[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
BACK TO SCHOOL: HIGHLIGHTING BEST
PRACTICES FOR SAFELY REOPENING SCHOOLS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-28
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
45-793 WASHINGTON : 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Mariana Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY McBATH, Georgia MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona Ranking Member
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan MICHELLE STEEL, California
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York Vacancy
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
(ex officio)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on September 29, 2021............................... 1
Statement of Members:
Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee
on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Owens, Hon. Burgess, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education............. 4
Prepared statement of.................................... 6
Statement of Witnesses:
Forte, Denise, Interim Chief Executive Officer, The Education
Trust...................................................... 13
Prepared statement of.................................... 14
Jara, Jesus F., Ed. D., Superintendent of Schools, Clark
County School District..................................... 8
Prepared statement of.................................... 10
Jha, Ashish K., MD, MPH, Dean and Professor of Health
Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of
Public Health.............................................. 29
Prepared statement of.................................... 31
Zweig, David, Journalist..................................... 23
Prepared statement of.................................... 26
Additional Submissions:
Questions submitted for the record by:
Wilson, Hon. Frederica, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Florida
Morelle, Hon. Joseph D., a Representative in Congress
from the State of New York
Response to question submitted for the record by:
Dr. Jara................................................. 91
Ms. Forte................................................ 93
BACK TO SCHOOL: HIGHLIGHTING BEST
PRACTICES FOR SAFELY REOPENING SCHOOLS
----------
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m.,
via Zoom, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan [Chairman of the
Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Sablan, Hayes, Yarmuth, Wilson,
McBath, Levin, Manning, Bowman, Scott, Owens, Grothman, Allen,
Keller, Miller, Steel, and Foxx (ex officio).
Staff present: Melissa Bellin, Professional Staff Member;
Ijeoma Egekeze, Professional Staff Member; Rashage Green,
Director of Education Policy; Christian Haines, General
Counsel; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner,
Director of Information Technology; Joe Herrbach, Professional
Staff Member; Ariel Jona, Policy Associate; Andre Lindsay,
Policy Associate; Max Moore, Staff Assistant; Mariah Mowbray,
Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff Director; Kayla
Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique Pluviose, Staff
Director; Lakeisha Steele, Senior Education Policy Advisor;
Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information Technology;
Claire Viall, Professional Staff Member; Michael Davis,
Minority Operations Assistant; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority
Director of Education and Human Resources Policy; David
Maestas, Minority Fellow; Hannah Matesic, Director of Member
Services and Coalitions; Audra McGeorge, Minority
Communications Director; Eli Mitchell, Minority Legislative
Assistant; Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy
Director of Education Policy; and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior
Education Policy Advisor.
Mr. Sablan. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education will come to order. Welcome
everyone. I note that a quorum is present. The Subcommittee is
meeting today to hear testimony on ``Back to School: Best
Practices for Reopening Schools.''
This is an entirely remote hearing. All microphones will be
kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background
noise. Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting
themselves when they are recognized to speak, or when they wish
to seek recognition. I also ask that Members please identify
themselves before they speak. Members should keep their cameras
on while in the proceedings. Members shall be considered
present in the proceeding when they are visible on camera, and
they shall be considered not present when they are not visible
on camera. The only exception to this is if they are
experiencing technical difficulty and informed the Committee
staff of such difficulty.
If any Member experiences technical difficulty during the
hearing, you should stay connected on that platform. Make sure
you are muted and use your phone to immediately call the
Committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance.
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty or need to
step away, Mr. Levin or another minority Member--or another
majority Member, I apologize, a majority Member is hereby
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence. This is
an entirely remote hearing; as such, the Committee's hearing
room is officially closed. Our Members who choose to sit with
their individual devices in the hearing room must wear
headphones to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion resulting
from more than one person on the software platform sitting in
the same room. Members are also expected to adhere to social
distancing and safe healthcare guidelines, including the use of
masks, hand sanitizers, and wiping down their areas both before
and after their presence in the hearing room.
In order to ensure that the Committee's staff Committee
Rules are adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using
the Committee's digital timer, which appears in its own
thumbnail. Members and witnesses are urged to wrap up promptly
when their time has expired.
Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening statements are
limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member. This allows us to
hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all Members with
adequate time to ask questions.
I now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening
statement.
Today, we are discussing the obstacles schools have faced
to safely reopen, and how school districts by using the funding
from the American Rescue Plan to protect students and staff and
get students back on track. Each of us here agrees that safely
reopening schools for in-person learning is critical for our
fight against COVID-19. Across the country, students are
returning for the third school year under the cloud of a
pandemic that has disconnected millions of our students from
their education; expanded achievement gaps for students of
color, students with disabilities, and English language
learners; and eroded students' mental health. The emergence of
the Delta variant has elevated the threat facing our students.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than
240,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 during just 1
week earlier this month alone, 1 week. Fortunately, young
people who contract the virus appear to have lower risk of
serious illness.
However, lower risk is not zero risk. COVID-19 has claimed
the lives of nearly 500 Americans under the age of 17. That is
more than 2-1/2 times the number of students who have succumbed
to influenza, the flu, over that same period. And while young
people are more likely to recover, the risk of lingering
symptoms and the risk of transmission to adults must be taken
seriously. The Delta variant has intensified the challenges
facing school districts and the importance of implementing a
science-based layered mitigation strategy to get students and
staff safe.
With the right precautions and resources, schools can
mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and safely reopen classrooms.
This is why House Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan,
providing $122 billion to ensure school districts have the
resources to follow public health guidance, reopen, and remain
open, and support students' academic, and social emotional
needs. Today, our witnesses will help us examine how schools
are using these resources to navigate the difficult challenge
of reaching these goals.
In North Carolina, for example, schools that implement the
proper mask use largely prevented the transmission of the
virus, according to one study. In San Francisco schools, where
90 percent of adolescents are fully vaccinated, there have been
no COVID-19 outbreaks since classrooms reopened.
A recent nationwide surveys of school superintendents found
that three quarters of school districts are using Federal
funding for summer learning opportunities so that students can
catch up on lost time in the classroom.
In my district, the Northern Marianas Islands, schools are
also using this funding for summer learning, as well as hiring
more teachers to work with students needing additional support
and installing new ventilators in each classroom to help
prevent virus particles from accumulating. Unfortunately, some
States and school boards have chosen to play politics with
these resources instead of following the science.
In Florida, Republican education leaders have even blocked
funding for districts that require mask use. The State has one
of the worst COVID infection rates in the country, and its
schools desperately need resources. Undermining school funding
only makes it harder for students to safely return to
classrooms. Research shows that schools that started the
academic year without mask requirements were over three times
more likely to have a COVID-19 outbreak between August and
September.
However, we also know that reopening classrooms and making
up for lost learning time is not enough to ensure equal access
to quality education. Earlier this month, the Committee took
the step by passing its portion of the Build Back Better Act.
This included significant investments in school infrastructure
and teacher preparation that our schools and students need.
Today's hearing is an opportunity to learn from experts
about the obstacles schools face to reopening safely, how
schools can get students in the classroom safely, and how
States and districts can leverage Federal grants, Federal funds
to build a more inclusive education system for the future.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]
Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education
Today, we are discussing the obstacles schools have faced to safely
reopen, and how school districts are using the funding from the
American Rescue Plan to protect students and staff and get students
back on track.
Each of us here agrees that safely reopening schools for in-person
learning is critical to our fight against COVID-19.
Across the country, students are returning for their third school
year under the cloud of a pandemic that has:
Disconnected millions of our students from their education,
Expanded achievement gaps for students of color, students
with disabilities, and English language learners, and
Eroded students' mental health.
The emergence of the Delta variant has elevated the threat facing
our students. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more
than 240,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 during just 1 week
earlier this month, alone--one week. Fortunately, young people who
contract the virus appear to face lower risks of serious illness.
However, lower risk is not zero risk. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of
nearly 500 Americans under the age of 17. That's more than 2.5 times
the number of students who have succumbed to influenza, the flu, over
that same period.
And while young people are more likely to recover, the risk of
lingering symptoms and the risk of transmission to adults must be taken
seriously.
The Delta variant has intensified the challenges facing school
districts and the importance of implementing a science-based, layered
mitigation strategy to keep students and staff safe.
With the right precautions and resources-schools can mitigate the
spread of COVID-19 and safely reopen classrooms.
This is why House Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan,
providing $122 billion to ensure school districts have the resources to
follow public health guidance, reopen and remain open, and support
students' academic and social-emotional needs.
Today, our witnesses will help us examine how schools are using
these resources to navigate the difficult challenge of reaching these
goals.
In North Carolina, for example, schools that implemented proper
mask use largely prevented transmission of the virus, according to one
study.
In San Francisco schools, where 90 percent of adolescents are fully
vaccinated, there have been no COVID-19 outbreaks since classrooms
reopened.
And a recent nationwide survey of school superintendents found that
three-quarters of school districts are using Federal funding for summer
learning opportunities so that students can catch up on lost time in
the classroom.
In my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, schools are also
using this funding for summer learning as well as hiring more teachers
to work with students needing additional support and installing new
ventilators in each classroom to help prevent virus particles from
accumulating.
Unfortunately, some states and school boards have chosen to play
politics with these resources instead of following the science. In
Florida, Republican education leaders have even blocked funding for
districts that require mask use. The State has one of the worst COVID
infection rates in the country and its schools desperately need
resources. Undermining school funding only makes it harder for students
to safely return to classrooms.
Research shows that schools that started the academic year without
mask requirements were over three times more likely to have a COVID-19
outbreak between August and September.
However, we also know that reopening classrooms and making up for
lost learning time is not enough to ensure equal access to quality
education. Earlier this month, the Committee took the next step by
passing its portion of the Build Back Better Act. This included
significant investments in school infrastructure and teacher
preparation that our schools and students need.
Today's hearing is an opportunity to learn from experts about the
obstacles schools face to reopening safely, how schools can keep
students in the classroom safely, and how states and districts can
leverage Federal funds to build a more equitable education system for
the future.
______
I now turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Owens, for the
purpose of making an opening statement. I now recognized the
distinguished Ranking Member. Mr. Owens.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The American Rescue Plan did not deliver on its promise to
help schools safely reopen in this fall. If it had, we would
not be sitting here in this hearing today. Untargeted funds was
never the answer to safe-school reopening, and the Democrats
sabotaged those efforts even further by voting not to require
in-person learning as condition to COVID-19 relief funding. Our
top priority must be protecting children's access to classrooms
for full-time, in-person learning. To accomplish that goal, we
must lean on the scientific facts, and not political fiction.
According to the CDC, schools are not a significant source
of COVID-19 spread or infections. The current surge we are
experiencing in COVID-19 related hospitalizations began in
June, long before schools reopened. And the data from the Los
Angeles Unified School District showed that infection rates in
that school dropped following the mass school reopening.
We also know that children are at exceptionally low risk of
infections from COVID-19. For adults, including teachers,
school administrators, administration staff, and children over
12 there are several safe, effective, and widely available
vaccines that are proven to ward off serious infections and
hospitalization.
For those in need of extra protection, masking is also
available. While the science behind the benefits of masking up
for our children is questionable, parents know best how to
safeguard their children's mental and physical health. As such,
the Federal Government has no business dictating medical
decisions on behalf of individuals and families.
Clearly, the classroom setting does not heighten the
children's and teachers' risk of severe COVID-19 cases. But all
children, especially those with disabilities and experiencing
domestic abuse or poverty, are at exceptional risk of learning
loss and mental health decline for remote learning. To make
matters worse, we do not know the long-term implications of
mass school closures. But preliminary data suggest that it is
negatively impacting the entire trajectory of students' lives.
During the 2020 through 2021 school year, students fell an
average of 5 months behind in math, and 4 months behind in
reading. Low-income and minority children were especially
impacted by these closures, falling 1 to 2 months further
behind their white peers.
To put this in perspective, as a result of pandemic-related
learning loss, students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over
their lifetime. T That would impact the U.S. economy by $128
billion to $188 billion annually once this generation enters
the workforce.
