School Reopening Policies Snag Biden Administration Early Days

ABC News: CDC To Release Guidance On Reopening Schools As Biden's Plan Comes Under Scrutiny
Public health guidance for reopening schools will be released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a top adviser in the Biden administration said Thursday. Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser for the COVID-19 response, said on MSNBC Thursday that the CDC will “roll out their operating plan to give school districts, local communities the guidance they need to begin to do that and do that aggressively.” (Tatum, 2/11)

AP: White House Says It Will Defer To CDC On Reopening Schools
Facing criticism that President Joe Biden has not acted aggressively enough on reopening schools, the White House on Thursday said it’s aiming for a full reopening but will defer to science experts on how to achieve it in the middle of a pandemic. The White House drew criticism this week when it said schools would be considered opened if they teach in-person at least one day a week. Asked about it Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden hopes to get students in the classroom five days a week as soon as it’s safe. (Binkley, 2/11)

USA Today: Biden Is Accused Of Shifting Goal Posts On Reopening Schools As CDC Readies New Guidelines
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set to release reopening guidelines Friday, Biden will have one of the components he said was needed to achieve his goal of having most public schools open within his first 100 days in office. He's at Day 23. Many parents want fast progress. But if recommendations include updating ventilation systems in aging school buildings or smaller class sizes – safety measures the president has discussed – fixes might not be quick. Yet few months remain in the 2020-21 academic calendar before summer break. (Garrison and Groppe, 2/12)

The New York Times: Biden Trims Ambitions On School Reopening Pledge
President Biden appeared to give many educators and parents what they had been seeking for nearly a year when he pledged in the first days of his White House to reopen schools by his 100th day in office: a plan. But as the White House struggles to turn the president’s lofty pitch into reality, Biden aides are finding it rough going against new variants of the coronavirus, protests of teachers’ unions, and the fears and frustrations of students and parents. (Green, 2/11)

In related school news from California, Massachusetts and North Carolina —

AP: San Francisco Sues Schools, Cites High Of Suicidal Students
The number of suicidal children in San Francisco has hit a record high and health experts say it is clear that keeping public schools closed “is catalyzing a mental health crisis among school-aged children,” according to a lawsuit the city filed Thursday to push its school district to reopen classrooms. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced last week he was taking the dramatic step of suing the city’s own school district, which has kept its classrooms closed nearly a year. In the motion filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera included alarming testimony from hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, doctors and parents on the emotional and mental harms of extended distance learning. (Gecker, 2/12)

Los Angeles Times: Divide Emerges On COVID School Reopening In Rich, Poor Areas 
A Times survey of more than 20 school districts throughout Los Angeles County in the past two weeks has found that districts in wealthier, whiter communities such as La Cañada are more likely to be moving full steam ahead to reopen elementary schools and have plans in place to welcome students back as soon as permitted — within as little as two weeks if coronavirus infection rates continue to decline. (Esquivel, Gomez and Blume, 2/11)

WBUR: As Boston Schools Reopen, Many Parents Still Opt For Remote Learning 
Even though more public school students will be able to return to classrooms in the coming weeks, some families in communities most deeply affected by the coronavirus are opting to stay remote. "I had COVID[-19], my mom, my dad, my pops, we all had it," said Shylanda Johnson of Dorchester. "I'm still suffering from the aftermath of COVID." (2/11)

WRAL: Bill Requiring NC Public Schools To Reopen Hits Snag
The state House quickly passed a measure Thursday that would force school districts across North Carolina to reopen their doors to students who want the option of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The 74-44 vote sent Senate Bill 37 back to the Senate for a final vote. But senators knocked it off the fast track, disagreeing with changes made by the House and sending it a conference committee to negotiate a compromise. (Burns, 2/11)

Also —

The New York Times: We Asked 175 Pediatric Disease Experts If It Was Safe Enough To Open School 
Many of the common preconditions to opening schools — including vaccines for teachers or students, and low rates of infection in the community — are not necessary to safely teach children in person, a consensus of pediatric infectious disease experts said in a new survey. Instead, the 175 experts — mostly pediatricians focused on public health — largely agreed that it was safe enough for schools to be open to elementary students for full-time and in-person instruction now. Some said that was true even in communities where Covid-19 infections was widespread, as long as basic safety measures were taken. Most important, they said, were universal masking, physical distancing, adequate ventilation and avoidance of large group activities. (Miller, Sanger-Katz and Quealy, 2/11)

CBS News: American Federation Of Teachers President On The Fight To Reopen Schools Safely 
In this episode of Facing Forward, Margaret Brennan talks with Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President of the nation's second largest teachers union, about what it will take for teachers to feel safe to resume in-person lessons and how schools will help children catch up after what seems to be a lost year for many.  (2/12)