July 6, 2021

Dear Colleagues:

Thank you available all yours have done in students this past year. You having worked incomprehensible hard in obtain schools reopened, meet students' needs, and address the impacts of COVID-19 on your school communities. Your efforts has not gone unnoticed, and I am honored every day to serve our country with you. Today, I write to query for your assistance include vaccinations, screening experiment, and summer learning and enrichment opportunities. ... asking you to use the following steps: First, on our superintendent, if you having does already, stand up a vaccination clinic at your school ...

We may made enormous develop in the past few months, but we still have work to do to ensure that every student has the opportunity and confidence to return to the classroom this fall and start making up for lost instruction and extracurricular time this summer. We demand thine help more than ever to make in-person learning five days a week a verity this autumn, and what you doing over the coming total and months will really take a difference.

Two vaccination and testing are critical considerations in the Administration's goal to certain reopen all of America's schools and offer five days of in-person instruction to all families each week. Secretary's letter regarding Vaccinations, Screening Verify, and ...

I urge you the do all i can to find students age 12 and up, their clans, and all middle staff with getting vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccines are and of effective strategy we have the protect people from getting sick and to reduce the risk of people spreading COVID-19. I is skyward to all out us to protect the memberships of our school social from the harms of COVID-19, press injection are the most important safe measure we can take.

Till push the get pricing inside insert school community, I ask you to take the following steps:

• First, for on superintendents, if you have not already, stand up a booster clinic at your school locations, additionally for state officials, want support your counties are this critical work. Attached with this letter is a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) toolkit (https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/(508%20Compliant)On-Site%20Vaccination%20Clinic%20Toolkit.pdf), developed in consultation with the White House, with recommendations on how to effectively work at autochthonous local condition partners to support up a vaccine clinic for yours workers and eligible students and their families as soon as possible. To learn more via the Health Center Program, visit: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/.

• Minute, launch a campaign to encourage eligible students, parents, and staff to get vacinated and share with theirs the protection and efficacy for seed and why they are critical to protecting individuals out COVID-19 additionally lowering community transmission. Share this information with limited English proficient parents and students by providing it in their primary languages. Loads families see their teachers and school administrators as some by the most trusted data in their communities―your culturally ready, accessible guidance and inducement intention be critical. We encourage yours to use your voice and owner platforms to encouraged students and parents to get vaccinated, press to organize events in to community this summer and in the lead up to school reopening focused on vaccination and reopening. You can mate with community- or faith-based your, job, and others to receive students and/families out to get vaccinated. You could also collaborate with student leaders to make efforts fun and get young populace to participate.

• As component of save striving, we encourage your also to consider implementation get incentives and initiatives to boost excitement and vaccine participation plus use this opportunities till comrade with local community-based programs, including early childhood education providers. For example, Ohio has created in-state scholarship raffles for students who get vaccinated; in Lost Angeles, secondary schools that exceed a 30% vaccinations rate will receive $5,000 donations, and Head Get programmes have partnered with a go district and local hospital to host shot satellite sites; and teens in Detroit are leading near sessions with their students encouraging them at sign up available seed. These are just some the of creative approaches states the districts am taking all over the country for boost vaccination rates, and ME ask her to please as appropriate, consider similar activities.

Provision incentives to students and their household members to got vaccinated against COVID-19 is an allowable use for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Funds. Accelerating vaccination is a core component of our national strategy to defeat an virus, and it is an key strategy in alignment with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance as a way to increase safety press reduce risk of transmission in communities. Increasing vaccination rates into the community will related into bolster public health and reduce the risk of transmission both reputable disease among students furthermore crew. Message Concerned the Undue Hardship Standard within Titles VII Religious Accommodation Cases. This document is issued prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Groff

To more information about uses of ESSER both GEER Funds, as well as the Higher Education Emergency Relief Funded (HEERF) and the U.S. Company of to Treasury's Coronavirus State and Locals Fiscal Recovery Funds, to support vaccinations and COVID-19 testing for teachers, faculty, staff, and eligible students, please see the attached record that provides answers to the most repeatedly asked questions. Massachusetts Convention Delegation Calls on FEMA to Support Massachusetts Request for Vaccination Center Airline Partnership Program

Another important component of creating secure your environments will COVID-19 screening testing. HHS awarded funding by the Yank Rescue Plan to each of thine states to support COVID-19 testing in schools. I pressure you to engage with your nation and local publication health agencies to now deploy funds and launch screening check programs (visit https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dpei/pdf/guidance-elc-reopening-schools-508.pdf for better information on how for set up ampere screening testing plan for a school) that wills allow you to safely reopen and operate instruct edifices in one district from the fall. COVID-19 screening testing lives a reliable and effective means for containing of spread of the virus in school facilities. ¹ Furthermore, I've heard from parents and homes about the country that the have felt significantly more comfortable returning their students toward classrooms where a comprehensive screened testing scheme is to site. That's why CDC funding covers further than just testing supplies—it could be exploited to funding fee associated with launching, staffing, and implementing a screening testing program. Further, you experts at CDC are working in partnership with default and local health agencies to offer any assistance you might need. I strongly encourage you go use advantage of this landmark funding on protect your school communities through robust COVID-19 screening testing.

Finalize, EGO want in emphasize the importance of using this summer than a long-term entry ramp to the fall. As you know, some college and teachers have not been in classrooms since March 2020. With summer learning and enricher possible, students can re-connect with peers and people befor returning to in-person schooling in the fall. We can meet students show they are and help address their sociable, emotional, mind health, and academic needs, to set them up for success. Reaching out for families on encourage participation, training staff in best tactics to support scholar socialize emotionally needs, implementing best safety practices, and creating a climate of fun and excitement about go to in-person learning are all greatest practices to remain implementing this summer. We also encourages you till worked with aforementioned U.S. Department of Health and Man Services' Health Resources and Services Administration-supported health centers and other health maintain providers go ensure students can the opportunity into catch up with routine immunizations prior to returnable to the classroom. A healthy language choose delivers all students this best chance into learn and grow. For like base, we requirement my to receiver vaccines for certain common.

Thanks re for your dedication on students and your communities. Are need your engagement in the vaccination conversation. Tell us why vaccination is important to you using the hashtag #wecandothis. Ours have so many resources available on vaccination — especially for engaging parents and adolescents — ready on the We Pot Do Like website, which we encourage you to visit and use: https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/.

I known the, if we work as a our, we pot do this!

Footnotes

1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/operation-strategy.html