Schools are hard at work preparing to re-open our doors this fall, but our students, staff, and families have the right to schools that are safe.  Our government leaders must work now to ensure schools have access to the following in order to safely reopen this fall:

2-HOUR COVID TESTS FOR ANYONE EXPOSED

If a student, staff member, family member, etc. has or may have COVID-19, that individual and anyone exposed to that individual (whole classes) must be able to be tested by the school nurse with 2-hour tests.  Otherwise, schools will have to shut down until the tests can be done, or 14 days.  Given what we now know about the contagion level of COVID-19, if schools attempt to open without 2-hour test availability, we will be opening and shutting our doors over and over again, impossibly disrupting kids’ education.  Without 2-hour testing available, schools are better positioned to deliver remote education until such time that stability is in sight—when all are vaccinated or 2-hour testing is widely and easily available.

ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF ANTIBACTERIAL HAND SANITIZER

Schools must have access to an unlimited supply of antibacterial hand sanitizer.  Every classroom and common area must have dispensers, and schools must be able to keep those dispensers full.  Currently, there is very little supply, and unscrupulous vendors are selling this small supply at enormously marked up prices.  This is unacceptable.

ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF DISINFECTANT WIPES & SPRAY

Schools must have access to an unlimited supply of disinfectant wipes and spray.  Teachers and school staff must be able to quickly and easily disinfect shared surfaces and the myriad materials kids use at school in between use.  Without disinfectant wipes and spray, this task is an impossibility.

ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF DISINFECTING CLEANING SUPPLIES

Schools must have access to an unlimited supply of disinfecting cleaning agents.  In between building use, cleaning staff must have the tools and supplies they need to deep clean the building, following industry best practices.  Without these, schools will not be safe.

ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Schools also need access to unlimited supplies of the below items, which have at one point been unreasonably scarce, and we must continue to have sufficient access to these items for daily use:

• Masks
• Face shields
• Non-latex gloves
• No-touch thermometers
• Soap

We will do everything in our power to re-open schools as quickly as possible, but we cannot open if doing so will risk the health, safety, and lives of our students, staff, and families.  We need basic safety supplies.  Our government leaders must act now to deliver on the above for safe school re-open to become a reality this fall.