Every child's life and learning are important. We should do
everything we can to ensure that they receive a high-quality
education. But this is not just individual futures on the line;
our entire society stands to lose if we cannot get our
educational system in order. Democrats are choosing the devil
we don't know, with a long-term impact of learning loss, over
the devil we do know, COVID-19. We have long-term mitigation
and prevention strategies in place to prevent serious
infections. We do not have a long-term strategy in place to
reeducate millions of students who fell behind or off the
school radars all together.
More funding is not the answer. More government mandates
are not the answer. I urge our Committee to lead by example and
fully reopen as a signal to schools across our country that it
is safe for them to do so, too.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Owens follows:]
Statement of Hon. Burgess Owens, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education
The American Rescue Plan did not deliver on its promise to help
schools safely reopen in the fall. If it had, we would not be sitting
in this hearing today. Untargeted funding was never the answer to safe
school reopenings, and Democrats sabotaged those efforts even further
by voting not to require in-person learning as a condition of COVID-19
relief funding.
Our top priority must be protecting children's access to the
classroom for full-time, in-person learning. To accomplish that goal,
we must lean on scientific facts and not political fictions. According
to the CDC, schools are not a significant source of COVID-19 spread or
infections. The current surge we are experiencing in COVID-19 related
hospitalizations began in June, long before schools reopened, and data
from the Los Angeles Unified School District show that infection rates
in that district dropped following mass school reopenings.
We also know that children are at exceptionally low risk of
infection and hospitalization from COVID-19. For adults, including
teachers and school administration staff, and children over 12 there
are several safe, effective, and widely available vaccines that are
proven to ward off serious infections and hospitalization.
For those in need of extra protection, masking is also available.
While the science behind the benefits of masking for children is
questionable, parents know best how to safeguard their children's
mental and physical health. As such, the Federal Government has no
business dictating medical decisions on behalf of individuals and
families.
Clearly, the classroom setting does not heighten children and
teachers' risk of severe COVID-19 cases. But all children, especially
those with disabilities and experiencing domestic abuse or poverty, are
at exceptional risk of learning loss and mental health decline from
remote learning.
To make matters worse, we do not know the long-term implications of
mass school closures, but preliminary data and studies suggest that it
is negatively impacting the entire trajectory of students' lives.
During the 2020-2021 school year, students fell on average 5 months
behind in math and 4 months behind in reading. Low-income and minority
children were especially impacted by these closures, falling one to 2
months further behind than their white or wealthy peers.
To put that into perspective, as a result of pandemic-related
learning loss, students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over their
lifetime. That could impact the U.S. economy by
$128 billion to $188 billion annually once this generation enters
the workforce.
Every child's life and learning are important, and we should do
everything we can to ensure they receive a high-quality education. But
it's not just individual futures on the line--our entire society stands
to lose if we cannot get our educational system in order.
Democrats are choosing the devil we don't know, the long-term
impacts of learning loss, over the devil we do, COVID-19. We have long-
term mitigation and prevention strategies in place to prevent serious
infections. We do not have long-term strategies in place to reeducate
millions of students who fell behind or off schools' radars completely.
More funding is not the answer. More government mandates are not
the answer. I urge this Committee to lead by example and fully reopen
as a signal to schools across America that it is safe for them to do
so, too.
______
Thank you to all the witnesses for participating in this
important discussion today. And I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you very much, thank you, Mr. Owens.
Now, without objection, all the Members who wish to insert
written statements into the record may do so by submitting them
to the Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format
by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13.
I will now introduce our witnesses. I will start with Dr.
Jesus Jara. Mr. Jara, I would like for you to know that my
father, my late father also was named Jesus. And Mr. Jara has
served as superintendent of the Clark County, Nevada school
district, the fifth largest school district in the Nation,
since 2018. Previously he served as a Deputy Superintendent for
Orange County Public Schools and the Superintendent and Chief
Operations Officers in Monroe County Public Schools in Florida.
He received his doctorate in education, education policy,
leadership, and administration from the University of
Massachusetts in Amherst. I am pleased to recognize my
distinguished colleague, Chairman Bobby Scott, to quickly,
briefly introduce our next witness.
Chairman Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I am very
proud to introduce somebody I have known for about 25 years.
Denise Forte has worked in leadership roles in several
nonprofit organizations, and spent 20 years in progressively
senior, congressional staff roles, starting on my staff. And
most recently, as Staff Director of the House Committee on
Education, and what was then the Workforce, on the Democratic
side.
She also served the Obama administration at the Department
of Education, where she held the positions of Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary in the
Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. She has
a B.S. in computer science from Duke, and an M.A. in Women's
Studies from George Washington University.
And now, she serves as the interim CEO of Education Trust,
a well-known, well respected, national nonprofit research and
advocacy organization that works to close opportunity gaps that
disproportionately affect students of color and students from
low-income backgrounds. It is certainly a pleasure and a
delight to welcome Denise Forte back to the Committee.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Chairman Scott.
Our next witness is Mr. --let me try this. Mr. David
Zweig--did I come close, David--who is a freelance journalist
who has written for the Atlantic, The New York Times, and The
Wall Street Journal, among other national publications. I am
going to say David here. I apologize. David has been invited to
lecture about the intersection of media, technology, and
psychology at numerous universities and academic conferences
around the country and abroad. He has also written extensively
on issues related to COVID-19, kids, and schools.
Our other witness is Dr. Ashish Jha. Wow, I thought it was
Jesus. But Dr. Jha is Dean of the Brown School of Public
Health, is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic
preparedness, and response, as well on policy research and
practice. Previously, he served as a faculty Member of the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical
School, was the Director of the Harvard Global Health
Institute, and served as the Dean for Global Strategy at the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Jha received of
his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and holds a Master's in
public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public
Health.
We appreciate the witnesses, all of you, for participating
today, and look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the
witnesses that we have read your written statements, and they
will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to
Committee Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, each of you is
asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5-minute summary of
your written statement.
Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute
your microphone. During your testimony, staff will be keeping
track of time, and a light will blink when time is up. Please
be attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is over, and
re-mute your microphone. If any of you are experiencing
technical difficulty during your testimony or later in the
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform. Make sure
you are muted and use your phone to immediately call the
Committee's IT director, whose number was provided to you in
advance.
We will let all the witnesses make their presentations
before we move to Member questions. When answering a question,
please remember to unmute your microphone. The witnesses are
aware of the responsibility to provide accurate information to
the Subcommittee and therefore we will proceed with your
testimony.
I will first recognize Dr. Jara. Dr. Jara, you have five
minutes, sir.
STATEMENT OF DR. JESUS F. JARA, Ed.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF
SCHOOLS, CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Mr. Jara. Thank you. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Owens,
and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the invitation
to participate in this hearing.
For the record, my name is Dr. Jesus Jara. I serve as a
superintendent of the Clark County School District in Las
Vegas, Nevada, the fifth largest district in the country,
serving 304,000 diverse students as a minority majority school
district with over 70 percent of our children receiving free
and reduced lunch meals.
We reopened our schools in March 2021. This feat was only
possible because of our 42,000 employees, our business and our
community partners, and the families of the Clark County
community. Federal support from the American Rescue Plan made
it possible for our school district to stay connected to our
students, so they could continue learning from home during the
pandemic. As we adapted to these unprecedented circumstances,
we went from crisis to response, then to stabilization, to
improvement.
Let me illustrate what the Clark County School District did
to respond. When the pandemic hit and the decision to shut down
was made, our priority was to protect our students and staff.
We sent everyone home, and then sent about creating distance
learning options to students could connect and learn from their
teachers. We quickly discovered that many of our students
didn't have internet access or mobile phones. One young woman
in high school who had no internet access, or a mobile phone
asked a friend to contact her teachers to get her missed
assignments. Once alerted to her circumstances, her teacher
relayed the information to the administration, and provided the
necessary connections for continued learning. This young woman
caught up in her assignments. I am proud to say she will start
college next fall.
Similar stories played out throughout the school district,
and our country, and our public schools. In a matter of weeks,
we were able to deploy over 247,000 devices and provide
internet access to the students who previously did not have it.
In 2020, student mental health escalated, and we moved to
intervene immediately. The district created Lifeline, a program
to enable educators and leadership to interface with and
determine student's level of need. We also instituted protocols
to ensure students isolated at home could meet with school-
based mental health professionals in virtual and in-person
formats. We know kids need to be with their peers in the
classrooms, learning from their teachers. As we designed our
back-to-school plan we consulted stakeholders throughout the
school district and our community, including our five
bargaining units representing 42,000 employees of the Clark
County School District. Together, we instituted a mask mandate
and social distancing protocols, purchased, and provided PPE,
enhanced cleaning protocols, and improved ventilation systems.
Without their vying and voices in the process, we would not
have been able to reopen our schools in March 2021. Like so
many other urban districts across America, my colleagues and I
are experiencing staff shortages. We need more substitute
teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and custodians. All
of these vacancies are putting instruction, extracurricular
activities, and maintenance of our district assets at risk.
The American Rescue Plan COVID relief funds enabled the
Clark County Public Schools to prioritize the needs, address
obstacles, reopen safely to support students' social, and
emotional learning, and academic needs. We enlisted over 80
nongovernmental organizations to help us design a program
called Focus on the Future of Our Kids: Community Input
Process. We have received over 13,000 responses from families
and Members of the community. In addition to students most
impacted by the pandemic, 90 percent of the survey respondents
identified those who experienced historical, racial inequities,
students of low-income families, students of color, English
language learners, children with disabilities, and students
experiencing homelessness. Because of these community
conversations, we have allocated $533 million of the allocated
dollars in ESSER. We firmly believe that investing our ARP
funding to address learning needs is prudent despite the
infrastructure and other investment needed in this district. We
are hopeful that these needs can be remedied using the school
construction funding in the budget reconciliation act proposed
by the House of Representatives.
The circumstances were unprecedented. The needs are great.
And now it is time to shape a recovery benefiting our children,
our community, our country, and the future.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify this
morning.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Jara follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jesus F. Jara
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Dr. Jara.
We will now hear from Ms. Forte. Ms. Forte, welcome back to
the Committee. And you have five minutes, please.
STATEMENT OF DENISE FORTE, INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE
EDUCATION TRUST
Ms. Forte. Good morning, Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member
Owens, Chairman Scott, and Members of the Committee. My name is
Denise Forte, and I am the interim CEO of The Education Trust,
a national nonprofit research and advocacy organization
dedicated to closing opportunity gaps in education that
disproportionately impact students of color and students from
low-income backgrounds. As noted, I was also a congressional
staff Member for 20 years, most recently as the staff director
for this Committee. So, it's truly an honor to return to the
Committee today. And in my other full-time job, I am the proud
mother of two sons who attend public schools right here in D.C.
and are experiencing firsthand the return to school after
spending a year at home in virtual settings.
Today, I am pleased to share The Education Trust's thoughts
on how we, collectively, can address the long-standing
inequities that we know existed before COVID-19 and have grown,
how we support student and community voice, and implement
evidence-based and equitable solutions to ensure student
success.
As this school year is underway, district leaders and
educators across the country are working hard to meet the needs
of students, families, and staff using vital American Rescue
Plan funds.
The Education Trust has spent the last 18 months working
with advocates from civil rights, disability rights, business,
education, and parent communities to center their voices in a
recovery effort, and highlight promising actions taken by
States and districts. Today, we are urging State and local
leaders to take these actions.
First, State and school district leaders must address the
immediate needs of educators, students, and families. Parents
understand that in-person learning is preferable. However, many
families of color, including Black families, have reasonable
mistrust with our public school and public healthcare systems.
Trust between school leaders, community Members, and parents is
the foundation of a strong and safe school community and
maximizes student outcome.
Leaders should actively inform and invite conversations
with families. Trust is also built when districts and schools
marshal their resources to provide safe, in-person learning
through adequate testing and contact tracing, upgrades to
replace faulty and out-of-date ventilation, and basic public
health protocols, such as mandatory masking, distancing, and
hand-washing, and, obviously, access to COVID-19 vaccinations.
Second, States and school districts must ensure that
funding is used equitably to address students' social,
emotional, and academic development. Beyond addressing the
immediate physical needs of students, educators, and staff, we
must do everything in our power to ensure that children reach
their highest academic potential and overcome this devastating
year-and-a-half of unfinished learning.
Our research indicates when implemented under the right
conditions, there are two strategies that are most effective to
accelerate learning: targeted intensive tutoring and expanded
learning time. We also know that strong, positive relationships
with teachers and schools can dramatically enhance motivation,
academic engagement, and social skills.
