This page has been validated.
7216
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 / Presidential Documents
- blended learning, and in-person learning; and the promotion of mental health, social-emotional well-being, and communication with parents and families;
- develop a Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse to enable schools and institutions of higher education to share lessons learned and best practices for operating safely during the pandemic;
- provide technical assistance to schools and institutions of higher education so that they can ensure high-quality learning during the pandemic;
- direct the Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights to deliver a report as soon as practicable on the disparate impacts of COVID–19 on students in elementary, secondary, and higher education, including those attending historically black colleges and universities, Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions;
- coordinate with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences to facilitate, consistent with applicable law, the collection of data necessary to fully understand the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic on students and educators, including data on the status of in-person learning. These data shall be disaggregated by student demographics, including race, ethnicity, disability, English-language-learner status, and free or reduced lunch status or other appropriate indicators of family income; and
- consult with those who have been struggling for months with the enormous challenges the COVID–19 pandemic poses for education, including students; educators; unions; families; State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials; and members of civil rights and disability rights organizations, in carrying out the directives in this order.
(b) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, consistent with applicable law:
- facilitate the collection of data needed to inform the safe reopening and continued operation of elementary and secondary schools, child care providers, and Head Start programs, and ensure that such data are readily available to State, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders and the public, consistent with privacy interests, and that such data are disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and other factors as appropriate;
- ensure, in coordination with the Coordinator of the COVID–19 Response and Counselor to the President (COVID–19 Response Coordinator) and other relevant agencies, that COVID–19-related supplies the Secretary administers, including testing materials, are equitably allocated to elementary and secondary schools, child care providers, and Head Start programs to support in-person care and learning;
- to the maximum extent possible, support the development and operation of contact tracing programs at the State, local, Tribal, and territorial level, by providing guidance and technical support to ensure that contact tracing is available to facilitate the reopening and safe operation of elementary and secondary schools, child care providers, Head Start programs, and institutions of higher education;
- provide guidance needed for child care providers and Head Start programs for safely reopening and operating, including procedures for mitigation measures such as cleaning, masking, proper ventilation, and testing, as well as guidance related to meeting the needs of children, families, and staff who have been affected by the COVID–19 pandemic, including trauma-informed care, behavioral and mental health support, and family support, as appropriate; and
- provide technical assistance to States, localities, Tribes, and territories to support the accelerated distribution of Federal COVID–19 relief funds to child care providers, and identify strategies to help child care providers safely remain open during the pandemic and beyond while the sector
