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School responses in North Dakota to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

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Responses by state

As students returned to school for the 2021-2022 school year, states set a variety of policies on education and the COVID-19 pandemic, including how schools should open to in-person instruction and whether students and staff would be required to wear masks. By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, about 66% of students nationwide were in states that left closure decisions to schools or districts, 33% were in states with state-ordered in-person instruction, and 1% were in states with state-ordered regional school closures.[1][2] All 50 states closed schools to in-person instruction at some point during the 2019-2020 school year in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This article summarizes responses to the coronavirus in North Dakota schools in the academic years ending in 2020, 2021, and 2022. You will find:


Ballotpedia’s coverage of COVID-19 includes how federal, state, and local governments are responding, and how those responses are influencing election rules and operations, political campaigns, the economy, schools, and more.

This page is updated monthly, but our email is always open. We encourage you to share updates from local officials, policymakers, and campaigns in your community at editor@ballotpedia.org.


Timeline by school year

Below is a list of major events involving schools in North Dakota during the coronavirus pandemic between 2019 and 2022, including school closings and openings, mask requirements, and the release of statewide operating guidance. Know of something we missed? Click here to email us and let us know.

2021-2022 school year

  • Sept. 9, 2021: At the beginning of the school year, Burbio, a school data aggregator, reported no in-person schooling disruptions in North Dakota.[3][4]


2020-2021 school year

  • June 29, 2021: At the end of the school year, Burbio reported all schools were in-person in North Dakota.[5][6]
  • Sept. 10, 2020: At the beginning of the school year, Burbio reported a majority of schools were in-person in North Dakota .[7][8]
  • May 11, 2020: Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced that schools in North Dakota could reopen starting June 1 for summer programs, though schools were not required to. Under the order, child care programs, summer school classes, and college admissions testing could resume. The order also did not prohibit schools from offering summer distance learning options.[9]


2019-2020 school year

  • May 1, 2020: Burgum announced that schools would remain closed for in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools were closed indefinitely.[10]
  • March 19, 2020: Burgum announced that the statewide school closure was extended indefinitely.[11]
  • March 15, 2020: Burgum ordered all schools in the state to close for one week, effective March 16.[12]

Mask and vaccine requirements in the 2021-2022 school year

Mask requirements in schools

See also: School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2021-2022 academic year

As of August 1, 2022, no states had school mask requirements in effect. Forty-two states left mask requirements in schools up to local authorities. Seven states banned school mask requirements.

The table below shows statewide school mask requirement laws and orders in states with school mask requirements or school mask requirement bans in place at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

Mask requirement orders
State Ban or requirement? Type of order Date lifted or altered
Arizona Ban Legislative action N/A
Arkansas Ban Legislative action Sept. 30, 2021 - Suspended by court action
California Requirement California Department of Public Health order March 12, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Connecticut Requirement Executive order Feb. 28, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Delaware Requirement Executive order March 1, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Florida Ban Executive order N/A[13]
Georgia Ban Legislative action N/A
Hawaii Requirement Executive order Aug. 1, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Illinois Requirement Illinois Department of Public Health order Feb. 4, 2022 - Suspended by court action[14]
Iowa Ban Legislative action May 16, 2022 - Reinstated by court action[15]
Kentucky Requirement Kentucky Board of Education order Sept. 9, 2021 - Suspended by state law
Louisiana Requirement Executive order Feb. 16, 2022 - Lifted by executive action[16]
Maryland Requirement Maryland State Board of Education order March 1, 2022 - Lifted by executive action[17]
Massachusetts Requirement Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education order Feb. 28, 2022 - Lifted by executive action[18]
Nevada Requirement Executive order Feb. 10, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
New Jersey Requirement Executive order March 7, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
New Mexico Requirement New Mexico Public Education Department order Feb. 17, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
New York Requirement Executive order March 3, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Oklahoma Ban Executive order N/A
Oregon Requirement Oregon Health Authority and Department of Education order March 12, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
Pennsylvania Requirement Pennsylvania Department of Health order Dec. 10, 2021 - Suspended by court action
Rhode Island Requirement Executive order March 4, 2022 - Lifted by executive action
South Carolina Ban Legislative action Sept. 28, 2021 - Temporarily suspended by court action
Tennessee Ban Executive order Dec. 10, 2021 - Suspended by court action
Texas Ban Executive order N/A[19]
Utah Ban Legislative action N/A
Virginia Ban Legislative action N/A
Washington Requirement Washington State Department of Public Health order March 12, 2022 - Lifted by executive action

