More Fairfax County students returning to virtual learning, due to COVID surge
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| Safety teams are making spot inspections at Fairfax County schools to ensure compliance with health protocols. |
Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, Fairfax County Public Schools has determined that students in Group 3 (which includes various categories of special education) will return to virtual learning, beginning Monday, Dec. 14.
Those students had been in school for in-person instruction on a limited basis for the past few weeks.
FCPS has been using two core health indicators suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to guide its decisions on in-person instruction. These include the total number of COVID cases per 100,000 county residents over the last 14 days and the percentage of positive COVID tests over seven consecutive days.
For Group 3 to remain in the classroom, the positivity rate must not exceed 10 percent. As of Dec. 12, the positivity rate has exceeded 10 percent for seven consecutive days.
Related story: Some Fairfax County students who had returned to school are back to all-virtual learning
“Our goal is to return students to in-person learning soon after winter break,” FCPS informed parents. “We understand that in-person learning is the best option for most students. We will be sharing more information on these plans in the coming weeks.”
Group 3 includes:
- Elementary comprehensive services sites,
- Key Center,
- Kilmer Center,
- Students with limited or interrupted formal education,
- Recently-arrived English language learners in grades 3-12,
- Enhanced autism classrooms, including students accessing the general education curriculum,
- Intellectual disabilities and severe intellectual disabilities K-12 classrooms, and
- Students receiving noncategorical elementary services with an adapted curriculum in a special education classroom.
Since we last reported FCPS case counts on Nov. 21, the school system’s COVID dashboard shows 26 students, 154 staff members, and three visitors have tested positive for COVID.
That includes one student at Bren Mar Park Elementary School in Mason District and several staff members at these schools in Annandale/Mason District:
- Four each at Falls Church High School; Westlawn Elementary School, and Woodson High School.
- Two each at Beech Tree ES, Camelot ES, and Frost Middle School.
- One each at Annandale Terrace ES, Bailey’s Upper ES, Belvedere ES, Bren Mar Park ES, Holmes MS, Mantua ES, and Parklawn ES.
As part of the effort to ensure a safe return to school, FCPS has deployed safety teams to monitor each school’s adherence to the five mitigation strategies for COVID-19. That includes the proper use of masks or face coverings, social distancing, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, cleaning and disinfection, and contact tracing in collaboration with the health department.
