Portsmouth elementary- and middle-school students could return to the classroom in April, but high schoolers would finish the academic year virtually under a new plan presented by the superintendent Thursday.
If approved by the School Board, the plan would replace an existing one that calls for a phased return only after the rate of positive cases in the city — currently 16.8% — falls below 10%.
The board asked administrators to take a second look following Gov. Ralph Northam’s call for all school districts to resume at least some in-person instruction by March 15.
But during the nearly three-hour meeting, several board members were sharply critical of the state’s push and seemed wary of changing the district’s plans. Chairman Cardell Patillo said state leaders’ push to bring kids back despite continuing high infection rates seems to treat a percentage of teachers and students as “sacrificial.”
“It’s almost like, ‘Hey, we know we’re going to lose some (people), but we’re not going to lose the majority,'” Patillo said.
“I understand that the governor has made his suggestion,” said Tamara Shewmake, another board member. “But with all due respect, if we’re not at a good place, I could care less.”
Many districts that were all-virtual have set dates for return in response to the governor’s push. Portsmouth is one of three in Virginia that is all-virtual and without a date to return. The largest, Richmond, plans to remain virtual for the remainder of the school year.
Under the proposal, Portsmouth staff would return to buildings March 29.
Starting April 12 when classes resume after spring break, special education students in self-contained classrooms and English language learners in all grades could return for in-person learning four days a week. Other students could come back in person two days a week, for part of the day. One group would attend Mondays and Tuesdays and another group on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays would remain an independent learning day for students.
Students in pre-K through grade three could return April 19. Students in grades four through eight could return April 26. High schools would remain all virtual except for a few career and technical education classes where students would have in-person options.
An all-virtual option would still be available for all students. The district surveyed parents on their preference in the fall, but plans to do so again.
Bus transportation is one of the major limitations, not unlike in normal times, Superintendent Elie Bracy said. Bus capacity is severely limited when maintaining social distancing so what previously might have been one route could now be two or three.
An early dismissal time is proposed to accommodate the extra routes needed. Once home, students would log in online for small group instruction or work independently. Board members expressed more reservations than administrators. Bracy, asked by Shewmake if it was worth changing course this late in the year, said he sees “more advantages than disadvantages.”
“We know it’s good for them (to be in-person),” he said. “I think a little of that is better than nothing at all.”
Assistant Superintendent Anita Wynn said the amount of in-person learning this school year, however brief, would help set students up for success next year. But given everything students have experienced over the past year, including the deaths of loved ones to COVID, “coming back into the building is going to be traumatic for them,” she said.
“This is an opportunity for our children to re-acclimate themselves to an in-person learning experience,” Wynn said. Preschoolers and some kindergarteners have never set foot inside a school, period, and seventh- and ninth-graders haven’t stepped inside their new schools’ walls either.
Patillo said he was confident administrators had “dotted every I and crossed every T.”
“But (positivity rates) were 6% and I was begging not to send them back to school,” he said. “Now it’s 16%.”
Patillo said he tries not to make every conversation about race but that he was struggling to separate it from this decision because of how much harder Black and Hispanic families have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
In Portsmouth, 72% of students are Black. Patillo said he’s concerned about the Black community’s access to vaccines, a reservation shared by board member Ingrid Whitaker. She dismissed the idea that the Black community was more hesitant than others to get inoculated, saying African Americans don’t have equal access to it.
Several board members said they felt conflicted as parents and board members. Shewmake said she hasn’t decided whether she will send her children back if given the option.
“I don’t want to be a hypocrite,” she said.
Board member Claude Parent was the only one who asked for more in-person options than administrators presented, particularly for high school students. He said he’d hoped the district would offer all parents a choice.
Costella Williams, who has urged her fellow board members to focus on health data since the earliest discussions about reopening, said she still wants to take that into account but was hopeful that the downward trend in positive cases would continue and be at or below 10% by April when students return.
“There comes a time when we have to return to school,” she said.
It’s ultimately up to the School Board whether to resume in-person learning this school year, although state legislation could require it next year. The decision won’t have any bearing on funding for the district this school year.
The board is expected to vote next Thursday, March 4.
Sara Gregory, 757-469-7484, sara.gregory@pilotonline.com
