“We know that kids being in school is a good thing,” said Dr. David Quimby, an infectious disease expert with CHI Health. Lessons learned from years of pandemic teaching as students start their third full school year with COVID-19. “We built this plane as we were flying it,” said Jenni Benson, president of Nebraska’s Education Association, suggesting schools around the state embrace Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines this year. “We’re very confident using the CDC guidelines.”Even so, everyone agrees about one thing; each district, school and even classroom will have different needs.”Given that vaccination rates vary widely in different parts of the country, it’s really tough to have one guideline that would fit everywhere,” Quimby said. OPS, Ralston and Millard are adhering to Douglas County Health and CDC guidelines, so parents should be prepared to keep their kids home for five days if they test positive.Quimby recommends getting kids vaccinated. As of Monday, OPS will no longer update its online COVID-19 dashboard, although protocols are subject to change if cases spike. “It might not be the best at preventing all illness, but it does tend to make illness less severe,” Quimby said. Benson said higher vaccination rates can help solve a crucial problem: low numbers of substitute teachers. Older, retired teachers are more willing to step in.”We’re hoping that we can get them more into the classrooms this year,” said Benson, who reports there’s already a backlog of subs ready to return. “We really want to make sure that we’re focusing on what is the common ground, we can find, not what divides us, but what brings us together.”
“We know that kids being in school is a good thing,” said Dr. David Quimby, an infectious disease expert with CHI Health.
Lessons learned from years of pandemic teaching as students start their third full school year with COVID-19.
“We built this plane as we were flying it,” said Jenni Benson, president of Nebraska’s Education Association, suggesting schools around the state embrace Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines this year. “We’re very confident using the CDC guidelines.”
Even so, everyone agrees about one thing; each district, school and even classroom will have different needs.
“Given that vaccination rates vary widely in different parts of the country, it’s really tough to have one guideline that would fit everywhere,” Quimby said.
OPS, Ralston and Millard are adhering to Douglas County Health and CDC guidelines, so parents should be prepared to keep their kids home for five days if they test positive.
Quimby recommends getting kids vaccinated. As of Monday, OPS will no longer update its online COVID-19 dashboard, although protocols are subject to change if cases spike.
“It might not be the best at preventing all illness, but it does tend to make illness less severe,” Quimby said.
Benson said higher vaccination rates can help solve a crucial problem: low numbers of substitute teachers. Older, retired teachers are more willing to step in.
“We’re hoping that we can get them more into the classrooms this year,” said Benson, who reports there’s already a backlog of subs ready to return. “We really want to make sure that we’re focusing on what is the common ground, we can find, not what divides us, but what brings us together.”
