Table 2.

Illustrative quotes from study participants, by theme and subtheme.

Theme 1: there is a shared desire for students to return to in-person learning
Subtheme 1a: home environment made it difficult for students to focus on remote learning	It’s true, the children’s grades, at least with mine, they went down. Definitely much lower than the grades they would always have, because exactly, they were always distracted with something else. They were always getting snacks, going to the bathroom. Their minds were not focused on the computer, their minds were focused on something else, other temptations to go do, to go learn something else, the cat, the dog, or whatever it was, but there were always distractions. They were not focused on their—they focused about 30%, but everything else was distraction. Parent I do not know, there was just a lot of things to distract me and stuff … like my parents being home. Them telling me to do stuff. And then also the internet sometimes shutting off and stuff. Student The distractions. Because when we are at home it’s the TV, video games, that kind of stuff. Student There was parents who were expecting their children to do chores for them while they were supposed to be in class. Um, like things they would never do in the school year. They would never come to my classroom and say, “Hey, I need you to unload the dishwasher,” but they would do that when we were on Zoom. School Employee I mean, you have got … families of six or seven kids, and they are at home and you live in a small, little house, multi-generational, the kid does not even have a place to sit down to be quiet and have a quiet place or a place for them to keep their stuff. And, you know, you have got kids yelling at each other—siblings, they are siblings fighting over it and yeah, you know? School Employee
Subtheme 1b: quality of remote teaching was lower compared to in-person teaching	I think one of the things that was hardest, at the beginning it seemed novel and interesting, but as time went on teachers did their best, but teachers I do not think really were trained how to teach online. So they were trying to do the same thing that they would do in person and they were losing the interest of the students. So my kids just—like at first it was okay, but then as time went on they were just like, “Ech, I do not want to watch the teacher. I do not want to listen to the teacher. I just want to do the work.” Parent On our end the struggle was mostly getting like being motivated to actually get on and participate because it was so easy to kind of just slink back and not be a part of the learning. And because kind of even like in this small group if you have people talking over each other or whatever the case is then with kids it’s a lot harder for them to actually pay attention when they are being either talked over or they are getting muted or they have something to say but nobody is actually—they cannot actually hear it. Parent Well, I feel it was kind of confusing and then, like, the teachers went fast … like, all the time, when like, it was online, all the teachers would, like, do the lessons and stuff and it would be, like, kind of fast, and maybe it was because the schedule. Student It was really difficult, I’d say, because you did not really get much of the materials because the teachers could not really explain it. Student A con for online would be not really understanding the assignment. Yeah, mainly not understanding the assignment, which, in class, you mostly can ask questions during—well, you could ask questions during online, too, but it’s more, I would say, difficult to do that online. Student We tried our best to provide (educators) a lot of professional development and training and devices and the technology that was needed, but that did not have as much of an impact as we hoped. School Employee For teachers … who have used technology in their instructional practices, and have been taught how to use it, and grown up in a world where technology is part of their everyday lives, they adapted very quickly. Many of the things that they had been asked to do as students, maybe in colleges and universities, they had already done. And it was not that big of a deal. Some of them had already been involved in distance learning-type courses. And so, for them … the change was not as great. But if you get into teachers that are 15, 20, 25 years into the profession, they have never had any of that training, they do not do that, they do not feel comfortable at it, and they struggled with it—very much so. School Employee As far as actual learning that took place, we struggled a little bit as a district to find our footing in navigating having students online and in-person at the same time …. Everything we did we tried to do, obviously, in the best interest of the kids, but I think that that probably had to be really difficult …. Knowing when you could have time with your teacher to ask those questions that you needed. Getting help typically we would have tutoring so that if students did not quite get it during class, they would have afterschool and we were not able to offer that. School Employee
