Frustrated parents are continuing to push Alexandria City Public Schools officials to reopen schools for in-person instruction, but the earliest possible date for some students will be in the second half of January, according to information provided Tuesday evening through a community meeting hosted online.
Jan. 19, 2021 is the first planned date for students to return to school buildings. Those students would be students with disabilities in grades K – 2 who are in city-wide special education programs who opt into in-person learning. Later in January, the program would expand to include other children in grades K – 5 in certain special education programs and English language learners.
Both of these dates, and all other return-to-buildings dates, are contingent on the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic, staffing availability and building capacity. Currently, coronavirus cases in Alexandria are on the rise as people spend more time indoors, holiday gatherings occur and pandemic fatigue sets in.
Most students who are not in special education programs or English Language Learners would not return to school buildings until February.
ACPS PRESENTATION DEC. 2, 2020
Of close to 1,300 teachers surveyed in Alexandria City Public Schools, about half said they could return to in-person instruction. Others had health concerns, family members who were immunocompromised or other reasons for not returning to in-person instruction.
Going back to school for most students will not be a full-time deal. It is most likely that students will be in school two days per week, with asynchronous or home-based learning the other days.
Some parents during the community meeting asked why the school system can’t simply force teachers back into school buildings or give them the option to quit or take an unpaid leave if they so choose.
Dr. Stephen Wilkins, Alexandria City Public Schools Chief of Staff, said he does not want to force teachers back who may then be disgruntled or quit, putting the school system in a bind down the road. Staff who have a general fear of the virus may not be allowed to opt out of teaching in person, so the school system is working hard to get to the bottom of those fears and alleviate concerns with staff as much as possible. The school system is also working on childcare options for teachers and staff to remove that barrier to resuming in-person work.
“We want to be an employer of choice,” Wilkins said, and the school systems wants to support employees for top performance now and in the years ahead. “We want to keep our employees for the long term… and we can do that by listening to and supporting our employees.”
ACPS presentation Dec. 2, 2020
ACPS is also trying to avoid the major disruption for students that can occur if students have to switch their teacher mid-year. With that in mind, the school system is also working on different teaching models, including studying a concurrent teaching model similar to Fairfax County Public Schools, which would allow for less disruption.
“We cannot guarantee that 100 percent of our students will have the same teacher, but we’ll do that as best as possible,” said Dr. Gregory Hutchings, Jr., ACPS superintendent.
Echoing Wilkins’ statements, Hutchings said, “We want to make sure we are working with the teachers, not against, and we want to make sure we’re continuing to be a caring environment not just for our students, but for our staff.”
The school system had been expecting to transition more students to in person learning by now, but community spread of the coronavirus and staffing have pushed those dates further into the winter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says schools are at “high risk” when community transmission of COVID-19 is above 200 persons per 100,000 residents. Alexandria’s numbers right now are well above that threshold.
Another metric that school system officials are paying attention to is the percentage of positive tests. Right now in Alexandria, the seven-day average positivity rate is 6.3 percent, which puts Alexandria in a moderate risk category.
School system officials are confident, however, that especially at the elementary school level they will be able to enforce physical distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and other things that will help prevent the spread of the coronavirus in schools.
The school system has been keeping up with routine maintenance and planned improvements to heating, cooling and ventilation systems since March and said the HVAC system is working the way it should be for a safe return to buildings.
