One state in a European country, two of my three kids go to school there (and my H teaches):
All children and teachers in school are currently masked. No distancing. Masks off for lunch and during swim class only.
All children in school are now tested daily, vaccinated or not. Vaccinated teachers may opt out, since they can distance.
Testing is PCR “lollipop” pool testing. Children suck on two Q tips type “lollipops” for 30 seconds each. One sample is pooled with the rest of the class, processed during the day in a lab. If the pool is positive, the second samples are tested individually overnight. The parents of the positive child (or children) will be notified in time before school in the morning so the kid can stay home and be isolated. All kids who tested negative go to school normally, where they of course immediately take another daily pool test.
The idea is that PCR testing can identify positive kid before the viral load is so high that they might be infectious even though everyone is masked.
One kid goes to school across the state line. Masking and distancing rules are similar, but they test students every other day with rapid tests (so positive student can be sent home immediately) and vaccinated students can opt out.
Interestingly, while case numbers soared in each state after the end of that state’s summer vacation (lots of irresponsible travelers who couldn’t be bothered to adhere to the testing and quarantining rules on reentry) they are falling just as rapidly now.
Epidemiologist say it’s because while the grown ups can break the rules and just not test or quarantine, the kids can’t, and this way, transmission can be stopped as soon as a school aged child is in the mix and the grown ups around them can be identified, tested and quarantined or isolated as well. It’s just getting very hard to slip through the net.
I am cautiously optimistic for our school year. Really, my kids would g nuts with another year of online schooling.