Students are contracting COVID-19, occasionally in school – but medical experts say school is the safest place for kids. Parents are urged to vaccinate their children against COVID, though children are unlikely to get seriously ill. State policymakers are encouraging schools to increase one form of COVID testing, while ramping down another.

Education policy during COVID is complex, with no easy answers.

“As an education system, we need to be able to explain to parents what is being done, why it's being done, and convince them, frankly, that what's being done is still going to keep their kids safe,” said Natasha Ushomirsky, state director for Massachusetts at the Education Trust, a policy organization that advocates for low-income students.

Ushomirsky and Dr. Richard Malley, a senior pediatrician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital, spoke to The Codcast about changing COVID policy in schools.