In close partnership with a diverse and representative set
of stakeholders, States should support districts and schools to
identify and implement evidence-based strategies to accelerate
student learning. These efforts should include high-quality
statewide summative assessments to help target additional
resources; professional learning opportunities for educators to
ensure students have the opportunity to reach high standards;
and additionally, strategies for leveraging school-based
teacher leadership, distributed leadership, and innovative
staffing models to provide supervision and support to tutors
and teachers.
Additionally, they can and should invest in high-quality,
culturally responsive instruction materials that teach the
truth about the history of this country. We call upon States
and school districts to provide clear and accessible
information about how they are spending the precious relief
dollars.
Finally, State and school districts must ensure that
funding is used to lay the foundation to address the inequities
that are exacerbated by COVID-19. State and local leaders
should be planning for how ARP funds and other resources can
yield lasting, structural change. Congress should support these
efforts in a variety of areas, including possible legislation
to increase equitable access to early childhood education,
advanced course work, home broadband, strong and diverse
educators, and school meals, eliminate discriminatory school
discipline practices and incentivize States and localities to
make their funding formulas more equitable.
In closing, The Education Trust looks forward to assisting
State and local leaders, Congress, and the administration in
deploying resources in equitable ways, that address the needs
of underserved students, and close opportunity and access gaps.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, and
I look forward to taking your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Forte follows:]
Prepared Statement of Denise Forte
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Forte, for your
testimony.
We will next hear from Mr. Zweig. Sir, you have for five
minutes. Thank you. I think you are muted, sir.
David, you are muted. We can't hear you. You have to
unmute. We would really like to hear your testimony.
OK. Let's move on to the next witness, David, and then we
will come back to you, because we do----
Mr. Zweig. I switched.
Mr. Sablan. five minutes here. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF DAVID ZWEIG, JOURNALIST, THE ATLANTIC, NEW YORK
MAGAZINE, WIRED MAGAZINE
Mr. Zweig. Is it me now? OK.
Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Sablan. Thank Ranking
Member Owens, and Members of the Subcommittee for inviting me
to testify today.
Since the spring of 2020, I have been researching and
writing about the nexus of kids and schools and COVID. From the
beginning of the pandemic, I have looked not only at the
circumstances in our country, but, critically, contrasted them
with the circumstances surrounding, and the policies affecting,
children and schools in other countries.
In late April 2020, schools began reopening in much of
Europe. Roughly a month later, the schools remained open as the
education ministers from 22 EU nations convened, and it was
reported that open schools were not causing an increase in
cases. Yet, in America, schools stayed closed for the duration
of the academic year.
That spring set the tone for much of America's approach to
children and schooling for the rest of the pandemic. Today, we
are seeing similar patterns play out in many of our schools
with excessive mitigation measures, where, once again, the U.S.
differs greatly from most of our peer nations across the
Atlantic.
Since at least right now, there is general agreement that
schools should be open, the relevant discussion is how they
should remain open. One issue is quarantine protocols that
repeatedly send great numbers of healthy children home for
days, or for more than a week at a time. Instead, schools
should consider employing Test to Stay. In this program, if a
student is exposed at school, they get tested, and if negative,
they continue to attend school. A large study of more than 200
schools in England found that quarantining students offered no
benefit over Test to Stay.
This program is also preferable to routine surveillance
testing, considering the latter's onerous costs, logistics, and
the high potential for high rates of false positives. Some
countries are not employing either practice and are simply
following the classic advice ``if you're sick, stay home.''
The most charged topic in the U.S. and one that I have
extensively researched and written about is student mask
mandates. Recently, the CDC released two studies which
concluded that mask mandates correlate with the lower-case
rates in schools. The studies, however, have major limitations.
Among them, not accounting for vaccination rates among staff
and eligible students, nor accounting for changes in community
rates.
Conversely, the CDC published a large comparative study
earlier this year of more than 90,000 students that found no
significant benefit of student mask mandates. But debating
conflicting studies on mask mandates distracts from and
undermines confidence in the schools that we know work, such as
fresh air and vaccinating the adults around children.
The World Health Organization advises against masking
children under age 6 and recommends masks on kids aged 6 to 11
only under certain circumstances. The European Center for
Disease Prevention and Control does not recommend masks for
primary students at all. Yet, the CDC recommends that all
American children, starting at age 2 wear masks in school. To
be clear, millions of children in Europe are not wearing masks
in school. If there is no evidence that kids in Europe are at a
greater risk of severe illness, or a bad outcome, or their
surrounding communities are at a greater risk than their
counterparts in the U.S. because of this policy, we should ask
ourselves why so many nations in Europe and elsewhere have
already settled this issue from a policy perspective, they
don't make kids wear masks. Why do we? Masks are not a benign
intervention. They interfere with language acquisition, reading
comprehension, and socio-emotional development. Quite simply,
seeing faces is a fundamental part of how humans, and
especially children, connect and communicate with each other.
None of us knows what the impact will be, nor what it is like
as a child to wear a mask all day, every day, for years on end.
More broadly, to what end are we implementing all these
intervention in schools? COVID, as has been known since the
very beginning, thankfully poses very limited risk of severe
disease to almost all children. There is much to say on this
specific point, some of which I detailed in my written
testimony.
Risk averse does not mean doing everything possible or
conceivable to mitigate the spread of a virus to kids. Rather,
we are treating the risk of one harm to the amplification of
risk from other harms. Keeping kids home, alone in their
bedrooms, glassy eyed in front of screens all day is not,
quote, ``playing it safe.'' Nor is preventing them from seeing
their friend's smiles or their teachers' faces. For a few
weeks, this was no big deal, but now in academic year No. 3 of
the pandemic, we need specific metrics for when these
interventions on children can end. The reason school policies
in European nations differ from ours is not because they have,
quote, ``beaten the virus.'' It is because they are, and have
been, interpreting the data very differently from our public
health officials.
I urge the Members of this Committee to ask the CDC to
provide specific, evidence-based reasons why its masking
guidance differs so dramatically from that of the World Health
Organization, UNICEF, and the ECDC, and why our Nation's school
children have dramatically different burdens imposed upon them
relative to their European peers.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Zweig follows:]
Prepared Statement of David Zweig
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Dr. Jha. I mean, Mr. Zweig. Thank
you.
Finally, we will hear from Dr. Jha. Dr. Jha, please unmute
your microphone and you have for five minutes. Thank you very
much.
STATEMENT OF DR. ASHISH K. JHA, DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF HEALTH
SERVICES, POLICY AND PRACTICE, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF
PUBLIC HEALTH
Dr. Jha. Good morning, and I hope you can all hear me OK.
Thank you, Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Owens, and Chairman
Scott. Thank you for having me here.
Approximately 20 months, ago we confronted a novel disease
we knew almost knowing about. Today, about 20 months later, we
know how the virus spreads, and we have developed all the tools
we need to end this pandemic. But because we have failed to
apply that knowledge consistently, too many Americans continue
to get infected and ill across our country.
Today's focus is on COVID and kids in schools. Throughout
this pandemic, the risk for kids has been consistently
minimized, based largely on the fact that children are less
likely to get sick than adults. This is, of course, true. It is
also the wrong comparison, because basically for nearly every
disease, kids always have better outcomes than adults, whether
it is COVID, or the flu, or even cancer, kids have lower
mortality than adults. The question isn't are kids at lower
risk compared to adults? The question is: How does the risk of
COVID in kids compare to other risks that children face? And
with that lens, it is clear that COVID is an important
challenge. Over the past year, COVID has been one of the
leading--one of the top 10 causes of death--among American
children. So, while the risk is low, we cannot and should not
be cavalier about its short term or long-term effects.
Now the risk of COVID in kids and staff have led many
school districts to remain remote for much of the last year.
The harm done by closed schools has been well-documented today
by other experts. And I am not going to go through it. But it
is very clear that closed schools are very, very harmful to
children. And in our hyper-polarized country, some have chosen
to highlight the very real cost of keeping schools closed,
while minimizing the risk of COVID in kids. Others highlight
the real cost of COVID to kids and minimize the cost of closing
schools. We need to do better: less polarization, more focus on
children.
And here is the good news on all of this. We can do both.
During the past 20 months of studying SARS-CoV-2 and from
decades of studying how airborne viruses spread, we know how to
keep students and staff safe in schools. There is broad
consensus among experts, both in the U.S. and around the globe
that we must take a layered infection prevention approach. So
what is that? Vaccinations, ventilation, and filtration--and I
will go through each of these a bit more--regular testing and
tracing, universal use of masks, and avoiding crowds and
promoting personal hygiene. No single layer is perfect. But
implemented together, they can make a big difference.
Now, of course, each school and each community is
different. And that means school districts must invest in
strategies in ways that allow them to implement these
strategies, taking those local context factors into account.
One key approach is that schools or school districts need to
develop school-based teams who are focused on keeping schools
safe.
Now, I want to talk about what the barriers to
implementation of these strategies have been. There are many
obstacles. But perhaps, none is more daunting than the
misinformation and disinformation that is undermining public
confidence in the scientific evidence. Here is some of what
that evidence tells us: vaccines are the most effective weapon
we have in this pandemic. And schools should require all adult
staff to be vaccinated and should strongly encourage kids where
eligible to get vaccinated.
Masking makes a difference. It is puzzling to me that some
people think it wouldn't. This is an airborne disease spread
primarily through aerosols. Masks slow the spread of aerosols
and reduce inhalation, albeit imperfectly. In study after
study, the data suggested that masking reduces spread. No
single study is perfect. One can look at the dozens of studies
and find holes in every one of them, but that is not how
evidence-based decisionmaking works.
As a doctor, I am confronted with dozens of clinical
questions where the data are not perfect. I look at the
totality of the evidence. And from the totality of the
evidence, the data is very clear, masks for children are
helpful. We know testing is critical. Testing students and
staff, regardless of symptoms, allows schools to immediately
identify cases and prevent large outbreaks. And we know that
ventilation and filtration make a very big difference. This can
be as easy as opening windows and doors, but also requires
upgrades in air filters in ventilation systems.
Thankfully, Federal funding has been provided through the
ARP for these critical upgrades, investments that will help end
the pandemic. But better air quality will have long-term
benefits as well: improving cognition, moods, preventing the
spread of other infections. This is a really smart investment
for our kids.
So, in conclusion, for all the progress we have made as a
Nation, there is a lot more we have to do to confront the
challenges of this pandemic. It is imperative that we act on
the knowledge we have gained and use all of these measures to
keep kids and staff safe in schools. If we do these things, we
can get them back safely, we can end this pandemic, and build
resilience against health threats of the future. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Jha follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ashish K. Jha
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you very much.
And, so, we will now move on to Member questions. Under
Rule 9(a), we will now question witnesses under the five-minute
rule. I will be recognizing Subcommittee Members in seniority
order. And again, to ensure that the Members' five-minute rule
is adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time, and the
timer will show a blinking light when that time has expired. So
please be attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is
over, and re-mute your microphone.
As Chair, I now recognize myself for five minutes.
Superintendent Jara, numerous studies show that lost
instructional times has impacted student learning and
exacerbated preexisting achievement gaps. The American Rescue
Plan requires that school districts use at least 20 percent of
their funds to address lost instructional time by supporting
students' academic, social, and emotional needs. And I was
really encouraged, greatly encouraged to see the Clark County
School District is exceeding this reservation and using 80
percent of its American Rescue Plan funds to address learning
loss. I am rather envious.
So Superintendent, can you share the evidence-based
interventions that Clark County Public Schools are using to
support student learning this school year? And how is Clark
County School District ensuring those interventions are
targeted to meet the needs of student groups most impacted by
the pandemic, such as students of color, students from low-
income backgrounds, and students with disabilities, and English
learners?
Mr. Jara. Chairman Sablan, superintendent Jara for the
record again. Thank you. First of all, let me just thank
Congress for the allocation of the resources that have been
provided. I think it is a historic investment in K-12
education, so I really appreciate as we are moving into this
direction.
As I mentioned in my testimony, this was something that was
important for us as a community to really allocate time for
community input. As moved into improvement after we stabilized
this community and our children, one of the things that was
very clear was their loss in learning. And there is an
opportunity for us to move forward.
