It’s the kind of news story that keeps parents of school-age children up at night: kids go to school, dutifully wear masks, and still half the class ends up getting sick. That’s what happened this past spring at an elementary school in Marin County, CA. The school seemed to be taking all the right precautions against COVID-19 transmission. They tried to create safer classrooms by requiring teachers and students to be masked while indoors, placing…
The current federal student loan freeze — a lifeline pausing repayments interest-free for millions of borrowers in the wake of the pandemic — will now last at least through Jan. 31, 2022. The student loan freeze was first enacted in 2020 and has been extended several times, but the Department of Education has referred to the current deadline as the “final extension” for this relief. With the no-interest repayment pause now unlikely to continue beyond…
When it looks like the U.S. has the answers to the pandemic, COVID-19 keeps changing the questions. Parents and teachers must now contend with the Delta variant as millions of students starting or preparing to go back to school. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says he is paying attention not just as a federal official but also as a father. “I want to make sure that when my children return to school, I’m sending…
The 2020-2021 school year was unlike any other. Millions of students spent part — or most — of the year learning remotely. After months physically away from teachers, classmates and a traditional school day structure, some kids may need some time to adjust when it comes to tackling the start of a “normal” school year this fall. Here are some practical tips from educators, administrators and counselors to help students adjust to school. 1. Know…
It’s still August, but the 2021-22 school year has started for some students around the country, even as coronavirus cases are rising sharply in places with low vaccination rates and contentious debates about masks in schools are escalating. Despite strong hopes that the new school year would mark a return to full-time, in-school learning normalcy after more than a year of unprecedented pandemic disruptions, school district leaders are facing new challenges to achieving that goal.…
We’ve heard a great deal about teachers and their struggles through the Covid-19 pandemic, but one group of school personnel that has gotten little attention is school nurses. Even before the pandemic began in 2020, school nurses played a critical role in schools, often serving as primary health-care providers for many students — but covid-19 has made their role much harder. School nurses have been quietly doing their jobs throughout the pandemic to try to…
For a brief moment, it felt like parents had made it. School was wrapping up. People, including kids 12 and older, were getting vaccinated. Mask mandates were easing. But now we’re facing the delta variant — a highly contagious strain of the coronavirus. States with large outbreaks are seeing rising case numbers among children as well as adults. As it reaches into our communities, how does this strain affect children, and how can we help…
The Delta variant may be the most contagious COVID-19 strain yet, causing outbreaks around the globe – even in places where the virus had previously been under control. In the United States, it has quickly become responsible for 50% of all COVID-19 infections nationwide. What does that mean for kids who are and aren’t vaccinated? Connecticut Children’s infectious disease expert John R. Schreiber, MD, MPH shares seven things parents should know. 1. The Delta variant…
As students return to schools shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic, many large school districts are not prepared to meet the needs of well more than 1 million students with disabilities who have a legal right to receive support and services but are not getting them ― and the problem is most severe for students of color, according to a new report. The crisis existed before the pandemic began in spring 2020, but was exacerbated in the…
With the first COVID-19 vaccines now authorized for adolescents, ages 12 and up, a big question looms: will students be required to get vaccinated before returning to their classrooms in the fall? In the United States, school vaccination requirements are established by states rather than the federal government. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows states to make regulations protecting public health. Every state currently requires K-12 students to be vaccinated against some diseases,…