School mask requirements over time

School mask bans over time


Teacher and school employee vaccine requirements

See also: School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2021-2022 academic year

Seven states had issued a statewide requirement for K-12 teachers and staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or receive regular coronavirus testing during the 2021-2022 school year. The table below shows teacher and staff vaccine requirement laws and orders in states that issued such policies during the 2021-2022 school year.

Vaccine requirement orders
State Testing instead of vaccination allowed? Type of order Date effective
California Yes California Department of Public Health order Oct. 15, 2021
Connecticut No Executive order Sept. 27, 2021
Delaware Yes Executive order Nov. 1, 2021
Illinois Yes Executive order Issued: Sept. 19, 2021
Suspended by court action on Feb. 4, 2022
New Jersey Yes Executive order Oct. 18, 2021
New York Yes Executive order Sept. 19, 2021
Oregon No Executive order Oct. 18, 2021
Washington No Executive order Oct. 18, 2021


Student vaccine requirements

See also: School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2021-2022 academic year

On Oct. 1, 2021, California was the first state to announce a vaccine requirement for eligible students. Louisiana also announced a vaccine requirement for eligible students on Dec. 14, but then announced the state would be removing the coronavirus vaccine from the list of required immunizations in schools on May 18, 2022.

School reopenings and closures (2020-2021 academic year)

See also: School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2020-2021 academic year

Initial school year operating plan

See also: Documenting America's Path to Recovery: August 12, 2020

North Dakota released an initial operating plan for the 2020-2021 school year on July 14, 2020. An analysis of this plan appeared in our Documenting America's Path to Recovery newsletter on August 12. The sections below include an analysis of the plan, the details of the plan, and reactions from officials to the plan.

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction released its school reopening guidance, titled K-12 Smart Restart, on July 14. Gov. Doug Burgum (R) said, “North Dakota’s children are looking to us as adults to help them adjust to life with COVID-19. They will be watching us and looking to us for answers, guidance and security. Today’s guidance is the next step in that journey. We are committed to supporting and partnering with our schools and families to provide a safe, high-quality education experience for all students.”

State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said, "School boards and administrators will be making difficult decisions to ensure the health and well-being of their communities and limit the spread of COVID-19 while fulfilling their overall mission of educating students. They are in the best position to make the dozens and dozens of judgment calls that will be necessary every day and changing as the days go on."

North Dakota does not have a statewide date for public schools to reopen. According to EdWeek, public schools in North Dakota traditionally start the academic year in late August to early September, with the exact start date varying by district.

On March 15, Gov. Burgum closed schools for one week, effective March 16. On March 19, Burgum extended the closure indefinitely. The governor closed schools for the rest of the academic year on May 1. On May 11, he announced schools could reopen starting on June 1 for summer programs, though they were not required to.

Context

North Dakota has a Republican trifecta. The governor is a Republican, and Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. The state became a Republican trifecta in 1995.

The following tables show public education statistics in North Dakota, including a rank comparing it to the other 49 states. Rank one is the highest number of each figure, rank 50 is the lowest. All data comes from the Common Core of Data provided by the National Center for Education Statistics.

