Education

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its much-anticipated, updated guidance Friday to help school leaders decide how to safely bring students back into classrooms, or keep them there. Rather than a political push to reopen schools, the update is a measured, data-driven effort to expand on old recommendations and advise school leaders on how to "layer" the most effective safety precautions: masking, physical distancing, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, ventilation and building cleaning, and contact tracing.

For politicians, parents and school leaders looking for a clear green light to reopen schools, this is not it.

"CDC is not mandating that schools reopen," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday on a phone briefing with reporters.

Top Biden adviser: Schools on track to open by April A top adviser to President Biden indicated Sunday that the new administration is still hoping to see U.S. schools reopen for in-person learning by April, even in the face of new variants of John Bowden TheHill

A top adviser to President Biden indicated Sunday that the new administration is still hoping to see U.S. schools reopen for in-person learning by April, even in the face of new variants of COVID-19 detected in the U.S.