Updated July 23, 2020

Schools are an important part of the infrastructure of communities and play a critical role in supporting the whole child, not just their academic achievement.

This guidance is intended to aid school administrators as they consider how to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of students, teachers, other school staff, their families, and communities and prepare for educating students this fall.

This guidance is for K-12 school administrators who are preparing for students, teachers, and staff to return to school in fall 2020. School administrators are individuals who oversee the daily operations of K-12 schools, and may include school district superintendents, school principals, and assistant principals.

It is critical that all administrators:

• Engage and encourage everyone in the school and the community to practice preventive behaviors. These are the most important actions that will support schools’ safe reopening and will help them stay open.
• Implement multiple SARS-CoV-2 mitigation strategies (e.g., social distancing, cloth face coverings, hand hygiene, and use of cohorting).
• Communicate, educate, and reinforce appropriate hygiene and social distancing practices in ways that are developmentally appropriate for students, teachers, and staff.
• Integrate SARS-CoV-2 mitigation strategies into co-curricular and extracurricular activities (e.g., limiting or cancelling participation in activities where social distancing is not feasible).
• Maintain healthy environments (e.g., cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces).
• Make decisions that take into account the level of community transmission.
• Repurpose unused or underutilized school (or community) spaces to increase classroom space and facilitate social distancing, including outside spaces, where feasible;
• Develop a proactive plan for when a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19.
• Develop a plan with state and local health department to conduct case tracing in the event of a positive case.
• Educate parents and caregivers on the importance of monitoring for and responding to the symptoms of COVID-19 at home.
• Develop ongoing channels of communication with state and local health departments to stay updated on COVID-19 transmission and response in your local area.https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/health/cdc-coronavirus-school-guidelines-new/index.html