Manassas will allow students return to sports, classroom

Student-athletes at Osbourn High School will return to the field on December 7.

That’s the start of winter sports, as outlined by the Virginia High School Leauge and Gov. Ralph Northam, who is permitting student-athletes to return to the game for the first time since schools first closed due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.

Students at Osbourn — the city’s only high school — will begin competing in basketball, gymnastics, indoor track, swimming, and wrestling with other teams from schools in their district, including Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties.

No fans will be allowed at sporting events at the high school. An online streaming video option will be provided for those who want to watch the games for a fee of $11 per month, or $70 per season, said Osbourn principal Mike Pflugrath.

Only winter sports has the green light from the city School Board to return to play. The abbreviated season will be completed by the end of January.

Elected officials have yet to approve student participation in fall sports, including football, cheer, cross country, field hockey, and volleyball, have yet to take the field this year, and are scheduled to begin in Virginia for an amended season, spanning February 15 to May 1.

The city School Board decided in a 5 to 2 vote, with Chairman Sanford Willaims and member Suzanne Seaberg voting not to return athletes to the field. “The timing couldn’t be any worse with Thanksgiving coming up and families getting together,” said Seaberg.

School Board member Tim Demiera said some students need to play sports as an inventive to maintain high grades. He motioned to send students back to the field, and School Board member Robyn Williams seconded it.

“The healthiest of us are not getting super sick from [the coronavirus],” said Williams. “Let’s start with the healthiest of our population and get them back in, and those are our student-athletes.”

A total of 47 special education students and 35 teachers returned to city schools for in-person learning on November 4. It marks the first time since March teachers and students have occupied classrooms in the school division.

Next month, the School Board is expected to vote on a firm date to begin returning the rest of the student population to in-person learning on a hybrid schedule, with half the school division’s 7,800 students learning from home, alternating with the other half in who are the classroom two days per week.

In some cases, students will be seated inside of a classroom while an instructor teaches them via online video chat, officials noted during the School Board’s meeting on Tuesday, November 10.

A survey will be sent to parents on November 16, asking them whether they want their children back in the classroom for in-person learning. A similar survey was sent to parents over the summer, and the majority of respondents opted to send their children back to the classroom.

As the school division, like many others in the region, that didn’t happen, opted to send its students back to school virtually, with children learning from their computers at home.

The School Board will meet in December to select a date for students to return to the classroom. Whenever they do, students will continue to be on their own, from home, for “asynchronous” learning on Mondays and alternate in-person days Tuesday through Friday.

Pre-kindergarten through first-grade students will be the first to go back.  Two to three weeks later, grades two through four will return, followed by the remaining grade levels three weeks afterward.

All teachers are slated to return to the classroom three days before the start of school to familiarize themselves with the new technology set up in the classroom, as many will be teaching students sitting in desks in the classroom, as well as students who are learning from home, at the same time.

Dimeria advocated that teachers receive large monitors for their classrooms to monitor students at home and those in the classroom. Superintendent Dr. Kevin Newman said that teachers who have already returned to teaching in the classrooms are using their SmartBoards, which replaced chalkboards, to monitor students from home.

“SmartBoards should be used for teaching,” said Demeria.

In addition to new laptops and webcams required to facilitate in-person learning during the pandemic, the school division has increased the air handlers’ efficiency inside school buildings and have installed plexiglass throughout the buildings.

Officials said they would work diligently to keep children separated while walking in the halls or during class changes.