Fairfax Superintendent Gives Latest Return To School Update

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — On Thursday, Superintendent Scott Brabrand presented an update on the Fairfax County Public Schools return to school plan to the school board.

With hopes that strict adherence to recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies can reduce the coronavirus transmission risk in schools, FCPS is planning for the phased return of additional groups for in-person instruction with target in-person start dates in early 2021. A decision allowing these groups to return has not been made.

According to the draft plan, groups 1 to 3, which are already receiving in-person instruction, will begin virtually for the first week after winter break and would return on Jan. 12. The draft plan also calls for groups 4 and 5 to return on Jan. 12. FCPS delayed the return of its group five students (including PreK and kindergarten) on Nov. 16 and moved group 4 back to virtual learning on Nov. 23.

Under the draft plan, group 6 (grades 1 and 2) would return on Jan. 19, group 7 (grades 3 and 4) on Jan. 26, group 7 (grades 5 and 6) on Feb. 2, group 8 (grades 7, 9 and 12) on Jan. 26 and group 8 (grades 8, 10 and 11) on Feb. 2.

The school district has been using two core indicators identified by the CDC for school reopening decision-making: the number of new cases per 100,000 people within the last 14 days and the regional percentage of positive PCR COVID-19 tests within the last 14 days. FCPS tracks this data daily on its health metrics dashboard. As of Friday, the cases per 100K residents are 503.5, and percentage of positive tests is 10.4 percent. Both are classified as having the highest risk for transmission in schools.

FCPS announced this week that safety teams will be conducting checks of how schools are implementing the five mitigation strategies for COVID-19, the CDC's third core indicator for reopening decisions. The strategies include consistent and correct use of masks, social distancing to the extent possible, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, cleaning and disinfection, and contact tracing in collaboration with local health department.

From Sept. 8 to Dec. 7, reported in-person student coronavirus cases have totaled 32, and student athlete cases totaled 17. There have been 295 reported cases among in-person staff. The total number of in-person cases is 384, or an estimated 3 percent of in-person students and staff.

Along with updates on health metrics, the presentation to the school board included planning for staffing with the return to in-person instruction. For the group 5 cohort of students to return, FCPS would need an estimated 83.5 classroom monitors. Positions filled to date total 53.5, leaving 30 classroom monitors still needed. FCPS also provided estimates for classroom monitors needed for groups 6 to 8.

The presentation indicated 79 percent of requests for ADA accommodations by staff to opt out of in-person learning have been resolved as of Dec. 3. FCPS identified 2,933 "requests for reasonable accommodations," most of which were from teachers, and 2,359 of these were resolved. Another 460 are in progress of being resolved, and 114 are new requests that are unassigned.

With most students enrolled in virtual education to start the school year, FCPS is grappling with an increase of failing grades among some students. In the first quarter of this academic year, 7 percent received F grades, compared to 4 percent in the first quarter of the 2019-2020 academic year. As detailed in a FCPS report on middle and high school students, the percentages were higher for certain student groups, including students with disabilities and English language learners. However, 56 of students received A grades in the first quarter, compared to 52 percent in the previous year's first quarter.

Ahead of the school board meeting, the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, one of the teachers unions, maintained that the return to in-person learning is not safe with the current coronavirus numbers. The union has taken reports of safety violations at FCPS from its members since Oct. 23. There have been 72 reported safety violations at 35 schools in all five FCPS regions, and 56.9 percent of them reported failures of mask wearing.

Tina Williams, president of the FCFT, also commented on the thresholds for groups of students allowed in the in-person learning.

"We continue to urge FCPS to transition all students and staff to virtual learning while the positivity rate is above 5 percent and meet all of FCFT’s 11 pillars of a safe reopening," said Williams. "We are deeply troubled that FCPS has not established any threshold for Groups 1 and 2 to transition back to distance learning. For Group 3, FCPS’ threshold is too high—the positivity rate would need to be greater than 10% for 7 consecutive calendar days."