Dear Neighbor, 

As we move past the dog days of summer, the first day of school is now less than a month away. Maddeningly, it feels just like a flashback to last August, as we wait, yet again, for City Hall and DOE to give us the specific guidance on school reopening that principals, staff, and families all needed weeks ago. 

Amidst this uncertainty, three key issues need to be addressed right now to help ensure the safety of our schools, establish trust, and provide families with the information they need to plan for the fall.

First, vaccination for kids 12+ should be required (with a weekly testing option, as there is for staff). Vaccination is by far the best thing we can do to slow Covid-19 spread. We already require kids to be vaccinated for many other diseases--, this should be no different. It’s too late for a vaccine requirement by the first day of school. But if the Mayor announced the mandate now and we started making appointments and in school pop-up vaccination sites available immediately, we could get all kids 12+ vaccinated by mid/late October, ahead of the colder months, and hopefully younger kids a few months later once that approval is given.

Vaccination is especially important in middle and high schools, where kids travel to different classrooms, go off campus  for lunch, and (like most New York commuters) use public transportation to and from school. Vaccinations would allow students to fully participate in sports, dance, chorus, band, and other programs that our kids so desperately miss and need. 

Of course, vaccines aren’t a panacea and aren’t available yet for kids under 12. So we must also continue with masking requirements, improving ventilation, keeping younger students in pods, more rapid testing, closures where kids are exposed or there is wider spread, and ensuring that adults in schools are fully vaccinated. This is the layered and attentive approach that kept Covid spread in schools at bay this past year. 

Next, we need a massive expansion of outreach to families. DOE should be using ARP money to pay teachers and staff to make calls, knock on doors, make vaccine appointments, answer questions on safety plans, and build trust. Families urgently want to hear from teachers and principals. Those calls, house visits, and relationships -- and the time and funding to support teachers and other school staff to do it -- should continue all year. In addition to giving information and building confidence, it could help tailor the support students and families need. This targeted support will not be achieved through pre-canned assessments by for-profit companies, but by giving teachers and staff the resources and time to sit down with students individually. We must use ARP funds for the 1:1 tutoring, mental health interventions and wraparound supports our children need and deserve. 

Finally, for students, families, or staff who require a medical accommodation (e.g. are immunocompromised), I support a narrow remote option. But getting as many students as possible back in classrooms in person should be the primary goal as per recent CDC guidance. We know that many families are anxious about this. But the evidence shows we can make schools safe. Even before vaccines were widely available, in-school Covid transmission was very low. And Summer Rising numbers have stayed low even as the Delta variant hit. The substantial harm of another year out of school will be devastating for so many kids. And we could be in this phase of the pandemic for a while. 

With clear guidance and resources, our school communities can rise to this challenge. There’s no lesson more valuable for kids than that we are capable together of solving problems, keeping each other safe, helping each other heal.

We better get to it.

Brad

P.S. This has been a week of terrible humanitarian news, from Haiti, to Afghanistan, to the pandemic outbreaks overwhelming hospitals in the South and around the world. 

If you are looking for ways to support relief efforts in Haiti, here are some ideas: 

Hope for Haiti

Partners in Health

or if you want to send supplies, some elected official offices and NYPD precincts are collecting materials