Subtheme 1c: student motivation and engagement was negatively impacted	They (school counselors) knew what my son was going through and me as a single parent what we were going through. So, they were willing to say, “Hey son. If I need to come out to your house and knock on the door to make sure that you are logging in because I know your mom is at work I will do that.” And I was grateful because I trusted him as a male counselor figure to come out and speak to my son to let him know that the decisions he was making were going to be more detrimental to him in the long run if he just kept letting it pile up. Because I could tell him everything and get blue in the face, but I wasn’t getting anything done. And I could not log in for him to do his work because that’s not teaching him anything. Parent In my case, you know them, I have two daughters and the worst problem was that each of them would go study to a separate room. I have internet, but each of them in their room. The oldest one graduated this year, but she barely graduated because according to her, she was studying, but she was sleeping and we think they are studying. We do not want to open their door so we do not interrupt them, but on several occasions, I was able to open the door and she was in deep sleep. She was snoring and her computer was on …. If I told her something: “I know what I’m doing, Mom. I know what I’m doing.” Parent There were not many pros to online learning. None. There were just, it was just easier to get distracted. Very easy to get distracted, easy to slack off ‘cause no one is watching you. I mean it’s not like they are going to do anything. And it generally just encourages laziness. Student (Reasons for logging on to class late or not at all) lack of motivation, because sometimes you just get lazy and do not want to do it. Student So I know that I had a few families or parents when I would reach out to them and say, “Hey, so-and-so has not come to school. We’re just concerned. We do not want for them to fall behind. We would hate for next year to come and them be really behind, and it’s really important for them to come.” “Well, I’m at work. I cannot be at home and making sure that they are logging on. I cannot be at both places at one time.” You know, and there was a lot of that. A lot. “I call them and I asked them to log on, they have said they have logged on, and then you guys are calling me and telling me they are not online.” School Employee My oldest is in high school, and the pandemic has been extremely, extremely difficult for him. Because he does not do well with self-guided online learning, and he really, really struggled, stopped making a lot of effort in being in school or even trying to attend his classes. He is gonna graduate, so that is huge, but it took a tremendous emotional toll on his confidence, on his self-esteem. School Employee

Theme 2: schools implemented numerous COVID-19 mitigation strategies — adding COVID-19 testing may send them “over the edge”
Subtheme 2a: mitigation strategies have been implemented, there is widespread support among parents and students, and school employees take pride in their work to prepare schools for safe reopening	That they maintain distancing more than anything. They should always recommend that they wash their hands. If it’s possible, they should always cover their mouth, keep the mask on. I think that’s the main thing. Parent If they do not have a mask or if the string broke, they’ll give him one. Uh-huh, because he’s come home with a different mask and I tell him, “You were not wearing this one.” He said, “The teacher gave it to me.” And she gives him bottles of sanitizer. Parent So, in the beginning (following preventive measures at school) was a bit annoying because you had to do it all the time. But you’d get used to it once you went to school. Student There’s not much to complain about (regarding preventative measures at school). I mean it keeps everybody safe. Student The idea of social distancing, I think, is a good preventive measure, okay, and I do agree with the science that that and masking are things that we can do to protect ourselves. If not vaccinated, obviously. But the social distancing of six feet is the biggest challenge for us. It does not allow us to educate students in a way that we think is in the best interest of their education. So, we know that, you know, obviously, the three-foot distance was adjusted, and that is helpful and that allowed us to bring more students back in. But the six feet of social distancing during mealtimes is absolutely impossible for us, to be able to run a school and meet the needs of our students. Because we cannot use our facilities in the way that they were intended to be used. And kids, especially in the elementary, then, are asked to eat lunch in classrooms. Well, they do not normally eat lunch in classrooms, so we run into all kinds of staffing-related issues with regards to that. School Employee I’m a little concerned to be honest with you because…there is no way to keep them six feet and if we go to the three feet, but I still have to contact trace within six feet. That makes no sense to me whatsoever, to be honest with you because now I’m quarantining twice as many students as I did before. Sometimes I do not even have to quarantine any because they have stayed away the six feet, but now I would have to quarantine twice as many kids or more, which is more phone calls and more conversations with parents who are already ticked off ‘cause their kids are missing so much school because of the COVID thing. So, I’m really concerned about that, if I’m honest. School Employee And we have been blessed with what I think is a very supportive health district, and they were very happy to come down and walk through our buildings and look at what we had put in place, and then provide us guidance on how adjust to make it even better, or to praise us in what we were doing. And so, we felt better, as a district, about how we were addressing those health and safety measures. School Employee
