Back to School

Dear Dr. Haas and Board Members,

I’m writing to share this powerful, heartbreaking article published recently in the Washington Post written by an Arizona superintendent, Jeff Gregorich, and to express my concern about opening in Stage 2. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Mrs. Byrd did everything right. She followed all the protocols. If there’s such a thing as a safe, controlled environment inside a classroom during a pandemic, that was it. We had three teachers sharing a room so they could teach a virtual summer school. They were so careful.... All three of them wore masks. They checked their temperatures. They taught on their own devices and didn’t share anything, not even a pencil.

At first she thought it was a sinus infection. That’s what the doctor told her, but it kept getting worse. I got a call that she’d been rushed to the hospital. Her oxygen was low, and they put her on a ventilator pretty much right away. The other two teachers started feeling sick the same weekend, so they went to get tested. They both had it bad for the next month. Mrs. Byrd’s husband got it and was hospitalized. Her brother got it and passed away. Mrs. Byrd fought for a few weeks until she couldn’t anymore.

I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times. What precautions did we miss? What more could I have done? I don’t have an answer. These were three responsible adults in an otherwise empty classroom, and they worked hard to protect each other. We still couldn’t control it. That’s what scares me.

Even in Stage 2, I worry that ACPS is opening itself up to a similar outcome. You and I will be attending these funerals. What are we going to say to families, staff, and the press afterwards? Do you have your response ready? Because I am having difficulty preparing mine.

Beyond the risk to staff, Gregorich notes that “kids could very easily catch this virus, spread it and bring it back home. It’s not safe. There’s no way it can be safe. If you think anything else, I’m sorry, but it’s a fantasy. Kids will get sick, or worse. Family members will die. Teachers will die.”

The decision to begin in Stage 2 was based on the belief that children and teens could not catch and transmit the virus as easily as adults. The science is moving rapidly on this question, and it is almost uniformly indicating that belief was mistaken. A CDC study published the day after the Board’s vote found that “children of all ages are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports, might play an important role in transmission.” This bolsters a South Korean study that found that children over 10 can transmit the virus as readily as adults can.

UVA just announced that they are pushing back the return of students to campus and the start of classes. The majority of the Virginia schools surveyed by Education Week have a virtual only start. The same is true in many other states. Those schools that have already opened have seen cases of COVID-19 among students and staff. As a New York Times analysis of the odds that a student arrives at school with COVID-19 found, this is an expected outcome.

Beyond the human toll of outbreaks in schools, it’s worth considering the negative effects that such outbreaks will have on education. The desire to provide in-person instruction is based on the conviction that, in normal circumstances, in-person instruction is better than virtual instruction. Some studies have estimated that, over a whole year, in-person instruction is several weeks of learning better than virtual instruction. However, the necessity of social distancing means that in-person instruction will only be part time, cutting that advantage in half. The lower quality of masked, socially distanced, in-person instruction compared to normal in-person instruction further erodes that advantage. Add in only one quarantine, and it’s easy to see that virtual instruction is not only safer, but also educationally superior, at least in the era of COVID-19.

It is the AEA’s belief that opening in Stage 2 is premature and that Dr. Haas should consider exercising his authority to move ACPS back to Stage 1. Further, AEA urges that all professional development be made virtual only.

Sincerely,

Amy Gaertner

AEA President