Back to school: What doctors say about children and COVID-19: 

What to know and who’s in charge as families weigh sending their children back to school as communities confront COVID-19.

In America, most decisions about education policy are made at the 

Generally speaking, states set standards for curriculum and provide about half of funding for local school districts.

When local districts decide how to operate this fall, they will have to do so based on 

 drafted by state education & health officials.

Just about every state has said it “plans” to open schools, but the 

 (ex: only 4 states have official August start dates).

 released guidelines with learning format options as well as cleaning & distancing requirements.

 will decide how to adapt to state guidelines, leaving 

“We should try as the default to get the kids to stay in school. However, that’s going to vary from where you are in the country and what the dynamics of the outbreak are in your particular region.”

Dr. Fauci explaining why, although it's the goal to get every child back to school as soon as possible, it's important that school reopening decisions are made on the local level based on the data and safety of children & staff.

Not all school districts have announced fall plans, but proposals tenatively fall into three broad categories:

Option of in-person learning OR remote learning

Hybrid of in-person learning AND remote learning

Many plans also include staggered class schedules to reduce overall class size.

This past week, NBC interviewed five pediatricians from across the U.S. about schools reopening. All agreed the benefits of sending kids back outweigh the harms and said they WILL send their kids back to school in the fall (assuming the schools are, in fact, open). You can watch their discussion on our source page.

what to know

Back To School

Classes During COVID? READ HERE

CDC Guidance: READ HERE

State Reopening Guidance: READ HERE

Back to school: What doctors say about children and COV