Causes, characteristics, and patterns of prolonged unplanned school closures prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – United States, 2011 – 2019

Abstract

IntroductionOutside of pandemics, there is little information about occurrence of prolonged unplanned K-12 school closures (PUSC). We describe here the reasons, characteristics, and patterns of PUSC in the United States during 8 consecutive inter-pandemic academic years, 2011-2019.MethodsFrom August 1, 2011 through June 30, 2019, daily systematic online searches were conducted to collect data on publicly announced unplanned school closures lasting ≥1 school days in the United States. Closures were categorized as prolonged when schools were closed for ≥5 unplanned days (approximating one full workweek), excluding weekends and scheduled days off per school calendars.ResultsDuring the eight academic years, a total of 21,725 PUSCs were identified, affecting over 800,000 teachers and 13 million students that resulted in 89.9 million student-days lost. A median of 62.9% of students in PUSC-affected schools were eligible for subsidized school meals. Most affected schools were in cities (35%) and suburban areas (34%). Natural disasters (48%), adverse weather conditions (35%), and budget/teacher strikes (15%) were the most frequently cited reasons for PUSC; illness accounted for 1%, and building/facility issues, environmental issues and violence together accounted for the remaining 3%. The highest number of PUSCs occurred in Health and Human Services Regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 encompassing areas that are frequently in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms. The majority of PUSCs in these regions were attributed to a handful of hurricanes during the fall season, including hurricanes Sandy, Irma, Harvey, Florence, and Matthew.ConclusionsPUSCs occur annually in the United States due to a variety of causes and are associated with a substantive loss of student-days for in-school learning. Both these prior experiences with PUSCs and those during the current COVID-19 pandemic illustrate a need for creating sustainable solutions for high-quality distance learning and innovative supplemental feeding programs nationwide, especially in disaster-prone areas.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Barriers to Implementing Select Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce the Transmission of Pandemic Influenza - United States, 2019

“…20 , 26 , 27 The annual occurrence of prolonged unplanned school closures (≥ 5 school days) before the COVID-19 pandemic further supports the need for the timely development of effective high-quality distance learning tools. 28 Distance learning strategies require several components to be successful, including a learning management system, policies to address student access to devices and to the Internet, and high-quality online course content, as well as adaptation of content to student learning needs, and training and support for teachers to deliver instruction online. 29 K-12 teachers who transitioned to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic reported that support would have been helpful in the following areas: previous training on learning management system, student internet and computer access, more time to prepare for distance learning, better guidance on platforms and tools to use, and teaching resources available for distance learning.…”