Trending
Although they continue to stress that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how school districts in the state approach dealing with the pandemic while working to maintain a continuity of instruction, officials from the Department of Education pointed out that they are beginning a more targeted approach of intervention as cases rise in the state.
"We have moved from sort of segmented approaches to now figuring out where there's areas where we could do statewide interventions to help with the mitigation and spread of the virus," said Noe Ortega, the state's acting Education Secretary.
Ortega made the remarks at a recent virtual press conference. He was joined by Deputy Secretary Matt Stem at the event.
Citing comments by Dr. Rachel Levine, the state's Secretary of Health that the number of cases among school children has been rising at an alarming rate, a reporter asked if there was a point at which the state decides there needs to be a "one size fits all" approach which would trigger a statewide pause in face-to-face instruction. Ortega did not answer the question but chose to defer to the policies of the governor and the Department of Health.
"The governor and Secretary Levine always have the discretion over how they're going to take more aggressive mitigation efforts at the state," Ortega said.
He added that at the moment because of emerging research around mitigation strategies, the decision to keep schools in in-person learning has remained in the hands of local school administrations.
With the possibility of vaccines on the horizon after the new year, Ortega said the state is continuing to explore what happens next.
"We're going to find ourselves in this environment for at least a few more months, if not longer. Then we're beginning to figure out how the current mitigation efforts are going to interact with whatever comes next in terms of us moving more closer to vaccination and other things," he said.
Joining the conversation, Stem pointed out that every leader around the world is trying to answer the question of what is the threshold where transmission in schools makes in-person instruction no longer viable
"We're watching what's happening here at a regional, national and global level and we will use those results to inform our next steps," Stem said
By the end of last month, school districts had to submit an attestation form agreeing that they would follow mitigation efforts in order to remain in in-person instruction even as the county in which they were located was in substantial rate of transmission for COVID-19.
Because the attestation requires schools to self-comply, Ortega and Stem were asked how that could be enforced.
"The first level of enforcement is maintaining close communication with what's happening in school and particularly making sure that local communities know what is happening in schools," Stem said.
He noted that all districts had to post a copy of the attestation documents on their websites as part of the district's health and safety plan.
"Additionally, if any calls come in through the Department of Health with concerns about what's happening in local school districts, the Department of Education does have a complaint system in place along with the Department of Health and we will investigate and look into those cases accordingly," Stem said.
He added that as yet, the state Department of Education has seen "thoughtful leadership among our school district leaders, among our school boards and our local communities."
"Where there are exceptions to that both the Department of Education and the Department of Health will respond fully and accordingly," he added.
Locally, several districts have pivoted to remote learning recently, prompted by either cases of coronavirus rising in a school or because of a lack of staffing due to people needing to quarantine after coming in contact with a person suspected of having the virus.