Summer-2020-Advisor

GUIDING

8 CEA ADVISOR SUMMER 2020

CEA’S SAFE LEARNING PLAN When it comes to school reopening, CEA has made clear that safety comes first. No plan can work if it fails to meet public health and safety requirements or provide the funding necessary to make schools safe. CEA’s ongoing calls for safety first—through

Additional resources for school districts will be necessary to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Without added funding, many schools cannot implement CDC protocols necessary to keep schools safe. “Connecticut must address the deep disparities in resources for school districts across the state, a problem that the pandemic laid bare this spring,” says Leake. “To prevent students in high-needs districts from losing further ground, the governor and lawmakers must provide districts with equitable funding for all COVID-related expenses.” CEA’s Safe Learning Plan, released in mid-July, makes school reopening contingent on six requirements.

flexibility, including allowing them to open with hybrid models that combine in-classroom teaching and distance learning. While this is a step in the right direction, it is not enough. “We need to ensure the safety of all students, teachers, support staff, and their families at this time of great uncertainty,” says CEA President Jeff Leake. “The state must therefore provide local districts the funding that will allow them to implement the kind of flexibility that can prevent students from being crowded into classrooms and on buses, risking a surge in the state’s COVID-19 infection rates.”

1. SCHOOL BUILDINGS MUST NOT OPEN IF CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL (CDC) AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS CANNOT BE MET. The CDC has offered three cautionary risk ratings regarding reopening schools. Virtual instruction carries the lowest risk, while full-size, in-person classes and activities with students mixing between classes and sharing materials poses the greatest risk. Somewhere in the middle is a hybrid model that could include various risk-reducing measures, such as in-person classes where small groups of students remain at least six feet apart, stay together and with the same teacher throughout/across school days, do not share objects, and do not mix with other student cohorts. Hybrid virtual and in-person class structures or staggered/rotated schedules are two ways of accommodating smaller class sizes. Cohorting—that is, keeping groups of 10 or fewer students together with the same staff as much as possible—is a promising strategy, according to a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report also recommends that schools • Reorganize classrooms to enable physical distancing • Provide surgical masks for all teachers and staff • Have ample access to handwashing stations and hand sanitizer for anyone who enters a school building • Minimize contact with shared surfaces and increase regular surface cleaning • Limit large gatherings of students, such as assemblies and cafeteria dining • Prevent building entrances from becoming overcrowded, perhaps by staggering arrival times • Prioritize air ventilation and filtration • Create a culture of health and safety in every school and enforce virus mitigation guidelines using positive approaches rather than by disciplining students 2. THE STATE MUST PROVIDE FUNDING FOR COVID-RELATED EXPENSES SO THAT ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS CAN EFFECTIVELY DELIVER INSTRUCTION AND MEET CDC AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. Reopening schools must be premised on having the funding and resources necessary to meet required health and safety protocols. Connecticut can meet this obligation by • Immediately allocating the regular meetings with the education commissioner, discussions with the governor, the development of a detailed Safe Learning Plan, and car rallies to generate awareness and support for the plan— have led to positive changes in Connecticut’s approach. Having initially championed full-time, in-person instruction this fall—which the governor still prefers—the state is now giving districts more

additional/reduced-size classes, transportation, and more. • Immediately allow access to School Construction Bonding Funds to be used for coronavirus-related infrastructure expenses. This would include HVAC expenses, reconfiguring classrooms, installing protective barriers, and other related expenses. • Raise the permissible carryforward of 2 percent of unexpended school funds (current law) to 5 percent, provided the funds are used solely for educational purposes and remain under the purview of the board of education, without requiring board of finance approval. “State and federal funding to support safety requirements is critical,” says CEA Executive Director Donald Williams. “We can’t risk reversing the state’s progress in controlling the virus by falling short when it comes to protecting students and adults in our schools (and the families they go home to each day). We are seeing a significant resurgence of the virus in places where safety was not the first priority.” Funding must also ensure equity for all public schools. The move to distance learning highlighted huge inequities among districts, with wealthy communities supplying laptops and other learning tools, while poorer communities often lacked access to Wi-Fi and had difficulty providing hard- copy packets for distance learning. Reopening schools without additional funding for districts in need will make inequities worse and deepen the racial divide. In addition, enhanced outreach and accommodations must be provided for students with special needs, English learners, and their educators. The state must ensure that no district lacks funding necessary for COVID-related expenses and

must be part of the solution. A workable plan must connect community partners where all—not just schools—share in meeting the responsibilities to our children. Companies should provide flexible schedules for employees to accommodate school schedules. Daycare options must be a priority. Implementing COVID-related precautions is estimated to cost $1.8 million for a school district with eight school buildings and 3,200 students. These costs come at a financially uncertain moment and could lead to funding shortfalls. The state and federal government must respond to this funding crisis to avoid leaving students and staff in many districts at greater risk. Congress should quickly make sufficient funding available to states and localities to support K-12 education for the fall. Extra funds should be available to public school districts expected to face the greatest gaps in staffing and infrastructure, based on formulas that measure the number of children who receive nutritional assistance and special education services. 3. THE RISKS FOR STUDENTS AND ADULTS RETURNING TO SCHOOL DURING A PANDEMIC MUST BE RECOGNIZED AND FULLY ADDRESSED. While children do not appear to carry the same risk of illness from COVID-19 as adults, they are nevertheless capable of becoming infected, suffering adverse—even life-threatening—health consequences, and transmitting the virus to teachers, other school staff, parents, and grandparents. Recent evidence suggests that children 10 and older are just as likely as adults to transmit the coronavirus. Bringing large numbers of school-age children together could help drive transmission of the virus, according to Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Connecticut, who adds, “Institution of appropriate social distancing in the school environment would certainly reduce the risk but may be difficult to fully implement in a setting with large numbers of young children.” The American Academy of Pediatrics joined with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and the School Superintendents Association in July to jointly emphasize the shared priority of health and safety, stating, “Returning to school is important for the healthy development and well-being of children,

equitable access to education. The state must also be prepared to provide support to rectify remote learning inequities, including lack of laptops, tablets, and Internet access for all students and teachers. Partnerships are also critical. For our state to recover and schools to be a part of that recovery, businesses and other constituencies

required funding for coronavirus- related educational

expenses. This would include costs for PPE,

testing, additional classroom space, staffing due to