Table 2:

Barriers and Facilitators to Effective School Policies & Mitigation Strategies

Theme	Illustrative Quote	Parents	Staff
Desire for more rigorous contact tracing	We were never told that a classmate in his classroom actually had tested positive for COVID and was in ICU at children’s hospital. So at the beginning they were not very forthcoming with information. I see everyone in the building and I have no idea ever who’s got COVID and then sometimes I’ll find out later.	X	X
Often-changing guidelines as a stressor	That should be in handbooks, not just, “Oh, if we have a snow day, then we’ll just have a snow day” type stuff. It’s just having something that’s more concrete, a plan of action that, maybe not COVID, but something else, 10–20 years from now, they can have some sort of plan that they can work from and evolve, as opposed to restart the whole process over again. I feel like from day to day we get different information and that like there is different rules all the time and it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on and if what we’re supposed to do.	X	X
Students unable to mask or need redirection	My son won’t wear a mask. He’s nonverbal, and he’ll just tear it off. If you can even get it across his face he’ll shove his hand in his mouth and rip it off. It’s not … He just won’t do it. But knowing that the staff around him are wearing masks is still a comfort to me personally. So we’ve experienced some behavior issues when it comes to trying to reinforce, to wear a mask or put on a shield. You get a lot of anger outbursts. And so that happens quite frequently.	X	X
Lack of staff support by school administration	All we get from the high ups is the emails that say, “Thank you, we appreciate you.” That feels like a slap in the face… [W]e get emails that are just like, “You’re great. I hope you’re doing great.” And it’s like, that was a mass email sent out to everyone and it doesn’t feel empathetic.		X
Concerns about relaxation of mitigation strategies due to COVID-fatigue	I think with everyone just so tired of dealing with everything, too, then it seems like you’re not sure who’s really keeping up with the safety standards or who’s just tired of it so they’re going out.		X
Supportive of continued school mask mandate while virus is present in the community	I do feel like the masks are helping reduce the spread of COVID and it’s comforting for my child, not having that close contact and having someone in her space. So I’m for the mask and I would prefer to keep with the mask regardless if it’s mandated or not. We will continue with our mask. I’ve had three close contacts through work and they’ve all been through office mates where there’s not a student in the room and so I’m very thankful that we’re required to wear masks. Number one, with students and number two, in staff only areas.	X	X
School COVID guidelines confusing or contradictory	But why aren’t they making these kids quarantine that are fully vaccinated and boostered? I don’t understand that.	X
Anxiety around exposure to students or household members	It’s him bringing it home to me. I’m a single parent with not a lot of support. And if I get really sick, there’s nobody for him. It really is about just the risk to people who just are fragile. So, knowing that there are people in our buildings that are pregnant or people who go home to young children who are not yet vaccinated or live with family, or have to take care of family that are elderly.	X	X
Concern that parents send students to school while displaying symptoms of COVID-19	I be trying to navigate that so I won’t send him to school accidentally with COVID or they won’t be calling me to ask me, “Well, could he have COVID?” We tend to have parents that send the kids in sick or it’s hard to tell when they have symptoms. We have one that coughs all the time, but you can’t tell if she’s sick or if its normal allergies or whatever. It’s always hard to tell which kids are actually sick and which ones aren’t.	X	X
Weekly screening testing provided peace of mind for those who participated	It gives me a sigh of relief when I get those emails that he’s negative. It gives me some comfort, and I’m sure it does the school community as well, because it’s always a heads up to know if someone tested positive this week, and then, they can take steps to try to stop the spread of the COVID based on that testing. So I think there’s caregivers, educators, teachers, a lot of us are female moms. We worry. We’re naturally like, “Do I have it, is this cool, am I going to spread it to somebody? If I get sick, who’s going to take care of my family?” And it just erased all that for me. So I would say the biggest factor was peace of mind.	X	X
Weekly screening testing at school was convenient	So we were actually doing it at home at first and then they transferred it to his school, so we actually started there. Agree about the testing being convenient and don’t have to make an extra trip anywhere, doing it right there at work.	X	X
Not aware of screening testing at their school	I think it’s a great idea that they’re doing that at school. I haven’t heard much about it though. I feel like they don’t really, I don’t want to say advertised, but let us know about it much.	X
Testing unnecessary for those who are asymptomatic and/or fully vaccinated	I guess I get tired of it once we were vaccinated and you think you’re safer, I guess. But obviously there is several breakthrough cases, but it just doesn’t seem as severe.	X
Did not participate in testing so as not to miss school due to quarantine if positive	Well, my concern was that he would not have any symptoms and he could test positive and there was no, I mean, and that he would have to stay home.	X
Supportive of continued testing into 2022–2023 school year	I think that the testing and stuff needs to be done like on a Monday when they come into school, and then, on a Friday when they leave. I personally would love to get tested every day if I could, just for peace of mind. I know that that puts so much stress on the research team and how much that they do for us. But for me personally, the more often, especially because it’s so easy, the more often the better.	X	X
Mistrust of saliva-based test	One of the main factors were who was implementing the test, and how reliable the results would be. I’ve had some students tell me that their parents said they’re not going to do it, because they think spitting into the test is fake. It’s not real. You have to have it up your nose to be real.	X	X
Saliva-based methodology as facilitator to participation	As long as it wasn’t, the nose one was a little invasive and I thought that he really wouldn’t participate in that and become really resistant after the first one. I think it’s nice that it’s a saliva test. I think you wouldn’t have as many people participating if it was the up your nose test every week.	X	X
Exposure to HCRL messages promoting testing in various formats	I saw at least one or two of them. Yeah.	X