As millions of children head back to classrooms, parents are trying to track mask mandates and other COVID-19 school safety protocols. Most U.S. parents support mask mandates in schools, but are against vaccine requirements for eligible students, a finds.
Opinions on masks and vaccines
Across the country, . But more than 6 in 10 parents of school-age kids would like to see their children's school institute a mask mandate for unvaccinated students and staff.
At the same time, 58% of parents are against schools requiring students ages 12-17 to get the vaccine, according to the KFF survey. Vaccination rates among teenagers remain low. Only about 1 in 3 children aged 12 to 15 are fully vaccinated, . Children under 12 are not yet approved to get vaccines.
What parents say about safety protocols
With regards to COVID-19 testing in schools, finds that 51% of parents would take advantage of voluntary, free weekly testing, and 75% supported symptomatic testing.
As the delta variant surges, most parents are still sending their kids back to school buildings, the RAND survey finds. But parents also want more information about the safety protocols in place at schools.
According to the RAND survey, only 27% of parents said that they already knew the specific COVID-19 safety measures their child's school will use. Sixty percent of parents wanted to know more about which COVID-19 safety measures their child's school is enacting this fall.
, conducted with the Ipsos Knowledge Panel.
This story originally appeared .
Sneha Dey is the NPR education intern.
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