Communication Disparities and Trusted Sources of COVID-19 Information in Massachusetts School Districts.

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of prekindergarten to grade 12 schools and an inequitable return to full-time in-person learning.
Objective: To explore how ethnic and racial differences across school districts in Massachusetts correlate with parents' attitudes, beliefs, and trusted sources of information about COVID-19 and mitigation strategies.
Design: An electronic survey was distributed by school administrators to parents and guardians in November and December 2021 using existing school district contact lists and established methods of communication (email in 2 school districts; email and text message in 1 district).
Setting: Three school districts in Massachusetts (Chelsea, Medford, and Somerville).
Participants: Parents of prekindergarten to grade 12 school students attending public schools.
Main Outcome Measures: Parental attitudes and beliefs regarding mitigation strategies for COVID-19 (surveillance testing, masking, and vaccination); trusted information sources about COVID-19; preferred methods of communication from schools.
Results: A total of 1496 survey responses were analyzed. Chelsea respondents were predominantly Hispanic/LatinX (88%); Medford and Somerville were predominantly White/non-Hispanic (80% and 68%, respectively). Testing, masks, and vaccination were supported by >80% of parents/guardians across districts. However, there were statistically significant differences between school districts regarding participation in testing programs, implications of a child testing positive, vaccination of young children, communication preferences, and trusted sources of information.
Conclusions: Although primarily focused on COVID-19, these results highlight opportunities for public health personnel and school administrators to work directly with parents and guardians in their school districts to improve communication strategies and be a trusted source of information for a variety of public health issues.
Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. All co-authors have seen and agree with the contents of the manuscript.
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