AS SOME SCHOOLS BRING BACK STUDENTS, MOST MULL NUMBERS
Districts examine range of metrics, including daily new cases, while making their decision
Three weeks into the 2020-21 school year, most students in Hampton Roads are still learning online.
But that’s slowly starting to change.
Chesapeake started bringing back some special-education, preschool and kindergarten students in a hybrid model Monday, with up to third-graders next
Monday. Virginia Beach hopes to bring back students through second grade next Tuesday.
The Peninsula’s largest districts haven’t yet committed to dates to bring students back. Newport News and Hampton said that they would likely remain online for the first nine weeks of school when they made the move to start virtually.
But smaller districts across the region, including York, Poquoson, Isle of Wight and Gloucester, are making plans to bring back back students before November. Those localities generally have lower COVID-19 case numbers.
Most districts are focusing on similar metrics to make the
decision: the number of daily new cases per 100,000 residents, the percent of tests coming back positive and the trends of those numbers over the last two weeks.
Newport News
Newport News’ school board committed to virtual learning for all students for the first nine weeks. Now the end of those nine weeks is beginning to draw near, and the board has one more meeting and work session scheduled before the Nov. 3 start of the second quarter.
A representative from the Peninsula Health District presented some statistics for Newport News to the school board at its meeting last week. Superintendent George Parker said that while some nearby districts may make other decisions soon, it still wasn’t time for Newport News.
As of Sept. 14, the data shown to the school board, the seven-day average was 8.0 daily news cases per 100,000 in Newport News, above the district’s threshold of 5.0 per 100,000. That number had only been decreasing for 12 days, short of the two-week threshold.
Tuesday’s numbers from the Virginia Department of Health showed the sevenday average at 7.9 cases per 100,000.
“We are seeing some positive things right now, but we still have a ways to go in terms of cases and continuing to see our trends go down,” Parker said.
Hampton
Hampton is monitoring many of the same statistics.
As of Sept. 14, shown to the school board on Sept. 16, the seven-day average was 10.0 cases per 100,000 in the city, right at the district’s threshold. Cases had increased for nine days.
Tuesday’s numbers from the VDH showed the seven-day average at 6.3 cases per 100,000.
At the school board meeting, superintendent
Jeffery Smith said those numbers would continue to drive decisions. When the Hampton School Board approved the all-virtual start, it gave Smith the authority to bring back some or all grades in a hybrid model without having to seek board approval again.
Smith said that the district was moving closer to that point. The next phase of Hampton’s reopening plan calls for students with disabilities and students in up to third grade to attend in a hybrid model.
“We will remain conservative in our decisionmaking as we keep in the forefront the safety and the well-being of students as well as the safety and well-being of the faculty and staff,” Smith said.
York
York County is hoping to bring back some students before the end of the first nine weeks.
In a presentation to the school board last week, superintendent Victor Shandor outlined “target dates” for select groups of students, informed by the metrics from the Peninsula Health District.
As of Tuesday, the VDH reported an average of 5.3 cases per 100,000 over the past seven days in the county. According to data presented on the district’s reopening website, York is seeing low and decreasing community spread.
York has already allowed some students back in buildings for individual testing and assessment. Starting Monday, some students with disabilities and English language learners will return. Outdoor athletics conditioning will start too.
Pre-K, kindergarten and first-grade students would return Oct. 5, assuming health trends remain favorable. Second and third grades would return Oct. 19, and an undetermined amount of students could return on Nov. 5
Poquoson
Poquoson is the only school district on the Peninsula that started the year with any students in classrooms. Since the first day of school on Sept. 8, pre-K through third grade have been attending two days a week.
At a school board meeting on Sept. 15, superintendent Arty Tillett said that staff thought it was getting close to time to bring back all elementary students.
Poquoson has regularly shown lower case rates than surrounding localities, although Tillett reminded the school board that about half of employees live outside Poquoson. He noted that two Peninsula private schools have had positive cases since opening.
As of Tuesday, the VDH reported a seven-day average of less than 0 cases per 100,000. A case was taken off the data for Poquoson this week, and no other cases have been reported since Sept. 15.
Fourth- and fifth-grade families got a letter last week asking whether they would use school transportation. No exact date for their return has been announced yet.
Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight joined Poquoson in bringing back pre-K through third grade students at the start of the year.
As of Tuesday, VDH statistics showed the seven-day moving average at 14.7 cases per 100,000 in the county. At a school board meeting on Sept. 10, Superintendent Jim Thornton said that numbers from the health department showed community transmission improving in the county.
At that point, the district had one reported case at Westside Elementary.
“We’re going to have cases. We know this,” Thornton said. “We’re not isolated; the whole world is still living this pandemic and will be for some time.”
A school board meeting on expanding the hybrid option to add more grades will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at the Isle of Wight County Courthouse.
Middle Peninsula
Gloucester outlined earlier this month one of the most ambitious return-toschool plans, hoping to bring all grades back in a hybrid setting by the start of the second quarter on Nov. 12.
Superintendent Walter Clemons presented a plan to the school board on Sept. 8 to bring some special education, pre-K and kindergarten students back as soon as late September.
For other grades, plans will likely adapt based on conditions. District staff said that there were still a lot of logistical issues to figure out in any return.
Sixth-graders and highschool seniors could return in early to mid-October. First- and second-grade students could return in mid-October, other middle and high school students later that month, other elementary school students in early November and any remaining grades on Nov. 12.
“All of us want our kids in school every day. We want our kids in school eight days a week to make up for last semester. We want all day, all night, if we can get them, we’ll take them,” said Chuck Wagner, assistant superintendent for instructional services. “But the stark reality is we’ve got some folks out there, families and staff, that have legitimate fears.”
Mathews County committed before the first day of school to a virtual start for the first quarter after two weeks of hybrid, inperson instruction for elementary and middle school students.
The situation will be reconsidered the week of October 12, according to the district’s initial plan.