Educators at Forestdale Elementary School in Springfield say they’re especially focused on their students’ social and emotional learning.

“I teared up the first time they had their instruments in their hands a couple of weeks ago,” says the cellist, at one of her first in-person orchestra classes at KIPP DC Northeast Academy in more than a year.

Schools have a lot to contend with as they return to daily in-person instruction: the transition from virtual learning, student social and emotional needs, and the regional surge in coronavirus cases.

“We would have had a chance of reaching the plateau sooner had it not been for the realities that we’re facing: people going back to school and work in very large numbers all at once,” says one local epidemiologist.

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Connectivity and firewall issues plagued some parents and students during the first day of school in Northern Virginia.

Local school systems will have until the end of 2020 to establish an average of least 3.5 hours of synchronous learning across all grades.

“Some of the county school boards have not even attempted to develop any safe reopening plans, which would bring any kids back for any form of in-person instruction,” Hogan said. “This is simply unacceptable.” 

The end of summer freedom has arrived.