So, the allocation of resources to support our kids really
was research-based, but also involved community input. We
brought in our students to reengage in summer accelerations. I
heard in your opening remarks a lot of our school systems
brought in our kids in this summer for summer acceleration,
reengaging into our schools.
So, we are looking at extended learning opportunities,
really investing in our educators? professional learning. We
are proud of the work around mathematics across the entire
district. Our English language learners, all our teachers,
18,000 educators, had the opportunity to participate in
learning. Lowering the ratios for safe professionals are
included in the plan to hire more social workers, including
counselors, implementing high quality math instruction,
professional development, as well for our educators and
instructional materials, purchasing really some of the
personalized opportunities for our kids in programs, not only
through technology, but also manipulators and face-to-face. And
then we have a huge, Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee,
investment in early childhood. We know that our children, the
earlier that we get them in our schools, I would say, the
better chances we have in really eliminating some of the gaps.
So, there is a huge investment in our early childhood and
early literacy for our teachers and our educators. So thank
you, Chairman.
Mr. Sablan. No. Thank you, Superintendent.
Ms. Forte, let me try and get this one in. Education
advocacy and civil rights groups have called on the Department
of Education to ensure that as we start accountability systems
as required under the Every Student Succeeds Act, these systems
are equipped to identify low-performing schools and direct
additional support and resources where they are needed the
most.
So, how can the Department of Education support States in
improving their accountability systems to ensure that Federal
resources are supporting these schools and addressing the
resources inequities that students of color and students from
low-income backgrounds face?
Ms. Forte, we have less than half a minute.
Ms. Forte. Yes. Thank you for that question, though. We
can't go back to a time when all this data was hidden, and that
is why accountability systems have been so important. The
Department plays a critical role in supporting States to
develop and implement these systems that actually drive
additional Federal resources to schools, to address resource
inequities. And in order to have a robust set of student
opportunity in outcomes, we do need a fuller picture where
students have equitable experiences. And States really have to
be the first ones to be able to collect and provide that
transparent data.
Hopefully the Department can reiterate through guidance or
technical assistance that States and school districts can use
funding from the ARP to invest in robust K-16 data systems.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you. Now, Ms. Forte, we are out of time,
but if you could please provide us some greater detail in
response to that question. I would appreciate it.
I would now like to recognize the Ranking Member, Mr.
Owens, for his questions. Mr. Owens, you have for five minutes,
sir, please.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Zweig, in your testimony, you discussed one of the most
critical issues we face in this debate, which is the number of
students being quarantined and the length of those quarantines.
Los Angeles County released data 2 weeks ago showing that only
.2 percent of the students and staff in close contact in
schools subsequently tested positive. This seems to demonstrate
an extremely low level of COVID spread in the school systems in
Los Angeles County. How should this inform the debate about
quarantine?
Mr. Zweig. It is an important question, and as I noted in
my initial statement, one of the best ways, I think, to address
this is to use a program like Test to Stay, which has shown to
be really effective and successful at not quarantining kids who
are healthy and keeping them home, yet also keeping the schools
safe at the same time. If there is a child who is exposed to
someone who was infected, you test that child. If they are
negative, send them back to class.
Mr. Owens. Very good. I am going to continue with you
asking you, several States have prohibited their school
districts from implementing universal mask mandates in their
school districts. And those States have been criticized and
investigated by the Biden administration. Do you believe local
school and public health officials have sufficient expertise to
make policy decisions about COVID mitigation strategies without
State guidance?
Mr. Zweig. It is interesting. I have interviewed
superintendents from the tiniest school districts to some of
our largest cities in the country. And every single one of them
has told me, I am not equipped to make these types of
decisions. They lack epidemiological and infectious disease
expertise. These are educational professionals.
So, time and again, they have almost been begging to have
more guidance from above, particularly from their State
Government saying you need to do X, and that way, it frees them
up, and then they just follow the guidelines of State health
departments that actually do have the staff, that do have the
expertise in these healthcare matters, rather than sort of
punting it to people who, where this is totally outside of
their wheelhouse.
Mr. Owens. And one last question. Two of our other
Subcommittees had a joint hearing yesterday, ``Examining Ways
to Protect the Health of Communities from COVID-19.'' Among
other things that the hearing looked into, specifically, was
the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of
color, which you argue that the country's mitigation strategies
in schools have reduced or exacerbated, or increased the
disproportionality of COVID's impact on our communities at
risk?
Mr. Zweig. Yes. There is an extensive amount of evidence,
and data, and studies that shows that those people with the
least resources, particularly in relation to schools and
education, have suffered the most, whether it is from school
closures, because those children at home, they have family
Members who are unable to help them with work, versus families
with more resources can hire tutors, and maybe one of the
parents is home.
So, schools closures have been really damaging to them, and
even things like mitigation measures within the schools are
more damaging. An example might be where you have a child who,
perhaps, their family are English language learners. And the
parents are not able to help them read at home. And the child
is a kindergartner, and when they are in school, their only
opportunity for learning how to read is when they are wearing a
mask and the teachers are wearing a mask. Whereas other
students, they can go home, there is no mask, they have tutors,
et cetera.
So, these are just a couple of examples. This is what we
see play out in society at large, that the people with the
fewest resources unfortunately often bear the greatest brunt of
the burden of these types of mitigation measures. And the
education and school system is no exception to that problem.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Sablan. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Owens.
I would now like to continue on with Member questioning. I
would like to recognize one of my favorite teachers, Mrs.
Hayes. Mrs. Hayes, five minutes please.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Chairman Sablan. And thank you so
much for having this hearing. And to all of the witnesses for
being here to continue this important conversation on this
critical issue.
My Governor has issued guidelines that require masks to be
worn in schools, for school bus drivers and at childcare
facilities. And he recently implemented in the State of
Connecticut a requirement that all school personnel be
vaccinated or require testing. This is a decision that is not
made lightly. It is made for the health and safety of our
children.
I want to emphasize that this measure underscores
Connecticut's efforts to reopen schools safely and in person.
Something that we struggled with as a Nation all of last year.
So, we are taking those measures in conjunction with aggressive
State vaccination efforts so that our children can learn at
school full-time, in person.
Today, Connecticut's positivity rate is about 2.83 percent,
which we are very proud of, because we have taken this pandemic
seriously from the very beginning. But there are still many
challenges for breakthrough cases in our areas of highest need
and our most vulnerable students.
Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued an
interim final ruling requiring that State and school districts
meaningfully engage in stakeholder consultations and take
public input into account when developing their plans to use
American Rescue Plan funds.
Ms. Forte, why is it important for school districts to
engage a diverse and representatives set of stakeholders in
their reopening plans?
Ms. Forte. Thank you for that question, Congresswoman
Hayes.
The importance and criticality honestly of stakeholders
can't be understated. It is critical that States and school
districts meaningfully engage those who have a deep, deep
understanding of the school system, and are most impacted by
the decisions made by the State's education system, including
students, families, educators, district leaders, service
providers, community Members, and advocates.
We have seen when strong stakeholder engagement is present,
that they are able to direct funds in a more equitable fashion,
and we know that the voices are being heard. This engagement
should be part of a very sustainable feedback loop that allows
students, families, and community Members, to both provide
input on initial plans, but also feedback as they are
implemented.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, and I don't come to this
conversation from a lack of perspective. So many people talked
about their district opened without problems. I am a
Representative for Connecticut's Fifth District. And we have
some of the largest equity gaps in the Nation. I have some of
the highest performing schools in the world and some of the
lowest performing schools in the country that are literally 5
miles apart. During my time as the National Teacher of the
Year, I traveled to districts all over the country and all over
the world, and they are not all created equal.
So, the fact that people believe that just because one
school district was able to open immediately and effectively,
because they might have had the physical structure, the
broadband, the supports already in place, does not mean that is
the mechanism or the measure by which we can evaluate every
district.
Dr. Jara, has your district engaged families, and,
particularly, families who have been the most impacted during
this pandemic in your district planning for reopening to meet
the needs of children?
Mr. Jara. Great question, Representative Hayes. Yes, we
did. Actually, when we started reopening, we brought in not
only our bargaining units, but all our community. A s somebody
who came into this country not knowing English, one of the
things that I always said is if my mother was educating me now,
how would you be able to do that? We did participate. I made
myself available to the Nevada PTA town halls, all our advocacy
groups to really look at ways to address and open schools
safely. So yes, we did across the entire community. I am going
to tell you; we have opened schools. As you mentioned, we have
some of the largest equity gaps, as well. It has been not
without a challenge, but the commitment to keep our kids in
school has been great from this entire community, so thank you.
Mrs. Hayes. Well, thank you. And thank you for just
reemphasizing and reiterating our commitment to keeping our
children in school. But also, the fact that has to be done
safely. It is incredibly disheartening that on this Committee,
in the highest Halls of Congress, we are still even having a
discussion that I think is something we should all agree on. We
want our kids to be safe. And it is our responsibility to
protect them from all harm based on the data and the
information that we have. Again, thank you all so much for your
thoughtful answers.
Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you very much, Mrs. Hayes.
I now would like to recognize Mr. Grothman, please. Mr.
Grothman you have five minutes, sir.
Mr. Grothman. Thank you.
Mr. Zweig, I don't know if I am pronouncing it right. At a
different hearing yesterday, one of the witnesses testified
Congress should consider tying funds to doing what the CDC
wants. Apart from the fact the CDC has gotten so much wrong
already here, given the degree of disagreement on the
scientific community about the CDC's recommendations, would
that be a wise step to take? Just to say you have to follow the
CDC?
Mr. Zweig. I think that is a terrible idea. And I will give
you an example why. The CDC, for a very long time, was
recommending 6 feet of distancing in the schools. However, a
number of States were not complying with this guidance.
Ultimately, in Massachusetts, they performed a study, and they
found that 3 feet of distancing was no worse than 6 feet of
distancing. Had all the States in the country lockstep complied
with the 6-foot guidance, there never would have been an
opportunity to test this out. It is only because Massachusetts
didn't go along with the CDC's guidance that scientists and
experts were able to perform this study. And lo and behold,
there was no benefit of 6 feet rather than 3 feet. After the
study came out, the CDC, shortly thereafter, changed its
guidance away from 6 feet down to 3 feet.
So, this is one example that we can't know what is
happening unless States are given the opportunity to test
different things. The CDC is an important and wonderful
organization, but they are not infallible. So, I hope this
example at least gives a sense of why that is important.
Mr. Grothman. I am glad the State of Massachusetts had the
guts to stand up to them.
Obviously, different countries view things differently, you
talked about different States doing things differently. How did
the United States' response compare to, say, the European
response or other peer countries as to how they dealt with
COVID in schools?
Mr. Zweig. Well, as I mentioned in my opening statement, I
think one of the biggest differences is that in Europe, and
this is in many different countries with different cultures and
different rates of cases and mortality rates and et cetera, one
of the unifying factors is that they really prioritized keeping
schools open. So, this is in direct contrast to somewhere like
California and some other areas where kids were out of school
for a full year in many instances.
So, there is this kind of 30,000-foot view where schools in
a lot of these cultures, they said, this should be the last
place to close and the very first place to open. There were a
number of academics and scientists in America who argued for
that policy, but it obviously was not followed throughout the
country.
And then, as I mentioned, that sort of overarching
philosophy you could then see play out with a variety of other
measures, whether it is with masking and other interventions.
There is this sort of philosophy of priding normalcy for
children over a sort of, what, at times, seems to be a
hyperbolic kind of a security theater, whether it is the
Plexiglass, you know, between the desk and things of that
nature.
Mr. Grothman. OK. I will give you another kind of general
question. Some of my colleagues, when they talk about
opportunities for students, seem to talk primarily about income
level. Do you believe income level of parents is the most
important thing in how you raise children, or are there other
things more important? Maybe that is an unfair question to ask
you, but I don't think it is.
Mr. Zweig. I am sorry, you are asking me if an income level
is the most important factor in how children are being raised?
Mr. Grothman. Right. I mean, the implication from some of
my colleagues, I found a little bit offensive, to imply that if
you don't make a lot of money, you can't be a good parent, or
that if you make a lot of money, you are automatically a good
parent.
I tell you what, I will give you another question.
