Friday, August 13, 2021

NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PUTS OUT GUIDANCE FOR REOPENING SCHOOLS

 NYSUT is applauding the State Education Department's, Health and Safety Guide for the 2021-2022 School Year that was released yesterday.

Some portions that from the SED guide that I found interesting:

On vaccines:

The CDC states that “vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.” Furthermore, many schools serve children under age 12 who are not eligible for vaccination at the time this guide was published. Therefore, reflecting CDC guidance, this document emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (i.e., using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, and other members of their households.

Further down:

Verifying Vaccinations CDC guidance states:

 • Administrators who maintain documentation of students’ and workers’ COVID-19 vaccination status can use this information, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including those related to privacy, to inform prevention strategies, school-based testing, contact tracing efforts, and quarantine and isolation practices.

 • Schools that plan to request voluntary submission of documentation of COVID-19 vaccination status should use the same standard protocols that are used to collect and secure other immunization or health status information from students.

• The protocol to collect, secure, use, and further disclose this information should comply with relevant statutory and regulatory requirements, including Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) statutory and regulatory requirements.

 • Policies or practices related to providing or receiving proof of COVID-19 vaccination should comply with all relevant state, tribal, local, or territorial laws and regulations

On masking:

Thus, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status and community transmission levels.

Click here for OSHA regulations.

Back to SED:

• The CDC recommends that schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms, combined with indoor mask wearing, to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. 

When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as cohorting. 

 • A distance of at least 6 feet is recommended between students and teachers/staff, and between teachers/staff who are not fully vaccinated. 

• The CDC states that cohorting can be used to limit the number of students, teachers, and staff who come in contact with each other, especially when it is challenging to maintain physical distancing, such as among young children, and particularly in areas of moderate-to-high transmission levels. The use of cohorting can limit the spread of COVID-19 between cohorts but should not replace other prevention measures within each group. 

• Pursuant to the CDC's Order, physical distancing is not required on school buses. The CDC states that, permitting large groups of students to eat in the cafeteria should be based on community transmission rates. Schools should maximize physical distance as much as possible when students are moving through the food service line and while eating (especially indoors). Using additional spaces and outdoor seating can facilitate distancing. Schools should consider limiting meals to classrooms in areas with substantial or high transmission rates.

On Covid testing:

For COVID-19 Testing in schools the CDC recommends screening testing:

• In areas with substantial or high community transmission levels; 

• In areas with low vaccination coverage; 

• For certain higher risk activities; 

• In schools where other prevention strategies are not implemented; and 

• For participants who are not fully vaccinated and seek to participate in sports, extracurricular activities, or other activities with elevated risk (such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, and exercise that could lead to increased exhalation). 

NYSED reminds schools:

• To obtain written parent/guardian consent prior to conducting any COVID-19 tests (for diagnostic or screening purposes) of students.

*Question: What happens if  a parent do not give consent to allow their child to be tested? Does that child just stay untested or is he/she sent for home instruction?

On Remote instruction:

The Department’s position on remote instruction, pursuant to the memo to the field from Commissioner Rosa on July 29, 2021, is as follows: 

 • So long as allowed by public health officials, schools should be open for in-person teaching and learning, and students should be in school. 

• In case of school closures due to a declared public health emergency, schools must be prepared to provide remote instruction. 

• While the Department will not require schools that are open for full-time, in-person instruction to provide on-line or remote instruction, districts may work with students and families to offer remote options if it is deemed to be in the best educational interest of the student.

 • Districts should consider the value of on-line capacity developed in response to the pandemic to expand programmatic offerings and to offer remote learning opportunities that are responsive to student needs. This can be done directly, through cooperative agreements with other school districts, or through Boards of Cooperative Educational Services. This can help where documented medical conditions prohibit the safe return for students to in-person instruction and where students who have otherwise struggled have excelled with remote learning. 

Remote instruction consistent with both the July 29, 2021 memo and existing regulations count for state aid purposes towards the minimum instructional hours and days.  


There is much more in the document. Please, tell us what you think.

26 comments:

  1. First CDC said

    vaccine “prevents all symptomatic infection and spread by 95%”

    then “reduces severity of symptoms and spread… some”

    then “reduces severe cases but not spread, so wear mask again!”

    If CDC no longer claims it reduces spread, how can anyone justify mandating it?

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  2. No distancing on bus??
    Didnt answer what if parent does not consent to testing

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  3. Not pushing for remote but this doesnt make sense:kids cant go unvaxxed to restaurantscand other indoor venues cuz they arent vaxxed.yet they can go to school.thisvjyst proves his mandates are spiteful and not about controlling covid.inconsistent hugely.

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  4. We don't want to have superspreader event in school like below.

    63 people have tested positive for Covid-19 on Martha’s Vineyard following Barack Obama’s maskless birthday party.