Subtheme 2b: mitigation measures will prevent the spread of COVID-19 at schools; therefore, regular testing is not needed	If they have (children) overcome all the difficulty of the pandemic during all this time without a test, I mean, I do not think it will be something essential to—just participating in a test, well, I would definitely leave it up to them and I think none of them would accept, because as number 4 said, I also think it’s very uncomfortable for them to get it every week and what’s the point of them getting it when I think, they have already overcome the difficult parts of the pandemic without getting it and they have already gone to school for a fair amount of weeks when the rate was still high and nothing happened, so now, they even consider it unnecessary. Parent Personally, I do not feel that it’s necessary. I think that we had an attestation system we had in place since students came back in person and it worked very well. You know, we had—as a parent, I felt that that was adequate. I want to be able to trust our families and I want the school district to be able to trust me as a parent. As an admin, I also feel that it’s not necessary just because I know the safety precautions that we do have in place. I know the amount of time and energy it took to bring in those attestations and do the temperature checks. The limited number of cases that we did have, I do not think that something like that would be necessary. School Employee I guess I’m the under—I’m not an over worrier I guess. I do not know if that makes sense. We are maintaining the distancing, maintaining the cleanliness, always—we are always doing that. I am not that concerned with kids catching COVID. If they do, they do. There are cases of kids catching COVID, but I feel like if all of those precautions are in place then that mitigates the risk of anybody else catching COVID within our school system. And I do not know of any instance of anybody catching COVID within our own school. School Employee
Subtheme 2c: schools lack resources to implement a COVID-19 testing program	There’s no way right now it’s a possibility with our current staffing. I cannot do it. I do not know who would do it. The unions would not allow it ‘cause they refused. All the other unions, said, they just like, “No, we are not doing any of that.” And they put it in their union contracts. So it would fall on me and there’s just me. I cannot. So I am totally against it, to be honest with you, just from a staffing point of view. School Employee Now, if it’s part of a school program, my greatest fear is not having the staffing to be able to support it. Our school nurses have worked harder than probably any other group that we have in our school district. We are lucky that we do have a school nurse at each of our eight schools, so we do not have a shortage of nurses, but I know they were overwhelmed. Not only by the responsibility that they had to take, but just the regular work. And so, if there’s not appropriate staffing to support a testing program, then I’m gonna have a mutiny from our nurses. (Laughs) they are not—they are gonna be challenged to do that. School Employee I think it’s a good idea (testing), but I’m unsure of who would do it. I know that for me I have 900 kids that … so to add that on top of medication administration, my diabetic. If they brought, would bring in somebody from the outside to do that, that would be great, but as an added assigned duty for a nurse in the school that would be challenging. School Employee

Theme 3: familiarity with COVID-19 testing procedures influences support for testing
Subtheme 3a: perceived benefits of school-based COVID-19 testing	I would rest easier knowing—every week—that they aren’t at risk—and they could come home. It’s better knowing that they would come home well … without getting infected. Parent I think that as long as it’s for their safety and the safety of those at home—because I do not know how many will go to school infected and from how many more they could get infected. I would rather have them get it every Friday and by Monday, we know that they are not infected and for my safety, because I’m diabetic, I would prefer for her to get it every week. Parent I would like it because I would be sure that he does not have it. Now they say it does not hurt as much as when they put the cotton bud all the way up. They say that it’s different now. I would like that so I can be sure that my children are healthy. Parent (Student is willing to participate in testing because) well, by knowing that I’m safe it also helps people around me stay safe of COVID. And my family members. Student So, to benefit—because we take our temperatures, every day, every day before we walk in the building. To do that, I would—I think it would not hurt for safety reasons and to keep the virus in control and intact with the sanitizing and cleaning and the consistency, this would not hurt to do that. Now, the only thing about it is, I do not know how parents would feel. But as a teacher, I feel that if we had to have that nose swab, you know, weekly, we would catch it earlier and early so that we do not have this blown-out positive effects, I mean, that it would be affecting more students than we want to in the building. School Employee If testing can be a value-add and help families and our students become healthier, then we are for it. Because the healthier they are, the better that they are gonna be able to perform and to be able to learn. We know that if kids are not healthy, then that is gonna become their number one concern, and their learning is going to struggle because of their physical or social-emotional health. So, anything that we can do to support a healthier student, a healthier family, a healthier school district workforce, we are for. School Employee