Mr. Zweig. Yes, I would disagree with that notion. I do
not----
Mr. Grothman. Yes, I find it offensive when people imply
that.
Mr. Zweig. OK.
Mr. Grothman. You mentioned in your statement that you have
been researching and writing about children in schools and
COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. Could you give me a
general sense the type of people you have talked, to gain the
level of expertise you have?
Mr. Zweig. Sure. One of the things that is fun about being
a journalist is I get to talk to everyone. So, I now have a,
you know, virtual Rolodex in my phone of infectious disease
specialists, epidemiologists, immunologists, pediatricians,
superintendents from schools.
So that has enabled me to have a really kind of wide-angle
lens on seeing the issue of kids in schools and COVID from a
whole variety of perspectives, that someone who, perhaps, is an
academic in a particular lane stays in that lane and lacks this
sort of a larger perspective that I hope that I have been able
to bring to myself by talking to so many different people on a
regular basis.
Mr. Grothman. You have been very enjoyable. Now my five
minutes is up.
Mr. Zweig. Thank you.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you. And if we start
commenting on what we take as offensive we would never get
anything done, but we are all entitled to our own opinion.
So, I would like to now recognize Mr. Yarmuth, the Chairman
of the Budget Committee. Thank you very much. You have five
minutes.
Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thanks
to all the witnesses for being here today.
In relation to that last comment, I didn't hear any of our
Members talk about the subject that Mr. Grothman raised. As a
matter of fact, the only discussion I heard at all about income
disparity was from the Republican witness, so I don't know
where that question came from, but moving right along. Ms.
Forte, your organization did a poll in New York State of
families there, and it indicated that while families
overwhelmingly wanted their kids to be in the classroom in
person, they still had reservations about health and safety
issues, particularly and understandably, with Black and Latino
families. My district in Louisville is 96,000 kids. It is
majority non-White, and I know that we have a lot of that
situation in my district where parents are very wary of sending
their kids to school.
In your report, were you able to deduce any strategies for
convincing Latino and Black families of the necessity and the
safety of sending kids back to school?
Ms. Forte. Thank you for that question, Congressman. At the
heart of the matter for many families of color in terms of
returning to school was, you know, over the past year-and-a-
half, many of them are able to experience school with their
students, and saw firsthand what the classroom looked like,
even though it might have been on video in a virtual setting.
And many students of color continue to face a lot of micro
aggressions, they are being over disciplined, even in a virtual
setting.
So, one of the things that parents are asking for is how
school leaders--how district leaders--can go about that with a
lens that really addresses the social, emotional, and academic
well-being of their students. And there are a variety of
solutions to go about that.
One is making sure students have strong relationships in
the school building with the principal, with the teacher, with
the tutor. There are a number of schools, including my son's,
who take advantage of City Year programs and service learning
so that children have more opportunities to build strong
relationships with adults in the building.
The other thing we do know is that we need to start
embracing our children from an asset perspective, meaning they
all come to school with their own strengths, and we need to
empower them to see those. But, again, going back to the idea
of strong relationships in the school system, that is what
parents are hoping for. They want to make sure that their
children, when they return to school, are safe and secure and
are welcomed.
Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you very much.
Dr. Jha, I know that those of us who spend far too much
time on MSNBC are very familiar with you. I suspect that my
Republican colleagues are not as familiar with you, but we are
honored to have you here, and thank you for your work
throughout this pandemic.
I was intrigued by your testimony talking about the layered
technique and the fact that there are some elements of the
strategy, the layering strategy that actually have benefits
beyond just dealing with COVID, particularly the ventilation
issue. You know, we have put a lot of money in the American
Rescue Plan to deal with those kind of upgrades. Can you
elaborate a little bit on how important this is to fund
remediation of ventilation systems in schools?
Dr. Jha. Yes, Congressman, thank you for that question. And
indeed, there is very, very good evidence that improving
ventilation makes an enormous amount of difference. This is an
airborne disease, and as such, things like wiping down services
or Plexiglass, not so helpful. For the pandemic itself, we have
got to clean the air, and that has got to be the strategy.
But what we knew before the pandemic, Congressman, is that
poor quality ventilation had profound effects on cognition, on
mood, and that is why companies had been making big investments
and really having high-quality indoor air. It should be
something that should be available to all of our children and
all of our colleagues in schools as well.
So, I think the American Rescue Plan opens up an
opportunity to make smart investments and substantial upgrades
in ventilation and filtration, and if we do, it will help end
the pandemic, but it will have long-term benefits for our kids
and people who work in schools. And, obviously, that is clearly
a good investment for us to be making.
Mr. Yarmuth. Thanks for that answer, and I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Yarmuth.
Thank you.
I would like to now recognize the former Ranking Member of
this Subcommittee, Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen, you have five minutes,
sir.
Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
holding this hearing. It is very important that we get to the
bottom of this issue and the truth of this issue, and, like I
said I think we all agree it is for the children and their best
interest.
I will say that when it comes to reopening schools, the
12th District of Georgia, the district I represent, we worked
very hard to get our students back in the classroom, but also
to give parents a choice whether they were in person or
virtual.
Across the mostly rural district, I have talked to many
parents in public and private schools who were committed to
sending their children back in person. Columbia County School
System is one of the largest in my district, and it was the
first to reopen.
A smaller private school, Heritage Academy, which is a
school for low-income students, took action to install the
industry recommended air ionizers, and to keep an open line of
communication with parents to ensure they would monitor their
child's symptoms. This led to 100 percent buy-in in staff and
parents in fully reopening.
One of the largest districts in Georgia, Richmond County
School System, addressed reopening concerns by giving the
students and the parents the choice and the learning equipment
they needed for long-term use, whether they chose in-person or
virtual.
Mr. Zweig, I hope I pronounced that correctly, as you
probably observed, families across the country, especially low-
income and working parents, face significantly more challenges
when schools are not fully open. What advice can you offer to
decisionmakers who are weighing being risk-averse in trying to
do what is best for their children and the teachers for their
students?
Mr. Zweig. Well, obviously, every community is going to
have a different degree of prevalence of COVID at different
times, and that will influence the decisions of any education
professionals, you know, in that particular community.
But I would say that--and you are going to probably hear a
theme that I am going to touch on a lot today--that there is
this sort of broader view that is worth bearing in mind. And
then the notion that closing schools and keeping children home
is, quote, ``safe,'' that is the best thing to do so at all
times, I think, is very misguided.
Again, we have real-world observational evidence in front
of us taking place throughout Europe, where they have been
conducting themselves quite differently than a lot of America
as far as keeping kids in schools, as far as not burdening them
with excessive mitigation measures.
It is not that they don't care about children there, I am
quite certain. It is that there is a different approach to what
is safe and what does that mean, and they understand that
doesn't specifically mean keeping children home, or doing
everything you can, or perceive that you can do, against a
virus versus being aware of a variety of other harms and
illnesses that can come to children.
Mr. Allen. Well, let's be honest here. A lot of this was
created by special interest and their influence over not only
the Biden administration, but over many of our school systems
across the country. You know, how has special interest caused
more confusion and clouded the science that other countries are
relying on more? How are they dealing with it?
Mr. Zweig. Well, you know, as I am sure everyone has seen,
there certainly were reports that came out in the media
regarding teachers unions having private conversations with
Members of the CDC. However, the CDC has said, which is
appropriate, that they have met with a variety of stakeholders.
So, I think it does make sense, and it is appropriate,
teachers are important stakeholders, but other stakeholders
should be involved in these conversations as well. And I would
sort of broaden that statement to say that part of what we need
to look at is not just infectious disease or viral mitigation
but broader concepts about what makes a flourishing childhood.
We don't want our children to be in danger, of course, but
we also want to look at this from a much larger, more holistic
perspective. Again, and we are seeing this play out in a
variety of other places.
Mr. Allen. Great. Well, thank you very much. Again, you
have been very helpful.
And, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Well, thank you, Mr. Allen.
Ms. Wilson, Frederica, you now have five minutes, please.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, for holding this
hearing today, and thanks to all of the witnesses for
appearing.
All across America, millions of students are returning to
their classrooms for the first time in more than a year. The
time they spent away, and how districts make up for it, will
have significant and lasting consequences. McKinsey estimates
that this generation may earn roughly $50,000 to $60,000 less
over their lifetime. Many students have entirely fallen between
the cracks and may never catch up.
According to Bellwether Education Partners, up to 3 million
students that have become totally disconnected from the
education system. Thankfully, districts have the resources to
address these challenges. Congress has invested roughly $200
billion to help schools safely reopen.
However, officials in my home State of Florida and several
others have put politics above public health. Our Governor
DeSantis has forced districts to stop implementing mask
mandates while the Delta variant surges across our State.
People in my district die every day. We have lost dozens of
teachers in Florida.
DeSantis is failing to protect Florida students and
educators and endangering our state's recovery and the safe
reopening of schools. Florida is the only State which has not
submitted its ESSER plan to the Education Department to claim
all of its relief funding.
I have a few questions. Dr. Jara, as the Clark County
School District uses their ESSER funds to invest in the
children, are you considering equity in education and the
funding for Black and Hispanic children and Black teachers
specifically, and are you working closely with your Federal
delegation?
Mr. Jara. Representative Wilson, great to see you. I have
grown up in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. So, yes, we are
obviously considering equity as a minority/majority district
here in the Clark County School District, yes, we are. That is
why we have partnered with our nonprofits for the community
input as we have opened schools. So that is No. 1.
My delegation is very involved in the working of our ESSER
III, and they have been really tied at the hip with us in
making sure that we are providing the resources to where the
greatest need, and appreciate the question, Representative
Wilson.
Ms. Wilson. What strategy is Clark County School District
using to find and reengage missing students?
Mr. Jara. Yes, thank you, Representative Wilson. Our
Governor really created a task force right away when the
pandemic started, which was a public-private partnership, and
we partnered together, and it was critical here. We started
connecting our kids and going out into the community, and then
we reshuffled.
And as I said earlier, we had to change. We are educators,
but we had to learn as superintendents, as educators, what we
needed to do in partnering with the county, with the Southern
Nevada Health District, to keep our kids safe and being in
school.
So, yes, you know, we had to re-shift our work. Our truant
officers became attendance navigators. Our principals went out
and sent tests into our community, into our schools, knocking
on doors, doing wellness checks to connect with our kids. As
they couldn't come in, we had to connect at their homes. We
also, though our summer program, bring in our children,
reengaging them in schools.
So, all of that work. We went pretty much out into the
community. You know, I'm proud to bring our kids. We have over
304,000 of our children in our schools. And then, also, provide
a choice. Our kids are also, in Nevada, learning, giving our
parents an opportunity to reengage, so multitude of modalities
to then making sure that our children were in school.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you so much.
Dr. Jha, it is a pleasure to have you here with us. This is
quite an honor. Mask, why is it important that local education
leaders can draw on this tool to respond to spread in their
community? I heard you say that you think vaccinations should
be mandated, but in addition, masks.
Mr. Jara. Absolutely. As Dr. Jha, there is a multitude of
strategies and----
Ms. Wilson. No, this is for the physician.
Mr. Jara. Oh.
Dr. Jha. That is the problem of having names that sound
very similar.
Congresswoman, thanks for your question. I will be very
brief because I know we are out of time. Look, the data on
masking overall on humans is overwhelming. It is very, very
clear that masks help, and it makes all the sense in the world.
This is an aerosol disease, airborne disease, of course,
masking is going to help. Children are going to be able to do
this as well. I know I am over time. Thank you, Congressman.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Dr. Jha. Please feel free to
submit your response in writing for the record. We would
appreciate that. Thank you.
Ms. Wilson. Mr. Chair?
Chairman Sablan. Yes.
Ms. Wilson. Congresswoman Wilson. I have questions that I
am going to submit to the Committee.
Chairman Sablan. All right.
Ms. Wilson. And hopefully the witnesses can respond in
writing.
Chairman Sablan. Yes. Yes, please do that. Thank you.
Now I would like to recognize--let me see--Mr. Keller, the
gentleman from Pennsylvania. Sir, you have five minutes.
Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As America's schools start their new academic year as
recently as several weeks ago, today's hearing is incredibly
important. Having America's children safely return to school,
back to full in-person instruction, is a goal of every Member
of this Committee that we can all support.
