Update: 

Francisco Durán, superintendent of Arlington Public Schools, announced that students will return to a mixed schedule of in-person and virtual learning in March.

Families that expressed interest in a hybrid model will be able to send their children to in-person classes two days per week, with some students in classrooms on a Tuesday/Wednesday schedule and others on a Thursday/Friday schedule.

The updated timeline begins on March 2, when Pre-K through second grade students — and Pre-K through fifth grade students enrolled in county special education programs — will begin returning to classrooms. Another group of students will return to in-person learning on March 9. All grades will be on the hybrid model by March 16.

“I am encouraged by recent improvements in the health metrics, with case positivity rates and other indicators currently decreasing in Arlington and neighboring communities,” Durán said. “Additionally, well over half of our staff have received the first dose of the vaccine to date, with new appointments being added all the time.”

Gov. Ralph Northam has said that all Virginia schools should return to in-person learning by March 15, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

“We’ve seen more data now, and it suggests that schools don’t have the kind of rapid spread that we’ve seen in other congregate settings,” Northam said Friday.

“My fellow pediatricians say they’re seeing increases in behavioral problems, mental health issues, even increases in substance abuse in their young patients,” he added, discussing the mental health impacts of virtual learning. “That’s just not a good direction for us to keep going.”

Original:

On Thursday, Alexandria Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings provided parents, teachers, and students with updates on the school system’s timeline for a phased return to in-person classes.

Hutchings said at a board meeting that an initial group of students will begin returning to classrooms on March 2. That group includes students in pre-K through 5th grade with disabilities and students in that age group who are English-language learners. Students in grades 6 through 12 who receive special education service or English-language learning services will begin returning March 9.

Starting March 16, all students who opted-in for hybrid learning will be allowed to return to in-person classes two days each week.

“We’re continuing to move forward. It has been almost a year since we have closed our doors to our school buildings,” Hutchings said. “It has been an all-hands-on deck approach, literally. And we work — I can’t even tell you how many hours each day — to ensure that these things are coming to fruition. And we’re at a point now where we are getting there. Things are lined up.”

Alexandria teachers began getting vaccinated for COVID-19 in mid-January. Staff who are able to return will begin doing so March 1.

Teachers are in the process of filling out return-to-school forms, letting school administrators know whether or not they can return to classes based on their coronavirus vaccination status and other factors, Hutchings said in a YouTube video.

“This is going to give us an opportunity to know, definitively, what staff members are able to return back into our school buildings. And those that are not able to return back into our school buildings, they will be providing us with documentation by February 16 to validate why they are unable to return.”

Teachers aren’t required by law to disclose their coronavirus vaccination information, but Hutchings said the school system has a right to ask and is required to share the information with the Alexandria Health Department.

School administrators are asking parents who are able to drive their children to school to help with the department’s transportation challenges.

“We still do have to follow the CDC guidelines on our buses, and that does limit the amount of students that can fit on the bus — which is causing us to do double routes,” Hutchings said.

This week, Fairfax County Public Schools and Loudoun County Public Schools also announced they would begin returning to in-person learning in the coming weeks with the goal of having all students back in classrooms by mid-March.