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Background: Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and the staff who support them were largely in-person during the 2021-2022 school year, despite their continued vulnerability to infection with SARS-CoV-2. This qualitative study aimed to understand continued perceptions of weekly SARS-CoV-2 screening testing of students and staff amidst increased availability of vaccinations., Methods: Twenty-three focus groups were held with school staff and parents of children with IDD to examine the perceptions of COVID-19 during the 2021-2022 school year. Responses were analyzed using a directed thematic content analysis approach., Results: Four principal themes were identified: strengths and opportunities of school- and district-level mitigation policies; experience at school with the return to in-person learning; facilitators and barriers to participation in SARS-CoV-2 screening testing; and perceptions of SARS-CoV-2 testing in light of vaccine availability., Implications for School Health Policy, Practice, and Equity: Despite the increased availability of vaccines, school staff and families agreed that saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 screening testing helped increase comfort with in-person learning as long as the virus was present in the community., Conclusion: To keep children with IDD in school during the pandemic, families found SARS-CoV-2 screening testing important. Clearly communicating school policies and mitigation strategies facilitated peace of mind and confidence in the school district., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of School Health published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American School Health Association.)

Introduction: After periods of remote and/or hybrid learning as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the return to in-person learning has been beneficial for both students and teachers, but it has not been without challenges. This study was designed to assess the impact of the return to in-person learning on the school experience, and efforts made to ease the transition in furthering a positive in-person learning environment., Materials and Methods: We conducted a series of listening sessions with 4 stakeholder groups: students ( n = 39), parents ( n = 28), teachers/school staff ( n = 41), and a combination of listening sessions and semi-structured interviews with building level and district administrators ( n = 12), focusing on in-school experiences during the 2021-2022 school year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A primarily deductive qualitative analysis approach was employed to code the data followed by a primarily inductive thematic analysis, followed by thematic aggregation, thus providing depth and identification of nuances in the data., Results: Three main themes emerged around school staff experiences: (1) increased levels of stress and anxiety manifested in key ways, including students' challenges with personal behavior management contributing to increased aggression and staff shortages; (2) school staff described key contributors to stress and anxiety, including feeling excluded from decision making and challenges with clear and consistent communication; and (3) school staff described key facilitators that supported their management of anxiety and stress, including adaptability, heightened attention and resources to wellbeing, and leveraging interpersonal relationships., Discussion: School staff and students faced significant stress and anxiety during the 2021-2022 school year. Further exploration and identification of approaches to mitigate key contributors to increased stress and anxiety for school staff, along with increased opportunities for implementing key facilitators that were identified as important in managing and navigating the increased stress and anxiety offer valuable opportunities for helping to create a supportive work environment for school staff in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Rolf, Vestal, Moore, Lobb Dougherty, Mueller and Newland.)