North Dakota school metrics
Category Figure Rank
Per pupil spending (16-17) $16,632 12
Number of students (18-19) 111,658 48
Number of teachers (Fall 2016) 9,265 46
Number of public schools (18-19) 525 43
Student:teacher ratio (18-19) 12.0 48
Percent qualifying for free/reduced lunch (16-17) 30.9% 49


North Dakota school revenue
Category Figure Rank
Total revenue $1,578,414,000 49
Federal revenue percent 10.1% 18
State revenue percent 58.7% 11
Local revenue percent 31.2% 41

Details

District reopening plans

Each school district is responsible for developing Health and Safety plans regarding in-person instruction, which district school boards must approve in consultation with local public health units. Each school is also required to have a board-approved Distance Learning Plan, along with a hybrid plan. Schools are required to post the plans on a publicly accessible website.

In-person, hybrid, and online learning

The state’s reopening guide sets forth a color-coded phased approach to returning students to classrooms. The levels—Red (critical risk), Orange (high risk), Yellow (moderate risk), Green (low risk), and Blue (new normal)—are “based on criteria such as the number of cases reported, positivity rates, testing capacity, hospital capacity, occurrence of point-source outbreaks, level of community spread, vulnerable populations affected and ability to protect, the availability of personal protection equipment (PPE), etc.”

Schools in the Red or Orange Phase should remain closed, with all instruction provided remotely. Schools in the Yellow Phase can resume in-person instruction if they have a Health and Safety Plan approved by the district’s school board. In the Yellow Phase, guidance states that plans should emphasize facial coverings, personal hygiene, and social distancing. In the Green Phase, the guidance says that “some physical distancing measures and limitations on gatherings will still be recommended to prevent transmission from accelerating again.” For schools in the Blue Phase, “most normal activity can resume, with standard precautions and awareness of health guidelines such as routine hand washing, stay home when sick, cover your cough, education, stockpiling, planning, routine health alerts, etc.”

As long as school plans have been approved, details of each model of learning can vary widely from school to school based on local conditions.

Mask requirements

For schools in the Yellow Phase, guidelines state, “Facial coverings (masks or face shields) should be worn by staff and students when social distancing is not possible.” For those in the Green Phase or Blue Phase, schools are instructed to develop “Guidelines for when facial coverings should be worn by staff and students when social distancing is not possible.”

In-person health recommendations and requirements

State guidelines instruct schools to develop their Health and Safety Plans based on documents released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, North Dakota Department of Health, and local public health units. Plans must include the following:

“
  • Process for isolation and quarantine when a staff member, student, or visitor becomes sick or demonstrates a history of exposure.
  • Guidelines for when an isolated or quarantined staff member, staff, or visitor may return to school.
  • Plan for ensuring ongoing communication with families around the elements of the local Health and Safety Plan, including ways that families can practice safe hygiene in the home.
  • Facial coverings (masks or face shields) should be worn by staff and students when social distancing is not possible.
  • Guidelines for hygiene practices for students and staff which include the manner and frequency of hand-washing and other best practices.
  • Protocols for classroom/learning space occupancy that allow for separation among students and staff throughout the day to the maximum extent feasible
  • Protocols for the use of cafeterias, commons areas and other congregate settings for students, faculty and staff.
  • When weather permits, utilization of outdoor spaces is recommended.
  • Protocols for limiting the sharing of materials among students to the maximum amount feasible.[20]
 ”

Transportation and busing requirements and restrictions

The guidelines do not specify requirements or restrictions regarding transportation and busing, aside from instructing schools to develop “Protocols for adjusting space occupancy on buses that allow for separation among students to the maximum extent feasible.”

Responses

Nick Archuleta, President of ND United, the state’s largest teacher’s union, responded to the state’s guidelines: “As expected, the responsibility for the creation of reopening plans and protocols rests with the local school districts, as it should. To that end, I am imploring local school boards and administrators to be as inclusive as possible as they undertake this important planning. If we are to instill confidence in the minds of parents, students, professional educators, and education support professionals, it is imperative that they have a seat at the table and that their views are seriously considered.”

Map of school closures

The map below shows the status of school reopenings and closures at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year.