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  5. The CDC has lost credibility with millions and millions of Americans. They have just become an extension of the political left. People know when they're being gaslighted. And it all only gets magnified when you couple it with the distrust of government after many years of viewing the never ending clown circus coming from Washington DC

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  6. 3:12 you can't compare the risk of going to a restaurant to going to school in-person. There are serious consequences to students who have an interruption in learning. It may not happen to everyone because some students will have other supports, home schooling packages, "pods", but not everyone can get that.

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  7. 5:50 that's because you don't understand that science is always evolving, and you have wing media spreading propaganda news. That's why people don't trust them.

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    Replies
    1. Yes I have to agree the left-wing media is a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party

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  8. Someone mentioned (I think it was Bronx ATR) that colleges' policy was vaccine or testing, until it got past the emergency use. That's changed (at least at some schools). No vaccine, you do not get a room assignment. Commuter students may have a little more leeway but they also have to show a test before being allowed in.

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  9. What is this obsession with safety-ism in our culture? How is it we now find ourselves in a world where no one can ever get sick? The neuroticism in our society has climbed to an all-time high

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  10. @2:32 You said "If CDC no longer claims it reduces spread, how can anyone justify mandating it?"

    Because if it spreads to the vaccinated it is not as severe. That's how you can still justify mandating it.

    If it spread from the unvaccinated (or vaccinated) to other unvaccinated, it can be severe, require hospitalization, and even death. Those who are vaccinated no longer face those difficulties, for the most part.

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  11. I am 3:12.im pointi g out that they cant sit thete for the length of a meal cuz its too risky supposedly...but they can sit all day in crowded sxhools.thats why i say its bs and diblockhead is just trying to corner people into vaxxing.so obvious this ruse.its insulting what they do with these bribes.nobody is bribed for any other shot that is optional.health is priceless.im not vaxxed.i read that thete is a nasal vax in research.if it was safe, i would take it.not mrna.

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  12. "A GOP official from Texas who regularly espoused anti-vaccine and anti-mask views online has died from COVID-19, five days after posting a meme on Facebook questioning the wisdom of getting inoculated against COVID.

    Dickinson City Council member and State Republican Executive Committee member H. Scott Apley, 45, died in a local hospital around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help Apley’s family with expenses"

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  13. @7:02, that's real cute even if it doesn't make any any sense.

    I meant to say "right" wing media but left out the word right so you agree and say "left wing". But of course you knew that. It is NOT left wing who is bitching and moaning about the science evolving over time, AND it is right wing media that is spreading propaganda lies about the virus. Glad I could clear that up.

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  14. @7:31 You are missing the point. They don't have to sit at a restaurant for any length of time and risk life and limb. They can eat at home. They MUST return to school or suffer academic loss and emotional and mental issues. It's still a risk which is why they are insisting that teacher vaccinate themselves. It is not a ruse, you are simply anti-vaccination.

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  15. If the doe doesn’t remove violent and constantly disruptive students, does anyone really think they’ll remove kids who take their mask off? It’s the nyc doe, students have been taught well….that rules are never enforced. Shit show awaits in Sept.

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  16. I do think the majority of teachers and suits in the NYC DOE are democrats and/or liberals. Aren't democrats and liberals supposed to be pro choice? So, can choose to kill your child, but you must get the CoVid vaccine. I don't understand how anyone can be pro choice which is the intentional killing of children but at the same time insist on a vaccine mandate "to save lives."

    On a rather humorous, yet serious side: another way to get more people vaccinated would be to get the media to spread some falsehood about hundreds of thousands of pets dying from CoVid acquired from their owners. I think this would work. Nobody wants to be responsible for passing CoVid on to a pet!

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  17. It's not the DOE who is responsible for removing students who don't wear the masks, that up to local administration. It's hard to enforce and you have to stay on top of it, because the kids will start noticing what they, or others, can get away with it. Our school enforces those types of violations but then it's up to the teachers to stay on top of it, and it's not consistent. We couldn't even do it with less than 50 students in the building. It's going to be a major pain in the ass either way because students are not going to voluntarily comply.

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  18. Majorie Taylor Greene and Republicans are supposedly pro-life and they're making comments like 'the elderly have already lived their lives", and "we all have to die sometime". Doesn't sound very pro-life to me.

    Nobody is "intentionally killing children", get a grip.

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  19. Administration is the doe. Local administrators don’t remove….. same point.

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  20. They're not the same. But it's semantics. The DOE is the one setting policy. Local Admin doesn't set the calendar or ladder of referral. It's up to you to show the documentation if you want a "violent" and "disruptive" student removed (even temporarily to give you a few days break)

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  21. I thought we were on this thread, but earlier James posted: "The city’s principals union is warning that the new school year could again be chaotic, as the Department of Education’s social distancing guidelines will make it impossible to accommodate all students full-time."

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  22. @6:50 and you are stuck on stupid. You're in teaching and you don't know about the effects of interruption in learning? No wonder you're lost in the classroom "waaah, they don't want to do any work they just sit there, waaah".

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  23. Well, another summer session over, 155 hours, $8,300. 0 students. LOL. Oh well.

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