It is widely accepted that students' learning suffered
during the 2020-2021 school year. A recent study conducted by
McKinsey & Company found that the impact of school closures on
learning loss was significant, leaving students, on average, 5
months behind in math and 4 months behind in reading by the end
of the school year.
Even now, we are still not back to full in-person learning,
despite the fact that those vulnerable to COVID-19 have had the
opportunity to receive a vaccine and risks to K-12 students
remain minimal. School closure policies, along with
requirements such as mask mandates are problematic for
students, particularly those with disabilities. The decision to
keep students out of school and whether or not to wear a mask
is best made by parents and families relying on the latest
public health guidelines in coordination with local school
boards.
Mr. Zweig, thank you for your testimony and for being with
us today. The World Health Organization advises against
requiring students with disabilities to wear masks. Can you
tell us why they made this recommendation?
Mr. Zweig. Thank you for the question. I can't speak for
the World Health Organization specifically, but what we do know
is that there are a variety of kids who have special needs,
whether it is some autistic children, whether it is some
children who have sensory issues and a variety of other sort of
issues and challenges that certain kids deal with, and masks
can be very problematic for them.
I have interviewed numerous teachers, as well as other
education professionals, as well as psychologists who work with
autistic children, and they have all talked about how
challenging it is and harmful it is for some of these children.
They simply cannot keep the mask on. So that is something
bearing in mind and that is part of the reason.
I think the other larger picture here is bearing in mind
the age stratification of risk, and it is so wildly
disproportionate, tilted toward older people that--and there
have been a number of polls that have shown that--a lot of
Americans drastically overestimate the risk to children. This
isn't to say there isn't a danger posed by COVID, only that we
generally have a very wrong understanding of how that risk
relates to other risks that confront children.
Mr. Keller. And thank you, and I would just like to
followup with you on another question. The Biden administration
has supported universal masking in schools. What challenges
exist with mask mandates in a school setting, and what has your
research shown about the return on investment of such a
difficult-to-implement policy?
Mr. Zweig. Yes. You know, the evidence for masks is mixed
as far as specifically related to masking mandates of students.
I agree with Dr. Jha, of course. There is great evidence that
some masks work on some people in some circumstances. But there
is a very big difference between a healthcare worker wearing a
fit-tested KN95 that is extremely tight on their face where a
millimeter of air is not going to get around the edges versus a
child wearing a cloth mask that their parents bought off of
Etsy or, you know, Amazon.
And we have seen this borne out in the data. Like I
mentioned earlier, one of the CDC's own studies did not find a
statistically significant benefit of the student mask mandate
compared to schools that didn't have a student mask mandate.
And to this point, a number of experts, including Michael
Osterholm, Celine Gounder, these are people who are on
President Biden's COVID transition team task force, they have
said publicly and clearly that cloth masks offer, at best, a
marginal benefit, and that is the mask that most children are
wearing.
And related to that point is the notion of compliance.
There is a study that came out in Marin County that the CDC put
out, and it showed--there were mask mandates--but guess what
happened? The teacher pulled the mask down. There is a
difference between mechanistic studies and how human beings
behave in the real world.
Mr. Keller. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I think the
benefits, and we can all look at that when it comes to our
psychological well-being of seeing our friends, and
particularly at a young age, seeing classmates smile at one
another and have that friendly greeting that you can't do with
a mask. So, I think there is a lot of benefits that exist for
our students, and for us as adults, when we can exchange that
smile and have that camaraderie that a lot of students look
forward to in school.
So with that, I will yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you, Mr. Keller. Since you are
in the Committee room, you can put your mask back on. Thank
you.
Now I would like to recognize Mrs. McBath from Georgia.
Mrs. McBath, you have five minutes, please.
Mrs. McBath. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you so much
for holding this very timely and pertinent hearing on examining
how we can best assure that our children have a safe and
enriching return to school this fall.
And I also want to thank our witnesses for taking time
today to share their evidence-based research and observations
with all of us. And as students, teachers, and staff return to
classrooms for the first full school year in almost 2 years and
many are in school classrooms for the very first time, it is
really essential that we ensure they have healthy and safe
environments in which to flourish, as well as the tools
necessary to equitably address the academic and social needs
that they are going to face.
And I am so proud to have voted in support of the American
Rescue Plan, which provides States like mine, Georgia, critical
funding to help reopen schools safely and help students make up
for the lost time in a classroom.
My home State has actually received over $4.25 billion in
funding, and it is imperative that school districts use these
funds to help ensure that children, our teachers, and staff,
have safe classrooms to return to, whether that be providing
masks, free COVID testing, or updating ventilation and
filtration systems as we are talking about this morning. We
have got to make sure that our children are healthy so that
they are in the best position to learn and to grow.
So, Ms. Forte, thank you so much for sharing your testimony
today. My first question is actually for you. The COVID-19
pandemic has truly disrupted learning for all of our students,
every one of us knows that, and particularly, for students who
had less access to quality educational opportunities prior to
the pandemic.
Acknowledging this, the American Rescue Plan Act provided
the largest investment in K-12 education in history and
required that States and districts use a portion of their funds
to actually address the lost instructional time.
So, Ms. Forte, if you could please just tell us what
evidence-based strategies should schools implement to address
the impact of unfinished learning?
Ms. Forte. Thank you for that question, and also thank you
for framing it in the way that you did in terms of unfinished
learning. The Education Trust, we don't believe in learning
loss, because students from all communities really missed out
on the learning, as opposed to them themselves losing learning.
The real issue here is, we have looked at the research, we
have done the research ourselves, and there are evidence-based
strategies that schools should be using across this country
that we know will impact and affect students and support their
accelerated learning. We have to accelerate. This is not about
remediation.
We need to understand and invest in practices that will not
only help students make up for unfinished learning but
accelerate. And students who are even surpassing grade level
expectations must have opportunities to accelerate their
learnings.
So, a couple of ideas that we have looked at and we have
researched include intensive tutoring. That can be in small
sizes with very low ratio for adult to students. We know that
this also comes with the importance of professional development
for those adults in the room, expanded learning, expanded time,
adding more time to the day, including making sure that day is
filled with full child support, such as play for our early
kids, or it could be music for adults. There are a number of
ways that we can accelerate learning, and the research is
showing that both intensive tutoring and the availability of
the expanded day is the way to go.
Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much.
And I know that I am running out of time, but Dr. Jha, in
your testimony you describe five steps that schools should take
to safely reopen for in-person learning, including the
vaccination and also mask use, ventilation testing and social
distancing. These practices are aligned with the latest
guidance from both the CDC and also the American Academy of
Pediatrics.
Why is it so important that schools use CDC guidance as a
foundation for implementing COVID-19 prevention strategies to
safely maintain in-person instruction this academic year? Thank
you.
Chairman Sablan. Congresswoman----
Dr. Jha. Sorry. Thank you. Yes, Congresswoman, it is a
great question. Obviously, no agency has gotten everything
right. CDC represents the best scientific evidence that we have
to date. The American Academy of Pediatrics, our Nation's
pediatricians, are deeply engaged on these issues and are
calling the scientific evidence.
I think it is a great place to start, to begin with the CDC
and AAP guidelines. And where they converge, I think this is
where the school district should begin their work. Again, they
are not going to get it perfectly, but they have been pretty
consistently right on a lot of issues over the pandemic.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Doctor.
Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much, and my time is up. I yield
back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mrs. McBath.
I now would like to call on Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller of
Illinois, please, you have five minutes.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you to the Chairman and Ranking Member
Owens and thank you to all the witnesses. And I want to assure
you that we do share your opinion, that our children are not
only an asset, but the greatest asset of our country.
Mr. Zweig, a few other Members, Ms. Wilson, and Mr. Keller,
have mentioned a study produced earlier this year by McKinsey &
Company that found that the 2020-2021 school closures could
have an annual negative economic impact of $128 billion to $188
billion once the affected students enter the workforce. Could
you please explain why these school closures could have such a
dramatic impact on the affected students?
Mr. Zweig. Thanks for the question. Well, we have known for
years and years now that there is a strong association between
education, of course, and income as people move from being
children to adults, and beyond income, and then, of course,
connecting the dots, income, connecting to access to better
healthcare and other parts of participating in society.
So, if kids are home and not in school for a year, which
has happened in a number of places in our country, that, of
course, is going to have reverberating effects on these
children's lives potentially for years to come. And the reality
is, no one knows. No one knows exactly how this is going to
play out.
I had a really interesting conversation with a child
psychologist who works on the staff of one of our large
cities--staff of the Education Department, one of our large
cities on the East Coast--and she told me about one of her
students, who is a minority student, who was on her way to
college. She was going to community college, first one in her
family, but then schools closed. She wasn't able to maintain
her job at Starbucks. She wasn't able to get online in her home
because they lack the resources, and now she has completely
lost touch with her.
You know, so it is these sort of heartbreaking stories
about kids who have really kind of slipped through the cracks,
and not all of them, it seems, are going to be able to be
brought back in the fold. I know educators are working as hard
as they can, of course, to try to do so.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you. Mr. Zweig, you also made the point
that keeping kids away from schools or employing some of the
mitigation strategies favored by the CDC should not be viewed
as playing it safe, the playing-it-safe option. In other words,
whether or not these policies have some marginal benefit, they
are not without harm. Could you please elaborate on the harm
you see from our country's policies?
Mr. Zweig. Yes, it is a great question. I would say, kind
of, the broad view on that is that, of course, when we are
confronted with an unknown threat, which, you know, certainly
was COVID initially, as a precautionary principle, it makes
sense to do everything you can to try to avoid, sort of, an
unknown catastrophe.
But as time played on and we watched what was happening,
particularly elsewhere outside the United States, at a certain
point it is not only the logistical right thing to do but the
ethical thing to do, I believe, to start shifting your
priorities, that perhaps it is not appropriate to have an
infectious disease specialist be the person who is directing
the show for the duration.
We have to ask, is mitigating a virus ultimately the same
thing as human flourishing? And initially, yes, it is because
no one knows what is happening. But as more and more
information has come in, and as we have seen a real-world
experiment play out with students in Europe who have been in
school while kids here have been home, I think that provides
very persuasive and powerful empirical evidence that there are
a variety of ways to, quote, ``keep kids safe'' and also keep
them engaged in their education.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Mrs. Miller. You are
very generous with time.
So now the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Levin, yes, sir,
you have five minutes. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman; although, I
didn't move to Illinois. I am still in Michigan.
So I want to try to get to two things real quickly.
Doctor--I am going to ask Dr. Jara in a minute about the
workforce in our schools, but Dr. Jha, the whole problem from
the beginning has been the politicization of this thing, which
continues in this very hearing. Let me just ask you a few brief
questions off the cuff, and then I want to get you as the
doctor to just give a general statement about where we are.
So the Delta variant has affected many more kids more
severely. Is that correct?
Dr. Jha. Absolutely, Congressman, yes.
Mr. Levin. And even if we are vaccinated, we can be
vectors?
Dr. Jha. It is true, though far less likely for vaccinated,
but, yes, even vaccinated people can spread the virus.
Mr. Levin. And so schools are places, wonderful places,
where we all come together, adults and children, children who
are old enough to be vaccinated, children who are too young to
be vaccinated. We know, despite some of the things that have
been said here, that even cloth masks are effective in
preventing the spread. Is that true?
Dr. Jha. Yes. So I agree with Mr. Zweig that there is a lot
of variation. Cloth masks are not extremely effective. They
probably reduce things by about 10, 20 percent. Higher quality
masks like surgical masks make a big difference. You don't need
to talk about N95s. Mr. Zweig kept saying it is either N95 or
cloth masks. We know there is a lot of difference between the
two.
There is some really good middle ground of high-quality
masks that kids can wear, masks that I am seeing on my screen
right now, that would be of much higher quality and kids are
happy to wear it.
Mr. Levin. And in the American Rescue Plan, we made the
biggest investment in the history of our country in the public
schools to help them provide whatever masks they might need,
right?
Dr. Jha. Yes, absolutely. And decent, quality masks are
relatively inexpensive and widely available. And what parents
and teachers need is guidance on this, which the CDC has
provided, and which State health departments could also
provide.
