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School responses in Vermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont 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 two in-person schooling disruptions in Vermont.[3][4]


2020-2021 school year

  • June 29, 2021: At the end of the school year, Burbio reported most schools were in-person in Vermont.[5][6]
  • September 22, 2020: Vermont Education Secretary Dan French announced that schools would advance to step 3 of reopening, which allowed for inter-scholastic competitions, on Sept. 26. Step 3 also permitted schools to use common areas like gyms and small groups of students.[7]
  • Sept. 10, 2020: At the beginning of the school year, Burbio reported a majority of schools were in-person in Vermont.[8][9]
  • July 28, 2020: Gov. Phil Scott (R) announced that schools would not reopen until Sept. 8. School districts would decide whether to return students to physical classrooms or offer distance learning.[10]
  • June 17, 2020: The Vermont Agency of Education released a 25-page guidance document for reopening schools. The guidance included health checks on entry, staggered drop-off and pickup times, and hand sanitizing stations at entrances.[11]


2019-2020 school year

  • March 26, 2020: Scott announced that schools would be closed for the remainder of the academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools were scheduled to reopen on April 6.[12]
  • March 15, 2020: Scott ordered all K-12 schools in the state to close effective March 18 until at least April 6.[13]

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[14]
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[15]
Iowa Ban Legislative action May 16, 2022 - Reinstated by court action[16]
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[17]
Maryland Requirement Maryland State Board of Education order March 1, 2022 - Lifted by executive action[18]
Massachusetts Requirement Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education order Feb. 28, 2022 - Lifted by executive action[19]
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[20]
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 13, 2020

Vermont released an initial operating plan for the 2020-2021 school year on June 17, 2020. An analysis of this plan appeared in our Documenting America's Path to Recovery newsletter on August 13. The sections below include an analysis of the plan, the details of the plan, and reactions from officials to the plan.

On June 17, 2020, the Vermont Agency of Education and the Vermont Department of Health released A Strong and Healthy Start, which provided guidance for safety and public health in school reopening. The state has also provided guidance documents on hybrid learning and decision making for local administrators. Individual school districts must decide if they will open for in-person, hybrid, or remote instruction.

Governor Phil Scott said, “At this time, Vermont data continues to support the reopening of schools and we will reassess that at any point,. Parents and our kids deserve the best education that we can possible [sic] provide. … We know a fully remote format creates gaps that some students fall through, and unfortunately this has a greater impact on some students than others.”

On July 29, Scott signed an executive order that moved the start of the 2020-2021 academic year to Sept. 8. According to EdWeek, public schools in Vermont traditionally start the academic year in late August, with the exact date varying by district. Scott said the delay would give districts more time to begin with fully remote learning, telling reporters, “It makes sense for some to start with this more conservative approach.”

On March 15, Scott ordered all K-12 schools in the state to close on March 18 until at least April 6. On March 26, 2020, Scott announced schools would be closed for the remainder of the academic year.

Context

Vermont has a divided government. The governor is a Republican, and Democrats hold majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. The state has had a divided government since 2017.

The following tables show public education statistics in Vermont, 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.

Vermont school metrics
Category Figure Rank
Per pupil spending (16-17) $20,327 4
Number of students (18-19) 83,716 50
Number of teachers (Fall 2016) 8,187 48
Number of public schools (18-19) 312 48
Student:teacher ratio (18-19) 14.8 26
Percent qualifying for free/reduced lunch (16-17) 41.2% 38


Vermont school revenue
Category Figure Rank
Total revenue $1,758,461,000 48
Federal revenue percent 6.0% 43
State revenue percent 90.1% 1
Local revenue percent 3.9% 49

Details

District reopening plans
On June 4, 2020, the Vermont Agency of Education released guidelines detailing the procedures for reopening. It said individual districts would submit reopening plans that would need to comply with the state-level guidelines outlined in its planning template.

In-person, hybrid, and online learning
The state’s guidance document allows individual districts to decide whether to use fully in-person schedules, a hybrid model, or fully online learning for the 2020 school year. On July 25, the state released an updated document that stressed school flexibility in planning, saying, “[I]t is important that each district plan for a certain amount of flexibility to shift school instruction along a continuum of options from full in-person instruction to full remote learning, including a hybrid learning approach that might include both.”

Mask requirements
Students, teachers, and school staff are required to wear facial coverings while in the school building and outside if six feet of social distance cannot be maintained.

