Page 5 — Dear Educators and Parents
504, or program modifications and supports for school personnel – the team must include these in the child’s IEP or Section 504 Plan.[1]
Over the past two years, schools have demonstrated expansive abilities in implementing layered prevention strategies recommended by CDC to help keep students safe while attending schools in person. Implementing layered prevention strategies can help protect students, educators, staff, and other members of their households, and supports in-person learning for all students. Continued use of these strategies may help to ensure that all students can continue to safely receive instruction and services in person. These strategies can be implemented using ARP Act funds, which provided unprecedented resources for schools and communities to keep schools open and safe for in-person instruction.
Importantly, schools have taken great care to communicate prevention strategies to families, work to foster a culture of prevention, and ensure they are answering questions and alleviating concerns families may have. Schools can find additional resources on how to communicate about prevention strategies – including sample letters and language – on CDC’s website.
Vaccination: COVID-19 vaccination among all eligible students, as well as educators, staff, and their respective household members is the most critical strategy to help schools safely maintain full-time, in-person instruction for all students. Vaccination is the leading public health strategy to prevent severe disease and complications from COVID-19. People who have completed the primary series (and a booster when eligible) are at substantially reduced risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 compared with unvaccinated people.[2]
Schools should encourage eligible students, educators, staff, and families, including extended family members who have frequent contact with students, to get vaccinated as soon as they can. Schools should also consider partnering with state or local public health authorities to host COVID-19 vaccination clinics and work with local healthcare providers and community-based organizations, including school-based health centers. Individuals may visit vaccines.gov to find out where educators, staff, students, and their families can get vaccinated against COVID-19 in their community. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised have specific COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for the primary series and booster dose due to their different immune response following COVID-19 vaccination.
Masking: As a reminder, school districts, schools, early childhood centers and homes, and classrooms may still choose to implement masking at any COVID-19 Community Level depending on their community’s needs, and individuals – including those at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 – located in communities at any COVID-19 Community Level may choose to mask at any time.
Federal civil rights laws stipulate that schools must consider the health and safety needs of their students in order to safely attend in-person. This includes expectations around masking in
- ↑ If the IEP Team or group of knowledgeable persons making a placement decision is unable or unwilling to address the school-related health needs of an eligible child with a disability who is at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19, the parent may utilize IDEA’s dispute resolution procedures and mechanisms or Section 504’s procedural safeguards. 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.151-300.153, 300.506, and 300.507-300.516; 34 C.F.R. § 104.36.
- ↑ COVID-19 COVID-19 Incidence and Death Rates Among Unvaccinated and Fully Vaccinated Adults with and Without Booster Doses During Periods of Delta and Omicron Variant Emergence — 25 U.S. Jurisdictions, April 4–December 25, 2021 | MMWR (cdc.gov)