Mr. Levin. So if we all stuck together and looked out for
each other, as the Torah, you know, the No. 1 thing in the
Torah is that--the Jewish holy book--is that we have to look
out for each other, not just for ourselves, and for the
stranger.
How effectively could we take on this current public health
thing with our reopened schools, happily reopen the schools, if
everybody who could got vaccinated and if everyone wore masks
in schools? How well could we control this pandemic?
Dr. Jha. Yes, you know, Mr. Levin, much of this
conversation has gone on about the harms of closing schools. I
think many of us have been arguing for the whole year that it
is incredibly harmful to close schools.
Mr. Levin. Absolutely.
Dr. Jha. But the good news is that is not the tradeoff.
That is a false dichotomy.
Mr. Levin. Absolutely.
Dr. Jha. We can keep schools open if we do vaccinations if
we get kids masked up. And if we do testing and ventilation, we
can keep every American school open full-time this year.
Mr. Levin. Fantastic.
All right. Dr. Jara, you know, one of the middle schools in
my district, East Point Middle School, had to close for a week
because they didn't have enough educators, and it wasn't an
outbreak.
One of our big newspapers reported that 22 percent of the
district's teaching positions are vacant, and this is a problem
that has existed before the pandemic. People are tearing down
on our teaching profession. They are tearing down teachers'
organizations as if they are some evil thing when they are
really just the organization of the teachers.
Talk to us not just about your own district, but as a
leader in education, is there a longstanding crisis about
school bus drivers, you know, really every kind of position in
schools, and what do we need to do about it?
Mr. Jara. Absolutely, Representative, great question. And
it is, I mean, I sit with the Council of Great City Schools as
a Member with urban school districts, but it is not just urban,
it is suburban, it is rural. We have a huge bus shortage. We
have a substitute shortage. The workforce is struggling.
I thank this administration, what we have done is we really
prioritized education, so I appreciate Congress in K-12. But it
is a huge hurdle for us to continue and keep staff engaged when
the national conversation across this country is about public
schools.
So really, it is an effort. This is a great conversation
that we need to have. I have got principals that are
substituting classrooms, that are serving foods just to try to
keep our kids engaged, our children in classrooms. Our bus
shortage is something that we are struggling with.
We are trying to incentivize using the ARP money, but we
have to have a nationwide, long-term strategy around how do we
keep our schools open. So we have done that in partnership with
everybody in this community, and we are all committed doing
that here locally.
Mr. Levin. Thanks, Dr. Jara.
Well, Mr. Chairman, I would just say that if we all lifted
up education, treated teachers as professionals as they are in
other countries like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and stopped
attacking their organizations, and really compensated them well
and respected them and all the people who work in our schools,
we would be in a lot better position. Thanks, and I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Levin. My two youngest
would really appreciate that since they are schoolteachers.
Thank you.
Let me see, the Ranking Member of the full Committee, Ms.
Foxx, are you----
Ms. Foxx. Yes, sir, I am prepared.
Chairman Sablan. OK. So you have five minutes, Dr. Foxx.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Zweig, we had two parents testify before this
Subcommittee earlier this year about the impact of school
closures on their families. Each recommended that we do
everything possible to keep schools open in the future. One
even suggested we should think about schools like we do
hospitals and grocery stores.
Do you agree that outside of some obvious and compelling
circumstances, that we should resolve not to close schools for
extended periods?
Mr. Zweig. I certainly do agree with that. And what is
interesting is, in doing research for my book, all of the
academic literature prior to the pandemic also said that. None
of this was planned to close schools for a year, regardless of
the various dynamics of the pandemic and the sort of
transmissibility and virulence of this virus. From looking at a
variety of different sort of pandemic playbooks and academic
papers written on this, none of them mentioned closing schools
for a year as one of the measures.
Ms. Foxx. All right. Well, I appreciate the fact that you
talked about the statistics on masks, and I believe your
comments are more believable than comments of others who say,
oh, masks absolutely work. Nothing that I have read has said
that masks--all masks--absolutely work.
So, you talk in your statement about the need for clear
metrics from the CDC for how and when COVID mitigation
strategies are unwound. I wrote a letter back in July to
Secretary Becerra asking for, among other things, the data used
by the CDC to recommend universal masking in schools.
Ironically, I sent that letter 2 months ago today, and I still
haven't gotten a response.
In the conversations you have had with experts in the
scientific community, do you believe there is a clear
understanding about the evidence the CDC is using to inform its
recommendations? I am a believer in evidence driving decisions.
Mr. Zweig. I mean, there certainly have been a number of
cases where the CDC has released guidance related to children
in schools where there didn't seem to be a very clear
explanation behind that guidance.
One example that comes to mind right now would be when they
initially released guidance for summer camps, they wanted
children to wear masks at all times in all circumstances,
including outdoors. And I immediately reached out to a number
of experts who I wanted to ask, does that make sense to you?
Because from what we knew, the virus is very unlikely to be
transmitted outside, and, conversely, the harms of a child in
90-degree heat in the northeast wearing a mask all day playing
soccer, for example.
After I wrote an article about this, the CDC almost
immediately thereafter changed its guidance and rescinded that
recommendation, even though none of the underlying data had
changed. So that is one example where it is OK, this is what
science is about is questioning. And lo and behold, the CDC, as
it rightfully should have, ultimately changed its guidance in
that particular circumstance.
Ms. Foxx. Yes. Yes, we want questioning, and we want
modifications. You know, everywhere I go in my district, people
say, where in the heck is the common sense in Washington, DC.?
There seems to be none up here.
So, one more question. You have already alluded to the fact
that they changed the recommendations this summer about
camping, but also, CDC revised its school mask recommendations,
quietly removed guidance for phasing out masking and other
mitigation strategies in school. Why do you think it is so
necessary to have clear off-ramps for the disruptions these
strategies cause in learning?
Mr. Zweig. It is a great question, and that has really
become the term de jour, ``off-ramps,'' because it is not clear
to anyone when these variety of interventions are going to be
unwound from schools. And I speak to some of the top scientists
who are in this field of implementation science, and one of the
things they know is that once you implement something, it is
very hard to reel it back.
And one of the ways to unwind something is to have very
clear metrics, you know, made knowable to the people so they
understand why they are doing it now, and when specifically it
can end, rather than, sort of, vague, elliptical, or general
statements about when sort of unknowable amounts of
vaccinations or other things.
So, I would encourage the public health authorities to at
least say, here is when we can stop X, Y, and Z, and that will
enable local officials to then have the ability to do that.
Ms. Foxx. Yes. The goal post keeps changing because it
appears that it is a control issue. Thank you very much. I
yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. Not to take away
anything from David, if I have to listen to medical opinions
from him or from CDC, I go with CDC all the time.
Let me now recognize Ms. Manning. Ms. Manning, you have
five minutes. Thank you.
Ms. Manning. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Zweig, I have a variety of questions, so if you could
give me a yes-or-no answer, I would really appreciate it. Do
you have a medical degree?
Mr. Zweig. I do not.
Ms. Manning. Do you have an educational background in
epidemiology?
Mr. Zweig. I do not.
Ms. Manning. Do you have an educational background in
infectious disease?
Mr. Zweig. I do not.
Ms. Manning. Do you have an educational background in
pediatric medicine?
Mr. Zweig. I do not.
Ms. Manning. Do you have an educational background in
public health?
Mr. Zweig. I do not. I think you are aware of my resume.
Ms. Manning. No, I actually am not, but let me continue.
Mr. Zweig. Oh, you are not? OK. All right.
Ms. Manning. Do you have an educational background in
healthcare?
Mr. Zweig. I do not. I am a journalist. I think you are
aware of what my profession is.
Ms. Manning. Yes, I am aware of that. Thank you.
Dr. Jha, I believe you do have a medical degree and a
master's degree in public health, both from an esteemed
university, and I believe you are recognized as an expert on
pandemic preparedness and public health. Can you respond to Mr.
Zweig's position that our schools should have reopened last
year during the height of the pandemic, and his assertion that
children in schools should not have to wear masks?
Dr. Jha. Yes, Congresswoman, I would be delighted to. I do
have a medical degree, and I have been studying public health
for about 20-some-odd years. So, with all due respect to Mr.
Zweig, I think there is a lot of things that he is said that
isn't consistent with the data.
Let me be very clear on a few things. The first few months
of the pandemic school closings made a lot of sense. We didn't
know where things were. By last summer, most of us in public
health were calling for a strategy for getting schools back
open again, and I have been on the record for more than a year
now saying that we can open schools safely. And obviously, as
we have gotten more and more tools and we have understood the
virus better, it has gotten safer and safer to do so.
You know, on the issue of masking, to go back to something
Representative Foxx said, none of us believe that masks are
perfect. I laid out in my strategy that we need to do a variety
of things, and the data on masking is reasonably good overall
for everybody, including kids.
What is really interesting is Mr. Zweig has, multiple
times, referenced the CDC study, a large CDC study, and if you
keep listening to him, he says, did not find a statistically
significant difference. What it found was a 20 percent
reduction in infections for places that had mask mandates, but
it did not hit statistical significance. It found a 40 percent
effect for masking mandates for adults that did hit statistical
significance.
You know, you can take any study--and this is what people
do who try to spread misinformation--is they will go through
every study and find a little hole in everyone. As a doctor,
when I am taking care of patients, I have to look at a broad
range of evidence, including mechanisms of disease. This is an
aerosol, airborne disease; we know masks are going to be
helpful. And when you look at the totality of the evidence, not
the CDC, not the American Academy of Pediatrics, no expert that
I know of doesn't believe masking is helpful for kids.
So, with all due respect to Mr. Zweig, I don't know who he
has been talking, but the consensus in the entire medical
community from conservatives to liberals, if you understand how
this disease works, masking is helpful, not everything, not
perfect, but it is an important part of how we keep kids safe.
Ms. Manning. Thank you, Dr. Jha. And, by the way, have your
children wore masks in school?
Dr. Jha. They have ever since they have been able to go
back to school. I think they started going back in March.
Ms. Manning. Thank you very much.
Ms. Forte, as schools reopen, students most impacted by
school closures, students of color, students with disabilities,
underserved students are returning to in-person learning facing
widening achievement gaps, systemic barriers to learning, and
increased risk of exclusionary discipline and harassment among
other issues, and that is a big issue in my district that I
represent. How should districts be working to create safe and
inclusive learning environments as they reopen?
Ms. Forte. Thank you so much for that question. And my kids
wear masks in school as well. All students, all students
deserve to learn in an environment where they feel they belong,
where they have their identity affirmed, where they are engaged
and have agency in their learning. But too often, we all know
students face many barriers on the inside and outside of school
that make it challenging to learn.
We believe that to address these inequities and ensure all
students have access to equitable learning environments we have
to protect as well as expand district funding for whole child
supports. We also need to make sure that our teachers and
professionals in the classroom have access to the supports that
they need.
And it is critically important that we invest in a
coordinated district-wide effort, including working with
community-based organizations to identify and proactively
reengage students who are offline, hard to find, or have left
school all together.
And then in my 1-minute left, we absolutely need to do
something about the use of suspensions and expulsions for minor
offensives. We cannot keep our kids feeling safe in school and
have an agency and an affirmation of identity without it.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Denise.
Ms. Manning. Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Manning, for the
outstanding questions that you asked. Very much appreciated.
And now I have the gentleman from New York, who has been so
patient. I now recognize Mr. Bowman for his five minutes before
I recognize our Chairman, full Committee Chair. Mr. Bowman,
sir?
Mr. Bowman. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to all
the witnesses for joining us today.
Some of you know, before coming to Congress, I worked in
education for 20 years, had the privilege of being an
elementary school teacher, a high school guidance counselor,
and a middle school principal for 10 091/2 years. So, I am
still very plugged into what is happening with our schools in
New York City, as you know, the largest school district in the
country, serving 1.1 million students. And I have a very
stressed out, frustrated wife who is a second-grade teacher,
who I love very dearly and try to support her as much as I can.
Thankfully, the city did implement mask mandates, and
strongly encouraged vaccinations from the very beginning of the
full reopening. And, thankfully, we have positivity rates of
about .27 percent across the city, which is excellent, even in
a large school system where class size is way too big.
Obviously, we want the rates to be zero, but that is a really
good number.