As of July 8, 2021, the status of school closures and reopenings was as follows:

  • Two states (Delaware, Hawaii) and Washington, D.C. had state-ordered regional school closures, required closures for certain grade levels, or allowed hybrid instruction only.
    • 2019-20 enrollment: 410,896 students (0.81% of students nationwide)
  • Thirteen states had state-ordered in-person instruction.
    • 2019-20 enrollment: 15,697,460 students (30.96% of students nationwide)
  • One state (Arizona) had state-ordered in-person instruction for certain grades.
    • 2019-20 enrollment: 1,152,586 students (2.27% of students nationwide)
  • Thirty-four states left decisions to schools or districts.
    • 2019-20 enrollment: 33,449,499 students (65.96% of students nationwide)



School reopenings and closures (2019-2020 academic year)

See also: School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2019-2020 academic year


The map below shows the status of school reopenings and closures at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year.

  • States closed to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year: 48
  • Number of public school students in states closed to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year: 50,261,464


The chart below shows the first date schools in a state were closed to in-person instruction during the 2019-2020 academic year, divided by the political party of the governor.

School responses by state

To read about school responses to the coronavirus pandemic in others states, click one of the following links below:

General resources

The chart below shows coronavirus statistics from countries across the world. The information is provided by Real Clear Politics.

Click the links below to explore official resources related to the coronavirus outbreak.


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Number of operating public schools and districts, student membership, teachers, and pupil/teacher ratio, by state or jurisdiction: School year 2019–20," accessed September 10, 2021
  2. ↑ EducationWeek, "Map: Where Were Schools Required to Be Open for the 2020-21 School Year?," June 14, 2021
  3. ↑ To read more about Burbio's school disruption tracking, click here
  4. ↑ Burbio, "Burbio's K-12 School Opening Tracker," accessed August 27, 2021
  5. ↑ Burbio rated North Dakota's in-person index at 100. To read more about Burbio's school opening tracker, click here. To read more about Burbio's methodology, click here.
  6. ↑ Burbio, "Burbio's K-12 School Opening Tracker," accessed Oct. 8, 2021
  7. ↑ Burbio rated North Dakota's in-person index between 60-80. To read more about Burbio's school opening tracker, click here. To read more about Burbio's methodology, click here.
  8. ↑ Burbio, "Burbio's K-12 School Opening Tracker," accessed Oct. 8, 2021
  9. ↑ The Hill, "North Dakota to reopen school facilities for summer programs," May 12, 2020
  10. ↑ NBC New York, "Cuomo: New York Schools Closed Rest of Academic Year, Daily Deaths Hit New Low," May 1, 2020
  11. ↑ KXNet, "K-12 Schools in North Dakota to remain closed," March 19, 2020
  12. ↑ The Bismarck Tribune, "Governor orders K-12 schools shut down due to coronavirus threat," March 15, 2020
  13. ↑ On Sept. 2, 2021 the ban was temporarily suspended by court action. An appeals court upheld the ban on Sept. 10.
  14. ↑ Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) ended the statewide school mask requirement on Feb. 28, 2022.
  15. ↑ On Sept. 13, 2021 the ban was temporarily suspended by court action for all schools. On Jan. 25, 2022, the ban was partially reinstated.
  16. ↑ Oct. 26, 2021 - School districts could be exempt from the school mask requirement if they followed CDC quarantine guidance
  17. ↑ Dec. 7, 2021 - School districts could be exempt from the school mask requirement if they met one of the three following criteria: 1) the county vaccination rate was 80% or higher, 2) 80% of school staff and students were vaccinated, or 3) COVID-19 transmission in the county was considered moderate or low for 14 straight days.
  18. ↑ Oct. 1 - Schools could become exempt from the school mask requirement when at least 80% of students were vaccinated
  19. ↑ On Nov. 10, 2021 the ban was suspended by court action. An appeals court upheld the ban on Dec. 1.
  20. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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