Amanda Michelle Gomez
Tyrone Turner
As students in the D.C. region return to the classroom, school officials face an academic school year full of challenges, including staff shortages, enforcing vaccination mandates and ensuring the safety of students and staff.
School districts in D.C., Arlington and Falls Church in Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland started class on Monday. Alexandria and Fairfax counties kicked off the start to their academic year last week.
Ahead of the the first day of school, officials attempted to ensure a sufficient amount of staff was present to support students, and that facilities were in adequate condition to welcome everyone. School leaders also encouraged students to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration delayed enforcement of vaccine requirements for several months because a significant number of students would not have been vaccinated by the start of school. Under local law, students must be fully up to date on routine pediatric vaccines, as well as COVID-19 if they are 12 years and older, to be able to to attend class. To reduce the number of students excluded from school, the Bowser administration decided to stagger enforcement based on vaccine type and grade level. As of Aug. 19, 29% of students across the city’s school districts were not vaccinated, including 26% of DC Public School students, according to DC Health data.
— OSSE (@OSSEDC) August 26, 2022
D.C. officials are also concerned about the condition of school facilities. In late May, DCPS staff and families at multiple schools reported problems with air conditioning. The Council unanimously passed legislation before the August recess that required the public school system to issue a report on readiness, including the status of facilities’ HVAC systems and classrooms’ door locks. Lawmakers wanted to avoid a repeat of last school year when students and staff returned to the classroom facing a number of challenges with the heating and air systems.
The office of Chairman Phil Mendelson tells DCist/WAMU that he did not receive an official report on classroom readiness, but instead last week received government website links via email with the required information. His office also said that some of the information was reported late. The data provided to the Council also offered some discouraging news: a third of DCPS schools are using contingency cooling units and two third of schools’ HVAC systems have not been fully assessed since January 2020. “[The Department of General Services] crews and contractors are working around the clock and throughout the weekend on needed repairs, but we should not be cutting it this close,” said Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who co-introduced the legislation, in her Aug. 26 newsletter.
DGS director Keith Anderson told the Washington Post there is no work order impacting a school from opening. “All schools are open and functioning,” he said.
At least one school reported AC problems. A staff member at River Terrace Education Campus in Northeast tells DCist/WAMU half the building’s air conditioning was not working the first day of school. The weather Monday reached nearly 100 degrees with 50% humidity. Classrooms with contingency cooling units were still sweltering — the portable units reported highs in the 80s, said the staff member, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from school leaders. The staff member described seeing sweat on colleagues’ faces. The AC has been an issue since at least last school year.
“The district had the entire summer to fix the problem that started last school year,” said the staff member.
DCPS nor the school’s principal responded immediately for comment.
DCPS also needs to enroll school-aged children of migrant families who decide to live in the city after being bused in by red state governors. DCPS Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said that an estimated 40 children are expected to be enrolled. DCPS said their staff would visit hotels sheltering migrant families last week.
Mariel Vallano of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, who works at DCPS and volunteered her summer to support migrant families, tells DCist/WAMU she knows of at least one high schooler who is home Monday because they could not get a ride to school; officials did not distribute SmarTrip Cards as part of The Kids Ride Free program. Another volunteer will escort the high schooler Tuesday, she says. Vallano also says DCPS has not expressed a plan moving forward on whether or how officials will ensure school-aged migrants continue to be enrolled given new families arrive to D.C. each week, nor has the Department of Human Services, which is responsible for the hotels.
DCPS spokesperson Enrique Gutierrez tells DCist/WAMU that the agency is coordinating with DHS in regards to enrolling arriving families. “We are grateful for the work of all of our teams for helping welcome students to DCPS. School and central staff were providing direct guidance to schools and we will continue to allocate additional staff as needed,” he says via email. However, Vallano says there is no coordination because DCPS staff has had to rely on volunteers’ roster of children needing to be in school.
Arlington families should expect to see more investment in school security, as well as a new dress code for students. APS director of communications, Frank Bellavia, tells DCist/WAMU that the school district centralized and codified the dress code because previously, each school had its own. The new dress code also defines what is inappropriate to wear, Bellavia says, including clothing that does not cover the buttocks or genitals as well as underwear worn without any clothes. According to WTOP, Superintendent Francisco Duran says the school system invested over $5 million, some of which went towards replacing locks on classroom doors. Greater attention has been paid to locks and school security following the Uvalde school shooting.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s second-largest school district struggles with a staffing shortage. Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson says the district is facing roughly 900 vacancies among its 10,000 employees. Staff expressed burnout, particularly during the pandemic, as well as being underpaid and underappreciated. PGCPS has an average of 4.5 teacher openings at each of its 200 schools, according to the Washington Post. Consequently, Goldson says they are weighing whether to combine classes. The school system also anticipates leaning on substitute teachers.
The Prince George’s union for teachers has tried to alleviate some of these problems and just reached a tentative contract agreement after momentarily reaching an impasse over wages and classroom sizes. The details of the agreement has not yet been released.
The state’s largest school district, Montgomery County, reports that it is 99% staffed. MCPS and the teachers’ union reached an agreement that would offer financial incentives, particularly for special education teachers, which had over 100 vacancies at one point. Since offering the incentives, MCPS says the school district received several dozen inquiries.
Prince George’s is also the only school district in the region that currently has a mask mandate, although Goldson anticipates going mask optional later in the week. (Prince William County reportedly requires masks only for students and adults in Head Start pre-K classrooms.) The county has consistently taken a more cautious approach to COVID because families had been hit hard by the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased pandemic safety recommendations for schools earlier this month. People exposed to COVID-19 are no longer recommended to quarantine but encouraged to wear a well-fitted mask and get tested. People who test positive or are sick should isolate.
The CDC recommends indoor masking for communities with high COVID-19 levels. All cities and counties in the region but Fall Church have a low level of COVID-19 risk; Fall Church City reports medium risk.
This post has been updated to include comment from DCPS on migrants, information regarding River Terrace Education Campus and Arlington’s new dress code policy.
