Summer-2020-Advisor

GUIDING

SUMMER 2020 CEA ADVISOR 9

but we must pursue reopening in a way that is safe for all students, teachers, and staff.” Their statement also noted, “Reopening schools in a way that maximizes safety, learning, and the well-being of children, teachers, and staff will clearly require substantial new investments in our schools and campuses. We call on Congress and the administration to provide the federal resources needed to ensure that inadequate funding does not stand in the way of safely educating and caring for children in our schools. Withholding funding from schools that do not open in person full-time would be a misguided approach, putting already financially strapped schools in an impossible position that would threaten the health of students and teachers.” 4. MOVING THE ECONOMY FORWARD IS DEPENDENT ON THE SAFETY OF SCHOOLS, NOT ON THE MERE REOPENING OF SCHOOLS. There is a misleading proposition that the health of the economy depends on a return to school. This idea fails the logic test and misses a critical point, as explained by Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “For me the goal is not just to open, it’s to stay open,” Frieden has said. “If we open for a week or two and have to shut down the nation again, that would be a much worse travesty for our nation’s young children.” The goal in any reopening of Connecticut’s schools must be to do so safely, sustainably, and in a way that complies with CDC and public health requirements. 5. SCHOOLS MUST BE ALLOWED TO BEGIN THE SCHOOL YEAR WITH DISTANCE/ REMOTE LEARNING WHERE NECESSARY. FOR IN-CLASS LEARNING, DISTRICTS MUST BE REQUIRED TO REDUCE DENSITY AND ALLOW STAGGERED SCHEDULES TO MEET CDC AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. The CDC recommends staying home when appropriate—for example, based on individual risk, exposure, or a community spike in infection.

OTHER KEY PROVISIONS OF CEA’S SAFE LEARNING PLAN At-risk students and staff Reopening plans must provide older adults and all those with relevant underlying health conditions the option to deliver instruction remotely. Students should also be monitored upon their return to school for signs of food and housing insecurity, domestic violence or abuse, or grief and trauma due to the pandemic. They should receive appropriate supports, and staff should receive training in trauma-informed practices. Improvements to air quality Windows must be able to be opened to improve air flow, and/or air handlers must be thoroughly cleaned and in good working order. HVAC systems must be professionally evaluated, and deficient systems improved or replaced. Schools must be outfitted with working air filtration and purification systems as well as air conditioning, with state funding support. These are critical to the safety of students and staff. Climate controls in all schools should also be improved to protect against extremes in temperature and humidity. Health screening Upon arrival to school, students and employees should be screened for symptoms and history of exposure. Where necessary, contact tracing should be in place, as should COVID testing procedures for returning students and staff after infection/exposure. Districts must certify to the State Department of Education that school nurses have been hired for each school and a ‘waiting room’ with appropriate protocols and safeguards is available for symptomatic individuals. A second wave of illness should be anticipated, with plans in place for remote operations and alternative assignments if schools are once again forced to physically close in whole or in part. Bus transportation School transportation vehicles should be limited in capacity to enable CDC social distancing guidelines, there must be a thorough cleaning of the vehicles in between routes, and buses must have a monitor on each route to oversee proper social distancing and mask-wearing so that the driver can concentrate on safely driving. Additional personnel and supports Additional social workers, school counselors, substitute teachers, and paraprofessionals must be made available as necessary, and protocols must be in place for remote learning and counseling for traumatized students who are a danger to themselves or others in the in-class school setting. The caseloads of nurses, social workers, counselors, psychologists, special education teachers and managers, and occupational, speech, and physical therapists must be monitored to ensure that they are appropriate. Special education Consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), collaboration must occur among parents, students, and the

The CDC also recommends staggering arrival times or locations by cohort, instituting other protocols to limit contact between cohorts and direct contact with parents, and using flexible worksites, such as remote or online instruction. Countries where a return to school has so far not necessitated new shutdowns have employed various safety protocols, including

educational system to remediate students’ needs and comply with IEP requirements for in-person learning where possible, and through remote learning where necessary. Additional PPE and paraeducator help must be available to teachers and staff working with special education students who require close contact. Teacher voice and teachers’ rights Bargaining must remain the bedrock of decisions to resolve issues regarding teachers’ safety, working conditions, and responsibilities. Local school reopening committees should include teachers from the elementary, middle, and high school levels, parent representatives, a school health representative, and the presidents of local bargaining organizations. Committees need to

• Regular COVID testing • Staggered schedules or alternating days to reduce population density in the building at any one time • Capped class sizes to enable distancing within classrooms • Continued use of remote learning • Blended learning 6. IN ANY RETURN TO SCHOOL, WEEKLY TESTING OF ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF MUST BE INSTITUTED, ALONG WITH CONTACT TRACING PROTOCOLS. One of the greatest failures by the United States in responding to COVID-19 has been the failure to provide plentiful, reliable testing for the virus. Widespread testing of students, teachers, and staff would reduce if not eliminate many obstacles and public health burdens in returning to school. “To combat this virus, we need to test widely and frequently, and get the results back quickly,” says Dr. Zev Williams at Columbia University. “That requires a genuine paradigm shift in the way we go about testing for it.” Once scaled up and distributed, faster tests could be used to screen quickly and monitor the health of children and staff.

evaluate the unique needs and capacities of their districts and make appropriate choices as to models for returning to school and combining in-class education with remote learning. Educators who have been exposed to the virus and must quarantine must not lose any sick leave, and whistleblower protections must guarantee that education employees and contractors working in schools are protected against retaliation for reporting or raising concerns about workplace safety with respect to COVID-19, whether they discuss those concerns with fellow employees, their employer, government agencies, the public, or the news media. Standardized testing Standardized testing should be suspended.

Read CEA’s Safe Learning Plan in full at cea.org .

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