FCPS offers more details on concurrent learning

The concurrent instruction approach, although total class sizes won’t be this small. [FCPS]

Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand and other FCPS officials provided more details on concurrent learning and other aspects of the return-to-school plans at a town hall Oct. 19. 

Several school board members, however, are not happy with the concurrent learning concept and neither are the teachers’ associations. The Fairfax Education Association has gotten 1,062 signatures so far on a petition calling for FCPS to remain virtual-only for the rest of the 2020-21 school year. 

When students return to school, they will be in class two days a week and at home two days a week, Brabrand said. Under the concurrent learning approach, students learning at home will have access to the same class and teacher. 

This concept will be adjusted based on the results of a pilot test that started this week. The pilot will be extended to 13 schools next week. 

“Concurrent learning does not mean 100 percent synchronous activities at the same time,” said Sloan Presidio, assistant superintendent for instructional services. “Teachers will have a lot of flexibility in how they do this.” Parents can also choose all-virtual instruction.

A teacher complained that concurrent learning will create three times more work for teachers. 

Brabrand acknowledged he is receiving lots of emails expressing concerns about the current workload, as well as the workload under the concurrent model. 

Related story: Under FCPS return-to-school plan, all students won’t be back until February

“The reality is the work right now, whatever the model, even if we’re returning to school five days in person in a COVID environment, is still going to be hard work,” Brabrand said. “There is no easy model, no easy approach, no easy strategy in this time of the pandemic.” 

In response to a question from a parent who asked why students couldn’t come back to school five days a week, Brabrand said FCPS “would need an additional five Pentagons of space” to accommodate kids five days a week with six feet of social distancing. 

Several groups of students are already back in school for face-to-face instruction, including certain career and technical education students, special education preschool students, and other special ed students. The following schedule for bringing other students back to school requires consensus by the school board. 

On Nov. 16, these groups are tentatively scheduled to return to school:

• Early Head Start (infants and toddlers);
• Prekindergarten (3 and 4-year-olds); 
• Kindergarten; 
• Students who need intensive support (students who have a modified curriculum for at least 50 percent of their core courses and spend 50 percent or more of their instructional day in special education settings);
• Students in specialized center-based programs for special ed (the vision program at Robinson Secondary School). 

These groups could come back on Nov. 30: Students in grades 1 and 2 and special ed students in the Davis Career Center at Marshall High School and the Pulley Career Center in Alexandria. 

The next group, to tentatively come back on Jan. 4, includes: 

• Grades 3-6;
• Secondary public day programs for special ed students (Burke Middle School, Cedar Lane, and Quander Road); and 
• students with a target learner profile at the Davis and Pulley centers.   

The final group, to tentatively come back Feb. 1, includes grades 7-12 and the rest of the students at the Davis and Pulley career centers. 

Other issues addressed by FCPS officials at the town hall:

Accommodations for teachers – A teacher raised concerns about employees with medical issues who requested accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and might not have their requests honored, while parents are given a choice of whether they want in-school or virtual instruction. 

“Teachers are now being told our ADA requests might not be honored and we might have to take unpaid leave or resign, retire, or go into our old buildings where the HVAC system hasn’t been updated,” the teacher said. “How is that fair and equal?” 

FCPS received over 2,400 requests for ADA accommodations, which is an 8,000 percent increase over what they typically get, said Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Sean McDonald.

FCPS is trying to go through all those requests as soon as possible, McDonald said, and “there may be requests that won’t be honored. Our goal is to work with administrators and individual staff members to see if there may be alternative accommodations. If no alternative is available, FCPS will offer staff an opportunity to take a leave of absence for the balance of the school year.” 

McDonald said FCPS plans to send staff more information later this week about other options, “possibly using the concurrent model” where an accommodation isn’t possible. 

Face masks – Students who can’t wear a mask due to a medical condition must bring a note from a doctor. If students refuse to wear a mask, the family would be brought in and FCPS would recommend that the student return to all-virtual learning. 

Temperature checks – Bus aides will conduct temperature checks at bus stops. Any student with a temperature of 100.4 or above won’t be permitted on the bus. Temperature checks will also be given upon arrival. Students with a temperature of 100.4 and above will be escorted to an isolation room until their parents pick them up. 

COVID cases – FCPS has a new COVID dashboard showing self-reported positive COVID tests. Between Sept. 8 and Oct. 12, there were 91 COVID cases among employees, 11 among students, and two among visitors to a school facility. Those numbers include the Fairfax County Supporting Return to School program.

“COVID is here for the long haul, and we have to figure out how we are going to live with COVID going forward,” Brabrand said. “Our kids need to be back in school as much as possible. We cannot go months and years without having our students not be in school.”