However, I have heard from parents throughout my district
and across the city who are still very concerned about the
Delta variant, who live in low vaccination communities with
higher COVID rates in terms of the community spread, who really
wanted a remote option for the safety of it, but also because
some students, we might be surprised, actually did well with
remote learning because of social anxieties related to school.
So, I wanted to ask, Dr. Jha, what you think about a remote
learning option going forward. Personally, as a former
educator, I thought remote learning was here to stay just to
help with lower class sizes and some of the other issues that
happen, particularly in middle schools. As you know, middle
school can be challenging. So, I wanted to have Dr. Jha respond
to the remote learning piece, and then I have a followup
question if we could get to it.
Dr. Jha. Yes. So, Congressman, thank you. And, you know,
New York City has just been doing an extraordinary job. A very,
very complicated situation in New York and, you know, the
schools are--some of them are very old. Again, I don't need to
tell you, Congressman. I think they have done a great job,
because they follow the science, and the science is they are
getting people vaccinated, they are using testing, they are
asking kids to mask up and adults, of course. It is working.
You know, on the issue of remote learning, it is
interesting. So, first of all, I think we all agree that
schools should be open and in person full-time. There are a
small number of kids who do benefit from remote learning and
that should be a parent decision. And I think that is a place
where, either because they have specific health issues, or they
have other types of needs, I have generally believed that
coming out of this pandemic we have got to give people more
choices.
So, a lot of talk happens about giving parents choices. I
think on things that affect their kids and their kids only, it
makes a lot of sense. You know, when it comes to, you know, not
wearing a mask, well, it is not just about you; it is going to
be everybody else. There I think we have got to follow public
health guidelines. But I am pretty supportive of giving parents
more choices on these issues.
Mr. Bowman. Absolutely. Thank you for that response. You
know, we passed the American Rescue Plan several months ago,
which brought unprecedented resources to school districts
across the country. What I hope to see, and I believe the
Chairman and others had hoped to see, is the hiring of more
teachers to help lower class size.
In addition, outdoor learning spaces have been shown to
also have benefit as well, and alternative learning spaces in
the lowering of class size as well. And although that is not
in-school learning, it is still in person, and helps with the
overall development of our kids and the social emotional
development of our kids as well.
So, I wanted to just throw that out there and ask anyone if
they had a comment on the benefits of outdoor learning
opportunities, particularly in parts of the country where the
climate is warmer for longer periods of time, and kids can
benefit from it. Anyone can jump in.
Mr. Zweig. Outdoor learning is fabulous. I pushed for it in
my own village here at the beginning of the pandemic.
Obviously, it makes everyone safer, and there is a lot of
evidence that learning outside has other sort of holistic
benefits, so it is a fabulous idea.
Mr. Jara. Representative Bowman, Superintendent Jara for
the record. I think one of the things we have done pre-
pandemic, and obviously we have seen expanding is outdoor
gardens. Actually, some of the opportunities that we have had
for children in the desert. So, it is great that, you know, we
have taken advantage of that. But schools have been able to do
that as individual schools.
Mr. Bowman. Awesome. Thank you all so much. I yield back
the rest of my time, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you, Mr. Bowman.
May I inquire, Dr. Foxx, do you have any more Members
present before I yield to the Chairman, the full Committee
Chair?
Ms. Foxx. Not at this time, sir. Thank you.
Chairman Sablan. OK. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. Thank you.
So now, I would like to recognize the always present, very
good leader in our Committee, the full Committee Chairman, Mr.
Bobby Scott, for five minutes, sir, please.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want
to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony, and ask
first, Ms. Forte, if she could comment on the importance of
student assessments to make sure that we get the data that we
need to ascertain what inequities have been exacerbated by the
pandemic?
Ms. Forte. Thank you, Chairman Scott. We need as much data
as we can possibly get, and it is not just about the basic
system of assessments or the assessment in the classrooms that
we have. It is really a system of assessments that we need to
go forward to be able to understand clearly what is happening
in the classroom, how kids are being supported with the amount
of online learning, and that type of rounded assessment is what
will give us the most accurate and representative data.
And, in particular, we are looking at inequities, which is
what The Education Trust does every day. Without that data, we
are unable to really dig down and see what is going on in the
schoolhouse experience for Black and Latino students. So now,
more than ever, in particular with the amount of investment
that Congress has put toward school, nearly $200 billion, we
need that data to be able to drive resources and drive
outcomes.
Chairman Scott. Thank you.
Mr. Jara, Superintendent Jara. You mentioned a lot of
initiatives to bring students back up to make up for the time
they lost. Are you able to target those initiatives to where
they are best needed, based on the data that Ms. Forte just
mentioned?
Mr. Jara. Representative Scott, great question. Yes, I
mean, we have had not only the summative, but also the
formative assessments, and we use our student level data from
when the kids just came in, and also from the spring from last
year to really target some of the support. Yes, sir.
Chairman Scott. Thank you.
And Dr. Jha, I think you have indicated that we all agree
that students should be in school and a lot of things that they
can't get not in school. We heard in the opening statements
that the Republicans have criticized the American Rescue Plan
for not requiring students to return to school safe or not. You
indicated that a return could be made safe. Can you say a word
about what is wrong with parents having the choice as to
whether the students should be masked or not?
Dr. Jha. Absolutely, Congressman. Look, I am a parent. I
have kids in school. And I want to have a lot of freedoms about
how I raise my kids. But there are certain freedoms I don't
have. I don't get to send my kids to school if they have not
gotten the measles vaccine. I don't get to send my kids to
school if they are not properly clothed. If there were economic
issues, I might need some help. But there are a certain set of
requirements that I have as a parent because it is good for the
public health of other children. Those public health rules that
require kids to be vaccinated for instance against measles,
protect my children in the school. So, while we think
individual parenting decisions are extremely important, we have
always made decisions for public health that protect all the
kids and teachers and staff in schools.
Masking is very much that. It is not a personal choice. It
is not just about you. It is about the toxic air, or the
infected air you are going to breathe if you are infected, and
you are subject other people to infection. And this is why, in
public health, there is broad consensus. There really aren't
very many experts out there who think that kids wearing masks
is not a helpful thing, and that is why we all believe this.
And this is not, as I said, not an individual choice of public
health decision.
Chairman Scott. Thank you.
Can you say a word about the social, emotional learning
that takes place when you are actually in school?
Dr. Jha. Yes. It is extraordinarily important. I saw in my
own children that when they were remote for almost a year, I
think it was incredibly harmful. But it is not about my
anecdote. The data on this is very clear that for many, many
kids, being remote was very difficult and harmful to be very
honest. And so, the question isn't--nobody should frame the
question as remote versus in person. We have all got to get
kids back in person. That is the right things for kids, great
for families. The question has always been how do you do it
safely? We have the evidence and scientists to do it safely.
And I keep hearing people sort of set up a false dichotomy, all
of us believe that in-person education is better for children.
The key issue is how do we do it in a way that keeps kids, and
teachers, and staff safe.
Chairman Scott. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Chairman Scott. Also, I want to
thank all the Members and witnesses for the questions.
I would be remiss if I don't, finally it dawned on me, Ms.
Forte, now I remember you in our Committee, and welcome back.
So, I now remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee
practice materials for submission for the hearing record must
be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following
the date of this hearing. So, it is by close of business on
October 13, 2021, and preferably in Microsoft Word format. The
materials submitted must address the subject matters of the
hearing. And only a Member of the Subcommittee or an invited
guest may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing record.
Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents longer than
50 pages will be incorporated into the record via an internet
link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk within the
required timeframe. But please recognize that in the future,
that link may no longer work.
Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the
record should be submitted to the clerk electronically by
mailing submissions to edandlabor.hearings@mail.house.gov. That
is edandlabor.hearings@mail.house.gov.
Now witness questions for the record, again, I want to
thank the witnesses for their participation today. Members of
the Subcommittee may have some additional questions for you.
And we ask the witnesses to please respond to those questions
in writing. The hearing record will be held open for 14 days in
order to receive those responses.
I remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee practice,
witness questions for the hearing record must be submitted to
the Majority Committee Staff, or Committee Clerk, within 7
days. The questions submitted must address subject area of the
hearing.
I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for a
closing statement, Dr. Foxx, or Mr. Owens.
I don't see either Member. Here is Mr. Owens. Burgess,
please.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for once again calling
this hearing. I want to thank our witnesses for offering their
expertise today. Mr. Chairman, I am actually encouraged by the
level of agreement in this hearing. I had several hearings in
the spring with some of my colleagues on the other side of the
aisle questioned the need to reopen schools and were dismissive
of the experience of parents and children during remote
learning. I am happy to see we have moved beyond that and have
a universal knowledge that kids need to be in school.
That being said, we seem to disagree on a couple of key
points. First, Republicans recognize that our conversation
around COVID mitigation need to be more comprehensive. The
benefits of COVID mitigation strategies needs to be evaluated
on its own merits for actually slowing the spread of the virus
and using a cross-method analysis that weighs the potential
benefit of that strategy and the harm that strategy might cause
to long-term health and development of our children. For
example, thousands and thousands of students are, right at this
moment, being unnecessarily quarantined and separated from
school. So schools might be open officially, but they are
closed for many, many students who desperately need to be in
class. Very few are acknowledging the ongoing harm that is done
to vulnerable students by these policies.
Second, the public seem more comfortable with ambiguity of
the data. You know, my Democratic friends, it has been stated
unequivocally, several times today that mask mandates in
schools definitely work despite the fact the CDC's own studies
looking specifically at the student mandates found no specific,
statistic significant benefits to the student mask mandate. Let
me just repeat that. The CDC's own study looking specifically
at the student mask mandate found no significant benefit to the
student mask mandate. As a result, Republicans believe States
and school districts should have the freedom to adopt the
policies they believe are most appropriate to their State. In
contrast, the Biden administration has admitted a novel low
interpretation related to mask wearing and is applying it to a
politically selective way to investigate only a handful of
States that the administration does not like.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Zweig has made this point
repeatedly. Republicans believe the CDC owes Americans much
more transparency than it provides to date. What is the science
the CDC is using for its recommendation? And why do these
recommendations differ so significantly from the
recommendations of other countries. And what are the metrics we
should be using to determine when COVID mitigation strategies
should be unwound? The CDC has not said.
Finally, I want to address another issue. One of the
Democratic witnesses, Mr. Zweig, is peddling misinformation. To
be clear, if that is true, so is the World Health Organization,
and many other health authorizations around the world. Those
are the facts. If we learn nothing else about this pandemic,
clearly, you must have learned that the spirit of good faith,
informed debate doesn't accomplish anything and, in fact, does
tremendous harm. Mr. Chairman, again, we owe our children
better than that.
And I yield back.
Mr. Sablan. Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Owens. Before I
go to my own closing statements. I don't recall anyone
questioning--suggesting that Mr. Zweig--David was giving
misinformation. The plan of questioning was on the particular
achievements that is received for his specialty or whatever,
but I think we all respect our witness testimonies and
responses equally.
I want to thank all our expert witnesses for their
testimony and for all that you have done to support our schools
and our children's education. Today's hearing has made it clear
schools can only reopen and stay open safely if they implement
science-based strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID. This
is especially true as we experience a resurgence of this
pandemic. Students and educators have not been shielded from
Delta variant's devastating and horrific impact. However,
schools who are enforcing masking policies and taking
precautions are experiencing far fewer and far less severe
COVID-19 outbreaks.
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, schools have the
funding and guidance they need to prevent and navigate
outbreaks. As our witnesses shared, many schools are using the
funds they received from the American Rescue Plan to purchase
PPE, update ventilation systems, and make up for lost time in
the classroom through evidence-based intervention like
intensive tutoring and after-school and summer-learning
programs.
Unfortunately, too many Republican-led States and school
districts are ignoring the science, leaving students and staff
at risk. As I shared at the beginning of the--hearing, this is
the third-year students are going to school under the cloud of
a pandemic. If we want our students to succeed in a healthy
environment, we must put their well-being and education first.
We must put students first.
I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to
help schools reopen, stay open, and build a more equitable
education system for our students.
Seeing that there is no further business, without
objection, the Subcommittee now stands adjourned. Thank you
everyone. And have a wonderful day.
[Questions submitted for the record and the response by Dr.
Jara follow:]
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[Questions submitted for the record and the response by Ms.
Forte follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]