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What will school look like when the 2020-21 school year begins this September in Henrico?
No one knows for sure yet, but Henrico County Public Schools officials are considering five broad options, which HCPS Chief of Staff Beth Teigen presented to the board during its Thursday work session:
• a normal return to in-person classes for all students (if such an option is permitted by state officials and deemed safe by the School Board);
• a continuation of virtual learning, likely in a more regimented way than what has been provided since the pandemic began;
• “interrupted” on-campus learning, whereby students would alternate between attending class for several weeks or months at a time and then learning from home for a period of time;
• a hybrid learning model, through which some students would attend class in school while others learned at home, and then the two groups switched, as a way to maintain adequate social distancing (if such a plan is still necessary);
• a parallel pathway, through which some students would learn in class while others would learn virtually, either because their families didn’t feel safe sending them back to school or were not able to do so for any number of reasons.
Superintendent Amy Cashwell told board members that officials intend to survey stakeholders about which options they might prefer but said they won’t do so until they receive more clarity from state officials about what the landscape might look like in the fall.
“It’s premature to ask [stakeholders], because a lot of decisions will be based upon whether schools are allowed to be open,” Cashwell said.
Varina District board member Alicia Atkins told her colleagues that the top priority among the constituents she’s heard from to date is safety – “regardless of what decisions we make.”
There would be a number of logistical issues to work out in some of the plans, Tuckahoe District member Marcie Shea said – such as in a hybrid plan whether families with multiple students would be able to plan for all of them to be in school on the same days, for example.
She also expressed a desire to learn as much as possible about which families or school populations might be more interested in virtual learning.
“I really appreciate the fact that we are looking at this now,” said Three Chopt District member Micky Ogburn, who urged officials to post details about all five plans on the school system’s website as soon as possible, for public consumption and feedback opportunities.
That should occur by May 21, when the system debuts “Season 3” of its Edflix virtual learning program, Cashwell said
