Safety & Wellness

School leaders must weigh the risks of COVID infections with the academic, social-emotional and economic benefits of reopening classrooms for in-person learning.

Several large school districts, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Nashville, will start school with online learning due to spiking coronavirus cases.

Federal interpretation of the CARES Act, contend the attorneys general of Michigan, California, Maine, New Mexico, Wisconson and District of Columbia, will hurt low-income and at-risk students and their teachers, as well as the public schools that serve them and need to meet students' educational and social-emotional needs due to pandemic-related school closures.

To stem "COVID slide" learning loss, new policies are needed to boost testing equity and to adapt assessments to online and hybrid learning, according to NWEA. 

While staggered arrival and departure times for students with disabilities might be acceptable in the return to school this fall, administrators must be aware that such an arrangement could affect a student's right to FAPE.

Encouraging some students with special needs to social distance, wear a mask and wash their hands more frequently may be challenging for educators. Explicit instruction and praise may help.