Feb. 12, 2021 — Back in December, Joe Biden pledged to reopen most of the country’s schools within his first 100 days as president, assuming certain conditions were met. With the CDC’s newly revised guidelines and Biden’s proposal to send $130 billion to schools, many school systems are looking to do just that. New research suggests that if districts mandate mask-wearing, hand-washing, social distancing, and other measures, the spread inside schools could be lower than in the larger community.

But many teachers have struggled with district policies that ignored previous CDC guidelines. Federal and state occupational safety and health administrations have logged hundreds of COVID-related complaints covering thousands of public and private K-12 schools. And that represents only half the country since 24 states prohibit public school employees from lodging complaints. More Coverage on WebMD Health News