In-person health recommendations and requirements
A Safe and Healthy Start recommends students be kept together in the same groups as much as possible. It also requires the groups to comply with the occupancy standards to ensure they maintain a six-foot social distance. The guidelines recommend installing physical barriers where social distancing is more difficult. Libraries and other communal areas can remain in operation if social distancing is possible and enforced.

The plan recommends cafeterias and gyms should not be used for their normal purposes. Rather, they should be used as additional classroom space to help a school to properly allow for social distancing. Before and after school programs are allowed to remain in operation with social distancing requirements and with strict record-keeping suggested.

The guidance recommends that anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 should self-isolate until they have had no fever for 24 hours without the use of medications. Students and staff will be excluded from school activities and buildings if they:

“
  • Show symptoms of COVID-19, such as a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell
  • Have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days
  • Have a fever (temperature higher than 100.4°F)
  • Have a significant new rash, particularly when other symptoms are present
  • Have large amounts of nasal discharge in the absence of allergy diagnosis[21]
 ”

If COVID-19 is confirmed in a student, the school must:

“
  • Close off areas used by a sick person and do not use these areas until after cleaning and disinfecting; wait 24 hours or as long as practical before beginning cleaning and disinfecting to allow droplets to settle
  • Open outside doors and windows and use ventilating fans to increase air circulation in the area.
  • Clean and disinfect all areas such as offices, bathrooms, common areas and shared electronic equipment used by the ill persons, focusing especially on frequently touched surfaces.
  • Ensure safe and correct use and storage of cleaning and disinfection products, including storing products securely away from children.
  • Participate in contact tracing as requested by the Health Department.
  • Communicate with staff and parents/caregivers with general information about the situation. It is critical to maintain confidentiality.[21]
 ”

Transportation and busing requirements and restrictions
All students and staff must wear facial coverings while on school buses or other transportation. In addition, students should go through a health screening before boarding the bus. The state recommends assigning students to a bus based on their grade cohort and that students are assigned specific seats.

Responses

The Vermont-NEA, the state’s largest teacher’s union, called for the state to adopt a phased approach rather than let individual districts decide how to reopen. The group has also called for the state to establish a “State Commission comprised of educators, school counselors, school nurses, educational support professionals, custodians and bus drivers, administrators, school board members, parents/caregivers, and AOE representatives” that can evaluate COVID-19 reopening plans.

In an open letter to her school district opposing the plan, Harwood Unified Union School District Superintendent Brigid Nease said:

“ Under the guise of local control and the need to respond flexibly to the differences in each district, leaders were told by state officials to basically go figure it out. … The truth is most school employees are scared to death they will get sick (or worse), bring the virus home to loved ones, have a student in their care become ill, or experience the death of a coworker. However, the even bigger reason for leave requests is the untenable position this state has put school employees in by creating homegrown reopening schedules that do not align.[21] ”

Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French said the decision offers individual districts options rather than dictates policy for the entire state. On Aug. 10, he told VTDigger:

“ When you get into a pandemic, this is all unchartered territory. People want to be told exactly what to do. And the message that ‘Look, we can really tell you what to do up to a point, you still have to use your professional judgment,’ isn’t necessarily well received.[21] ”

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 Vermont's in-person index at 90.4. 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. ↑ NECN, "Vermont Eases School Restrictions, Allows Sporting Competitions," accessed September 24, 2020
  8. ↑ Burbio rated Vermont'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.
  9. ↑ Burbio, "Burbio's K-12 School Opening Tracker," accessed Oct. 8, 2021
  10. ↑ VT Digger, "Scott moves mandatory school start date to Sept. 8," July 28, 2020
  11. ↑ WCAX, "New guidance released for reopening Vermont schools," June 17, 2020
  12. ↑ VTDigger, "Schools dismissed through end of school year," March 26, 2020
  13. ↑ Vermont Public Radio, "Gov. Closes K-12 Vermont Schools Starting Wednesday To Slow Coronavirus," March 15, 2020
  14. ↑ On Sept. 2, 2021 the ban was temporarily suspended by court action. An appeals court upheld the ban on Sept. 10.
  15. ↑ Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) ended the statewide school mask requirement on Feb. 28, 2022.
  16. ↑ On Sept. 13, 2021 the ban was temporarily suspended by court action for all schools. On Jan. 25, 2022, the ban was partially reinstated.
  17. ↑ Oct. 26, 2021 - School districts could be exempt from the school mask requirement if they followed CDC quarantine guidance
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ Oct. 1 - Schools could become exempt from the school mask requirement when at least 80% of students were vaccinated
  20. ↑ On Nov. 10, 2021 the ban was suspended by court action. An appeals court upheld the ban on Dec. 1.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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