Subtheme 3b: unfamiliarity with testing negatively influences support for COVID-19 testing at school	I do not want them to get tested at school. It hurt. My son had a temperature and they made him get a test, even though I knew he never had it. He never had—he never got—he wasn’t around anyone and they forced him to get the test and it really hurt him and I’m glad I was there with him when he had to take the test. I mean like some people say it’s nothing, it do not hurt, but I know it did, it hurt him. I do not want them being tested for COVID at school when I know they are not getting it anywhere from anyone. Parent For instance, I’ve heard that they put that thing all the way up there—at least with the testing that they used to do. I did not know that it was different now, but it did worry me that they would put the cotton bud all the way up the nose. That was really uncomfortable. Parent I think weekly is too much, because even though it’s not painful, it is like very bothersome. My kids have all gotten the test and I’ve taken them and I think it’s kind of bothersome. I think they would get upset too and they would not want to go to school. Parent My family got COVID-tested but it wasn’t the nose one. It was the swab, a Q-tip around your mouth all the way to the back of your throat. Yeah, it was like scary at first and it did hurt because he went all the way down my throat. Student I think the simplicity of the test (would encourage people to get tested). Uh, earlier you mentioned, you know, the-the initial, um, deeper, uh, process and, uh, most current now, the tickling of the nose. I have experienced both of them, and I know the-the first process was very, you know, painful to the point that I even left that, uh, time saying, my god, you know, they took out my brain, you know? To then, uh, recently and I did participate almost, uh, every 2 weeks, uh, just for my safety to go and do the most current one. So, I think simplicity, um, is one. And-and I think then, uh, identifying a-a method where we do not have to go so deep. Uh, I think that really, um, um, encouraged individuals. School Employee Honestly, it’s kind of hard to give a straight answer for that, because I’ve went through it a couple of times which was the long too like you said all the way in the back of your brain and stuff, it was really uncomfortable. School Employee
Subtheme 3c: parents need to be informed about COVID-19 testing procedures	I would definitely be concerned if they would be getting those swabs, actually their nose tested weekly. Especially since with my son his nose is very sensitive to the point where he gets bloody nose if he even touches it. So that’s something that I would be very concerned at least with my son where he would get bloody noses. Not only that but like the side effects of it. Like the previous person just said what about their skin. Would it get irritated? Parent I have a few concerns with that. I would like to know who is offering the testing? Is it the teacher? Is it the school nurse? Do they have medical qualifications to be providing the test? Are they doing the test accurately every time to make sure that it’s not missing something that could be there or not there like we said with the negatives or positives? To me it would be kind of really hard to get all of those students in such a short amount of time when they are supposed to be entering the building and leaving the building so that way we make sure there’s nothing missed. That’s my concern. Parent Oh, boy, I think we’d have to be really doing a lot of communication. We have to have data to support that (regular COVID-19 testing). You do have to have the data …. (having) Zoom meetings, I think it’s important so the parents can ask questions. Address these questions or concerns to the administration, to the teachers, educators, and ask these questions. And then we could respond to help them feel better that it is better for that—to do that than to wait for a whole month and it’s already blown out, see? And we’d probably need to, you need to have the medical field involved with this. You need to get doctors and nurses involved with questions, because they may have questions that we cannot, as teachers could answer. You know, the side effects of what may be a nose swab or, you know, they might think it’s gonna harm their child. School Employee I do not think I would want to participate in that (school-based COVID-19 testing). I think that that’s kind of an invasion of the kids’ rights and you would have to have parent permission and everything. But that would be—we find a lot of parents that they are not taking their kids to be tested because it was so invasive at the beginning. I do not know that they realize what it has evolved to. So maybe that’s a big part of communicating that to families what that would look like. But I, at this point I think that I would get a lot of push back and parents would not be on board to do that. School Employee

