Prince William ready for return of teachers, students, says School Board Chairman

Dr. Babur Lateef says Prince William County Public Schools are ready to send teachers back to work and students back to class.

As Chairman of the School Board, he says the school division can easily send students at all grade levels back to class in a hybrid 50/50 model, with half of the students learning from home and the other half attending classes in person. 

“According to the CDC, there’s no set metric used to determine whether it’s safe to return children to the classroom,” Lateef told reporters this week following joining meet of the School Board and Board of County Supervisors. “It’s based on whether or not the school division feels like it can adequately support enough six-feet social distancing between students, and I believe can and that’s the argument I’m making.” 

In Northern Virginia, the overall number of coronavirus infections remains low.

Following a poll sent to parents earlier this month asking whether or not their child would attend in-person classes or choose to continue learning from home, it appeared the school division was ramping up to send students and teachers back to class. Nearby Spotsylvania County Public Schools, which has about 74% fewer students than Prince William County, sent teachers and students back to school this week.

Meanwhile, back in Prince William, sent special education students back to class in person when school started on September 8. The majority of the division’s 89,000 students — about 3,000 fewer than it had last year due to a dip in enrollment — are learning virtually. The school division has reported 90 coronavirus infections since the start of school, most of which have been children who have contracted the virus but have never entered a school building.

This summer, parents pushed the school division to return students to class schools in a hybrid model, where half the students go to school and the other half stay home and learn remotely. Some teachers that don’t have reliable internet access at home have already returned to school buildings to teach students at home.

Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts over the summer said he would begin preparing the school buildings for a return to in-person learning. H0wver, on October 7, he said the division is still not ready to send children and teachers back.

Instead of a hybrid model that would have sent students back on November 10, Walts will now take a phased approach that will send prekindergarten and kindergarten students back to class on November 10, with “House A” students going back on that date and “House B” students beginning on November 13.

Career and Technical Education Students are set to return to the classroom on November 16, while first-grade students will return sometime after Thanksgiving, which occurs this year on Thursday, November 28. Second and third-grade students will return to class in-person starting January 12 and 13, under the superintendent’s current plan.

All students will continue to learn from home on Mondays.

Members of the School Board have been meeting in person in recent months, Walts and his senior staff have attended all of these meetings remotely by video conference.

While Lateef has been clear on his position about returning to the classroom clear during interviews with reporters and social media influencers, he’s been less vocal about it during School Board meetings. During this week’s joint meeting, it was members of that Board who pressed school officials to give the public a full indication of when all grade levels will return to class.

“This is so frustrating for so many families,” said Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson. “There’s a lot of families out there that are struggling logistically. Especially for single parents.”

Students and parents on October 7 rallied outside school headquarters urging officials to send children back to class. They were met by counter-protesters from the Prince William Education Association, who strapped child-size coffins to the tops of their vehicles and paraded around the parking lot.

They argue the coronavirus is too dangerous to return children and teachers to the school. One person in Virginia, between the ages of one and 19 has died from the virus since March 1.

“Everyone is talking about everyone except those who have to do the work: The teachers,” said Occoquan District School Board member Lillie Jessie. “Teachers have to get used to [students individualized learning plans], and get used to working with cameras.’

“These kids are going to come back [home] and hug their parent and their grandparents,” added Jessie, pointing out the risks to older adults with comorbidities, who are more prone to severe illness or death caused by the virus.

Now that the county government has funneled $30 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to the school division, school officials stress that parents and students will find that the school buildings will look much different than the ones they left when Gov. Ralph Northam ordered schools closed in mid-March.

The school division has spent $360,000 to install new plexiglass barriers inside buildings, and for new directional signage to remind students to keep a six-foot distance.

The division has spent $1.5 million on new equipment and cleaning supplies for school buses, $11 million on new computers for staff, and $3 million on USB chargers and plugs.

The division plans to spend another $2.5 million on training for teachers, instructing them on how to use electronic tools like Zoom to teach students remotely.