disparities in school facilities, staffing shortages, overcrowding, and remote learning infrastructures. Within schools, plans should address disparities in resources for students and families. These issues might include access to technology, health care services, ability to provide masks for students, and other considerations. 4

RECOMMENDATION 7 Addressing Schools will not be able to take on the entire financial burden of implementing the mitigation Financial strategies. Federal and state governments should provide significant resources to districts and Burdens for schools to enable them to implement the suite of measures required to maintain individual and Schools and community health and allow schools to remain open. Under-resourced districts with aging facilities Districts in poor condition will need additional financial support to bring facilities to basic health and safety standards. In addition, State Departments of Education should not penalize schools by withholding state-wide school funding formula monies for student absences during the COVID-19 pandemic. RECOMMENDATION 8 High-Priority Based on what is currently known about the spread of COVID-19, districts should prioritize Mitigation mask wearing, providing healthy hand hygiene solutions, physical distancing, and limiting large Strategies gatherings. Cleaning, ventilation, and air filtration are also important, but attending to those strategies alone will not sufficiently lower the risk of transmission. Creating small cohorts of students is another promising strategy. RECOMMENDATION 9 Urgent The research community should immediately conduct research that will provide the evidence Research needed to make informed decisions about school reopening and safe operation. The most urgent areas for inquiry are: • children and transmission of COVID-19, • the role of reopening schools in contributing to the spread of COVID-19 in communities, • the role of airborne transmission of COVID-19, and • the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies. COMMITTEE ON GUIDANCE FOR K-12 EDUCATION ON COVID-19 Enriqueta C. Bond (Chair, NAM), Founding Partner, QE Philanthropic Advisors; Dimitri A. Christakis, Pediatrician and Epidemiologist, University of Washington School of Medicine; Michael Lach, Assistant Superintendent, Township High School District 113, Illinois; Phyllis D. Meadows, Senior Fellow, The Kresge Foundation; Kathleen Moore, Owner, Kathleen Moore and Associates; Caitlin Rivers, Senior Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center of Health Security; Keisha Scarlett, Chief of Equity, Partnerships, and Engagement, Seattle Public Schools; Nathaniel Schwartz, Professor, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Brown University; Jeff Vincent, Director and Cofounder, Center for Cities & Schools, University of California, Berkeley; Kenne Dibner, Study Director; Heidi Schweingruber, Director, Board on Science Education; Natacha Blain, Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Lisa Brown, Director, Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Disease; Leticia Garcilazo Green, Research Associate; Matthew Lammers, Program Coordinator For this report, the National Academies appointed a committee with expertise in education administration, education policy, child development, learning sciences, school facilities, public health, and epidemiology. The study was sponsored by the Brady Education Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project. Copies of the Consensus Study Report are available from the National Academies Press, (800) 624-6242; http://www.nas.edu/k12Covid.

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For more than 150 years, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have issued reports detailing leading research on public health and infectious disease. In response to the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the National Academies has continued this work by issuing publications related to disease transmission, preventative measures, vaccinations, and more that can inform the public response to the pandemic. Critical Findings on COVID-19 includes summaries and highlights of many of our key publications on COVID-19, including consensus study reports, workshop and webinar proceedings, and rapid expert consultations.

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