Theme 4: there are inadequate resources to support families after a positive COVID-19 test
Subtheme 4a: no financial support for parents who need to take time off work	Our Hispanic, uh, families are primarily, uh, labor-working families. And that has not stopped, uh, them from getting out, having to go to work, having to purchase their food, having to, you know, do, uh, uh, things, um. But yeah, the assistance for our, our migrant- and farm-laboring families, um, have not really seen that support. Uh, but their demand has, has been there, yeah, yeah, 100 percent. Do not stop working. You still need to go to work. School Employee And then the worst thing too is … the child’s quarantine starts day ten of the parent’s quarantine, so the child is home for almost a month ‘cause they have been home the whole ten days of their parent’s illness and now they need to quarantine for ten days. And so that part, at least in our department, has been very difficult. And then parents … they finally get their jobs back (after completing quarantine), they finally are going back to work and all of a sudden, “Oh sorry, now you have to stay home with your kid for ten days.” School Employee
Subtheme 4b: quarantine and isolation is difficult for families to maintain at home	No. I do not think so because—like I said, I only have the one bathroom and—year—we depend on the one bathroom. And even if there were two, you have to walk through the house to go to the bathroom. It would be really hard, it would be—yeah, really hard. Parent We do not live in like—we do not have a separate garage. We do not have a separate—he has a separate room but you have to pass his room or he would have to share a bathroom because we only have one restroom. So that’s how I know I could not just fully quarantine and isolate him. Parent But if we talk about, um, overall population that we serve, um, and the families that I, uh, work with, um, essential agricultural workers, um, we have many of them that are doubled up in their—in, uh, one home. It’s, um—you know, uh, you know, we could definitely see where, uh, two families to a home. Maybe sometimes even three. Um, but if they were to—if we have a kiddo getting, um, uh, COVID and we send them home to-to be isolated, again, we—they have younger siblings, older siblings in-a home where it’s a two-bedroom, three-bedroom and, you know, they sleep together many of them. So again, um, they are truly not isolated per se. So that’s where I think we have seen, uh, some households where, uh, the whole family-gets, uh, um, you know, the virus. Because again, there’s very limited isolation. School Employee Because of the agricultural setting that we are in, it’s spread through those workers quickly and because there’s multigenerational households, so one person would go to work, get it, bring it home, give it to grandma and grandpa, the kids. They could not very, they could not separate in the house and quarantine very easily, because a lot of times you know there was 12 people in a two-bedroom home, so it spread quite rapidly in our area. School Employee
Subtheme 4c: getting food when parents need to quarantine or isolate	Even when I got the COVID test, the clinic calls to help you. They gave me a lot of food. There’s a—they got together with Fiesta Foods because every person who got a positive test result, they would give you a basket but not just any basket, a cart full of all types of food, everything you needed: rice, beans, meat, chicken, soup, Gatorades. I was even asked if I needed other things, yes, because they give you bleach, they give you supplies to wash your clothes and they even told me, “If you cannot pay your rent, we can pay your rent, your electric bill.” Parent As a mom, I have to go out to buy things; I mean, groceries, milk, and everything they have to drink, so I had to go out (when I had COVID), because they would call me from the clinic and they would ask me, “But, what store did you go to?” So, I would go to Walmart, I would have to go out, or are you going to send someone to leave my groceries here at home? Who’s going to do it? I have to go out. My daughter did stay in her room and she did not go out, but me, I felt frustrated, because I had to go out to buy my things for my children’s food, because even if I do not want to eat, I have to feed them. Parent It can be challenging, but I have … I had one family that the whole family got it, mom was unable to leave, because they were all quarantining. So, you know we took them some food and left it on the, on the doorstep and offered you know any assistance that we could, could give them. School Employee No, not quarantine, not based on what the expectation is of staying home for that duration of time. No, I do not think so. I think families still have to move to get their groceries, to get a lot of their services. Our community is not to the point where we can order food right from Walmart and have it delivered. We do not have a Walmart close to us. I know that some locations in the state and some families do have access to resources like that. In our community, I think people still have to be mobile in order to continue with the function of their family, so to maintain quarantine would be difficult. I think some families try their best, but they cannot. School Employee