FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Hundreds of Fairfax county parents, teachers, and students signed up to have their voices heard by the Fairfax County School Board during Thursday's virtual "Return to School" public hearing.
Of those testimonies, some students and parents voiced concerns about going back to in-person learning, while others voiced concerns about the lack of learning that has resulted from the virtual experience.
“I've had trouble with trying to keep motivated in class and I'm struggling to understand how you're going to address this,” a Thomas Jefferson senior said. “I have diligently attended all my classes, but I have not gained much out of it.”
While another student told school board members the risk of COVID-19 is too high to return to school.
“In my opinion, I do not believe that we should be considering any ideas of going back to school,” a rising FCPS freshman said.
The district released three return to school scenarios this week and will make a final decision by next Friday, according to a district spokesperson.
The district's return to school draft plan outlines three possible scenarios:
- Entirely virtual learning, which would operate on a relatively standard bell schedule, but would require teachers and students to interact from home.
- In-person learning, where students would attend classes at school on alternating days, either two days a week, or one day a week. In both cases, Friday would be set aside as an intervention day for certain students to meet with teachers, or for individual/group projects.
- Online instruction for medical needs, which would allow students and staff at higher risk to opt for virtual learning.
A district spokesperson said the district is taking the feedback from the public hearings, as well as working through issues and problems that continue to arise, to come up with a final return to school scenario.
The spokesperson added that the district is trying to be flexible while following health and safety guidelines, as well as listening to its teachers.
The President of the Fairfax Education Association, Kimberly Adams, talked with school board members Thursday night about the organization's stance on returning to in-person learning.
“We continue to treat the role of education as a society as childcare, rather than the builders of future generations," Adams said. "Our members, your employees, are eager to return to normal, but we must not rush to return in a way that puts our students, families and staff at risk. As such, it is the position of the Fairfax education association that FCPS should not return to in personal learning until a vaccine or approved treatment is widely available.”
Another teaching organization, Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, released a statement Thursday that 74% of the 575 FCFT members are not comfortable returning to schools, expressing major concerns with staff and student safety, according to an FCFT survey.
When it comes to digital learning, which FCPS struggled with at the beginning of the pandemic, one parent said the district should take the next two and a half months to plan digital learning correctly.
“There should be a plan for remote learning, whether it's prerecorded classes by teachers, whether it is a robust syllabus that includes how you can go to the Kahn Academy, or other online learning sites that are better dealing with the curriculum, but we need to do that,” one parent told the school board members.
“I personally I have zero faith that online-only instruction will be adequate," another parent told board members. "My wish is that we plan for a split schedule."
Parents and students also brought up to board members the requirement to have daily temperature checks and to make masks a requirement.
There are two more ‘Return to School’ virtual public hearings scheduled for this week.
