Cashwell: School officials confident in mitigation efforts

With COVID-19 numbers as high as they’ve ever been in Henrico County, Henrico Schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell’s Jan. 5 decision to delay a return to in-person learning for Henrico elementary school students wasn’t a surprise.

But why did she opt for a two-week delay – from Jan. 11 to Jan. 25 – as opposed to a longer one, like the four-week halt announced yesterday by Fairfax County Public Schools?

The decision, Cashwell told the Citizen Wednesday, was in part the result of an increased emphasis the school system’s health committee has placed upon the mitigation strategies that will exist inside schools, coupled with a better understanding of how those strategies will keep students and staff members safe.

Collectively, five of those strategies (including how well-prepared a school district is to implement social distancing, how much personal protective equipment it has, and what type of cleaning and disinfecting it can do) are considered one of three “core metrics” that districts in Virginia should weigh when determining a return plan, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

In previous months, the HCPS health committee had focused more attention on the other two metrics – the total number of new cases per 100,000 people during the most recent 14-day period, and the percentage of positive PCR tests during the same period. Both metrics have more than doubled (and the former has more than tripled) since Cashwell opted Nov. 16 to delay the original return dates of Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 for elementary students.

But more recently, the health committee has more closely examined the mitigation strategies, as well as evidence gathered from other school systems statewide and nationally that have been conducting in-person learning, Cashwell said.

Combined with increasing local data about the negative mental health impact that virtual learning has had on some students, the committee concluded that allowing students back later this month (if their families choose to send them) was the most prudent call, Cashwell said. The decision doesn’t impact secondary school students who chose to go back in person; they will return Feb. 1 (sixth- and ninth-graders) and Feb. 4 (all others) as originally scheduled.

Although Cashwell’s email message to staff members and parents Tuesday suggested that another delay was unlikely, she told the Citizen that the health committee will continue meeting regularly to weigh all data.

“This is a fluid and ever-changing situation,” she said. “Health and safety are first and foremost, so we’re always going to look at all information and assess it.”

More state guidelines coming?
One challenge, Cashwell admitted, is that the state has not provided specific guidelines as to how local school districts should proceed based upon COVID conditions within their borders, instead creating only a set of general metrics for them to examine.

“It doesn’t offer specifics, like ‘When you hit this number, you should do this, or at this threshold, you should do that,” Cashwell said. “Every locality’s left to make decisions on its own. It’s been a challenge not having more specific guidelines. Having some more uniform approaches would be helpful.”

Still, Cashwell said, she understood why the state has not provided such specific guidance yet and said that a positive effect is that it’s allowed individual school districts to learn from each other’s unique efforts.

More specific statewide guidelines, however, may be forthcoming from Virginia officials.

Yesterday, a report from Roanoke TV station WSLS indicated that State Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane had urged superintendents on a Tuesday conference call to return as many students to in-person learning as soon as possible. Northam quickly released a statement indicating that he wouldn’t be announcing any changes to current guidance to school divisions, though, but said more information would be made public soon.

He reiterated that during a Wednesday press conference, saying that state officials have been working on a number of plans, including the possibility of year-round school during the coming year and/or increased school days this summer to get students caught up.

“Our children have suffered from COVID-19, as have our families,” Northam said. “The bottom line – we want to get our children back in school, we want to do it safely and responsibly.”

Educators high on vaccination list
During his comments, Northam also indicated that he considered the state’s 285,000 educators and child care workers its largest group of essential workers and would prioritize them in the second phase of COVID vaccinations, which could begin as soon as next month.

“They’re not high on the list just because we like them,” he said. “They’re high on the list of essential workers because teachers are critical schools back open, and that’s critical to people getting back to work and literally getting back to normal.

“Opening schools doesn’t depend on vaccinating teachers, but it sure will make it easier.”

Cashwell told the Citizen that she and Henrico officials would be paying close attention to the vaccination plans for educators.

“That is a factor, and we’ll want to watch that and see if anything changes,” she said.

As a return to in-person learning nears, families who indicated that they’d send their students back but have second thoughts about doing so will be able to work with their individual principals to make adjustments, Cashwell said. School officials also have empowered school principals to determine the best course of action for teachers, so some may be teaching students virtually and in-person concurrently, while some may teach only in-person students and others only virtual students, she said.

Yesterday, the Citizen reported that nearly 60 classroom monitor and clinic assistant positions that were part of the school system’s plan for an in-person return still were listed as being open as of last week. Cashwell said while some open positions may not have been updated during the winter break, she and other officials will monitor the situation.

“Staffing is critical, so we’re watching that,” she said.