It is very likely that Alexandria City Public Schools students will be able to return to school full time, in person in the fall, ACPS Superintendent Dr. Gregory Hutchings said Thursday night at a school board meeting.
"We are absolutely looking and planning to have five days a week for our students," Hutchings said at the school board meeting. The school system will be looking at options for offering full-time school with both three-foot distancing between students and with the currently followed six-foot distancing. This may mean creative use of building space to fit students who wish to return.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce that it is safe for students to return to school with just three feet of distance between them instead of the current six-foot recommendation. ACPS has chosen to follow CDC recommendations, and that distancing recommendation and the way ACPS has classrooms laid out has limited the number of students who could return to school this spring.
Hutchings has been visiting classrooms over the past three weeks as the school system has slowly and cautiously welcomed back students into school buildings, with strict rules about masks, hand washing and social distancing. Teachers are concurrently teaching students in the classroom and students who chose to continue with virtual learning for the remainder of this school year because school leaders did not want to ask students to switch teachers so late in the year.
Next year, Hutchings said, ACPS plans to allow students to continue with virtual learning if they choose. Right now, ACPS plans to have students who choose the virtual route with certain teachers, and in-person students with other teachers, signaling the end of concurrent teaching.
The next school year is supposed to start in late August in alignment with other school districts in the region. It will be the first time Alexandria City Public Schools open before Labor Day.
ACPS
A slide from the Thursday, March 18 ACPS School Board Meeting.
