Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
An about face from the chancellor of D.C. Public Schools about when some students will be returning to classrooms. Monday Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said elementary schoolers will not be returning for in-person learning Nov. 9 as originally planned.
“We have heard feedback from many in our community about #ReopenStrong plans, and we will use this moment to adjust our timeline and staffing plans for reopening,” Ferebee wrote in an email to the school community dated Nov. 2.
The Washington Teachers’ Union planned a sickout Monday. Last week the union cast a no confidence vote in the district’s plan because it lacked the details that parents and teachers needed according to president Elizabeth Davis. The union wrote in a statement teachers should not be required to returns to classrooms if they don’t feel safe.
“I did not expect it to lead to this. I’m glad that it did, however, because the opposition from the union is a united…it’s a unified plan,” Davis said.
Teachers, principals and parents alike are all concerned about the city’s plan, according to Davis.
“Right now, the plan that we see, our teachers have expressed grave concerns,” Davis said.
One of the main concerns teachers have expressed is that the current plan doesn’t support students in the most at-risk communities.
She said the WTU created a safety walkthrough checklist for schools that was adopted by DCPS. She wants parents and teachers to be able to do walkthroughs of every school in the city to make sure CDC and other safety protocols have been instituted.
Teachers want to see evidence, Davis said, that issues with school ventilation systems and windows that wouldn’t open have been fixed.
In his letter, Ferebee said elementary school principals will continue leading safety walkthroughs this week with community members to show them first-hand what has been done to prepare students to return to the buildings.
Davis hopes that DCPS and Mayor Muriel Bowser will come back to the table at a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday with teachers, school leaders and parents to work together to create a proposal that works for everyone.
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