COVID-19: Creating Safe & Just Schools
NEA is here to ensure we rebuild schools with an emphasis on equity, return to the classroom safely, protect the most vulnerable students, and help educators navigate their rights and responsibilities amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
To ensure the safety and success of you and your students — during the COVID-19 pandemic, and long after — we’ve assembled helpful resources on finding and requesting tests for your school, protecting your rights and your students’ safety, supporting students’ learning and well-being, details on why and how to get vaccines and boosters, and professional development.
Recent Updates
Flu, RSV Outbreaks Worsen Educator Shortage
Spikes in respiratory illnesses have forced some schools to close.
How to Evaluate Building Ventilation Using Carbon Dioxide Monitors
This document to provides guidance on what to look for in CO2 monitors; explains how to effectively use them and interpret the results; and outlines cautions when using results to make decisions about IAQ.
Masks and Respirators in Schools
This document summarizes updates to the CDC school-related guidance on face coverings and provides general information on masks and respirators.
More Teachers, Counselors, and Bus Drivers!
Educators can have a say in how to spend the nation's pandemic relief funds.
School Rescue Funds Ranking Tool
The American Rescue Plan can fund our schools’ most critical needs. Help us rank what the funding priorities should be in your state and district to share with lawmakers.
How to Help Your School Community Through Grief and Loss
Countless people have been touched by grief during the pandemic, and people working in schools have often struggled with it – in an atmosphere where there is so much else that we have lost.
Vaccine Resource Center
NEA encourages widespread use of safe and effective vaccines for educators and students. We've collected the following information and resources to help educators and parents make an informed decision about how best to protect our students.
Popular Resources
Mitigation Strategies for Safe In-Person Learning
Based on the CDC’s measures “essential to the safe delivery of in-person instruction” we have created resources to help our members implement the safest practices and mitigation strategies during in-person instruction.
Learning Beyond COVID-19: A Vision for Thriving in Public Education
For students to learn now and beyond COVID-19, we must create the conditions to help them thrive.
COVID-19–Related Micro-Credentials
Now's the perfect time to demonstrate your competence in subjects that are particularly relevant when coping with the impact of COVID-19.
Technology Integration 101
Learn how to integrate digital tools (Google docs, QR codes, student response systems and more) into classroom lessons.
Cultivating Socially Just Environments
Deepen your understanding of how to cultivate socially just educational environments.
Cultural Competence Standard
Examine cultural contexts and learn to interact across cultural contexts with sensitivity to differences like economics, race, and disability. (For education support professionals.)
Join the Community of Educators Navigating COVID-19 Together
Join our Facebook group to connect with NEA members in your states and locals to seek and share important information about how COVID-19 is affecting your communities and what’s being done to support your students and one another.
OUR VOICE = POWER Speak Up for Public Schools
When we unite and speak truth to power, we can have an enormous impact. Stay up to date on the latest actions you can take to protect and improve public schools for all students.