Category: Ridgewood Schools

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  last week, US CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky stated that agency officials are finalizing recommendations regarding school reopening and that official guidance should be published soon. The guidance is expected to play a major role as state and local governments and school systems across the country continue to debate how to safely return students and teachers to the classroom. The issue has been fiercely debated, extending to courtrooms and picket lines.  Joe Biden has indicated that he aims for most K-12 schools to reopen within his first 100 days in office. One of the biggest issues is how to prioritize teachers for vaccination and if or how to resume in-person classes before they can be vaccinated. Dr. Walensky recently stated that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for resuming in-person classes. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) includes teachers in its Tier 1b priority group, but Dr. Walensky indicated that schools can implement measures to mitigate transmission risk in the classroom until teachers can be vaccinated. In addition to teachers, there is also ongoing debate regarding the risk to students, most of whom are too young to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.