Fairfax County Public Schools became the latest system in the D.C. area to delay part of its in-person reopening plans, as positive COVID-19 cases in Virginia rise and the virus spreads at record levels across the region.
Some 6,800 Fairfax students who were slated to return to school buildings tomorrow will not go back until at least Nov. 30, the district told parents on Monday. They include pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and some special education students.
Roughly 8,000 students in Virginia’s largest school system have already gone back to classrooms part-time, including both young children and career and technical students. But Superintendent Scott Brabrand told staff and families that, as coronavirus caseloads continue to grow, the county will temporarily pause authorizing more students to resume in-person learning.
“The current health metrics for COVID-19 cases in our community now exceed the threshold to expand our in-person learning,” Brabrand said in a message to staff and families Monday.
“We made this decision as soon as new health metrics were released and are communicating it to you as immediately as promised,” Brabrand said. “We always anticipated the need to potentially adjust our return to school plans as necessary during this ongoing pandemic.”
Fairfax County has set specific health markers to guide its reopening plan, one of which includes following the total number of new cases per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days. Sending additional students back this week would require that number to stay below 200, but today it sits at 211.2, health officials reported.
Some teachers in the region have also pushed back on plans to transition more students back to classrooms. Representatives from teacher associations for five Northern Virginia public school districts spoke out Monday against the state’s gradual return to in-person learning.
Wearing masks and positioned outside the Fairfax Education Association (FEA), the organizers urged Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to return the state to phase one or two of reopening, which would keep students at home.
“The safest option is to remain virtual for our schools, until cases return to a downward trend,” Kimberly Adams, head of the FEA, said before the district decided to delay further reopening.
“Fairfax metrics are climbing. Everything we are talking about today is supported by data. Yesterday, Fairfax was at 191 cases per 100,000. Today we are at 211 per 100,000,” Adams said on Monday. “We absolutely want to be back in school. Everybody wants us to be back to normal. We are not there yet and it’s not safe.”
Fairfax is only the latest school district in the region to delay part of its reopening plan as COVID-19 metrics worsen. Nearby Arlington County allowed a small cohort of students with disabilities to return on Nov. 4, but delayed the return of additional students for part-time in-person learning until at least January.
Arlington parents had been divided on whether they intended to send their own children back to the classroom as part of this now-delayed second cohort.
In a late October survey, 52% of parents chose the option for hybrid learning. Forty-two percent said they preferred to continue with full-time distance learning, and the rest did not respond.
Throughout the region, parent groups have formed to demand the expansion of in-person learning. Five groups, including OpenFCPS and Arlington Parents for Education, issued a joint statement Monday where they criticized the teachers for demanding that virtual schooling continue.
“All of Virginia’s schools have protocols planned to mitigate risk, and with those in place, the risks for Covid in schools are manageable. The risks associated with kids being out of school, however, are escalating rapidly,” reads a statement from the groups, which say they represent more than 5,300 “parents, teachers and Northern Virginia residents.”
Statewide, Virginia is reporting record numbers of coronavirus cases, and a series of new measures designed to mitigate the spread took effect today. None of those restrictions target schools, but the governor has reduced the maximum indoor and outdoor gathering size to 25 people and placed a 10 p.m. curfew on restaurant alcohol sales.
This story was updated with information on parents’ response to school reopening plans.
