In shift, Henrico superintendent recommends virtual learning for first 9 weeks

What a difference a week makes.

Six days ago, Henrico Superintendent Amy Cashwell announced at a Henrico School Board community meeting at Glen Allen High School that school system officials had added consideration of a full-time, in-person return to school for the coming school year.

But on Monday, Cashwell announced that she is recommending to the School Board a fully virtual return to school – for at least nine weeks – for most students beginning Sept. 8. It’s a plan that appears likely to earn the board’s approval Thursday night, barring something unforeseen.

What changed?

For starters, she told the Citizen, an increase in COVID-19 infection rates statewide. Although Henrico’s 7-day positivity percentage began the month at 5.2% and (despite some fluctuation in between) was the same July 17, the rates statewide have increased from 6.2% to 7.7% during that same time, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

But perhaps a more significant factor was the shift in feedback from HCPS teachers and staff members.

Many have contacted HCPS administrators in the past week, Cashwell said, to explain that while they had indicated on the school system’s survey last month that they were comfortable returning to school, they had since changed their minds.

“That was no doubt a serious consideration,” Cashwell said of the feedback. “More and more we were hearing. . . ‘I was comfortable then – I am not comfortable now.’”

The Henrico Education Association (which represents teachers) last week announced that it favored a fully virtual return to school to mitigate health concerns of its members, students and others who might contract the virus otherwise. A Facebook group that includes a number of Henrico teachers also mobilized to express similar sentiments.

And focus groups with teachers and staff members were producing similar input, Cashwell said.

“It’s disappointing to me and to the educators that we weren’t able to land in a place at this point where a recommendation could be made for an in-person return,” she said. “We truly have looked under every rock, overturned every stone trying to take those recommendations and find a pathway that allowed for in-person instruction.”

On Monday, HEA spokesman Patrick Miller expressed the organization's approval of Cashwell's recommendation.

"We are grateful that Dr. Cashwell has listened to education workers, students, and families in Henrico and has made the difficult decision to recommend that Henrico County Public Schools reopen virtually for the first nine weeks," he wrote on the group's Facebook page.

School could take place in person for some students during the first nine weeks. Those who are part of the exceptional education, early education and English learners programs could return in some form to receive in-person instruction, Cashwell said. The Virginia Department of Education is encouraging school divisions to find ways to provide in-person learning for those students whenever possible, since they typically are most reliant upon such instruction.

What those opportunities might look like in Henrico is somewhat unclear at the moment. But they could include teachers meeting students in their classrooms by appointment, in small groups or individually, Cashwell said.

‘We’re going to stop at nothing to reach them all’
While many parents were were relieved to hear Cashwell’s announcement, others were angry or frustrated. Some have urged officials to send students back full time in person, suggesting that failing to do so could be more dangerous than the impacts of the virus itself.

For some, working from home is not an option. Others may not have the resources available to place their children in child care during the days. And others, underwhelmed by the Edflix virtual learning plan put forth by the school system in April, are leery of what a full-time virtual learning plan might look like.

“Online learning has been completely ineffective,” one parent wrote in response to a Henrico Citizen survey about the return to school. “While I have been told teachers will receive robust training in online education, it has not happened yet. At this point, there is no way that teachers can be trained on online teaching, convert all of their education to online format, and effectively teach and assess our children.”

Cashwell said she understands the disappointment and uncertainty but vowed that the system has not overlooked any concerns – and said that many teachers have taken voluntary training about how to teach effectively in a virtual format. (Such training will become mandatory should the School Board approve Cashwell's recommendation, she said.)

“I can understand firsthand that the virtual option is not going to be a replacement for many components of the school day,” Cashwell said. As for at-risk students, “We’re going to stop at nothing to reach them all,” she said.

School system officials also have been in regular contact with a number of child care facilities and traditionally after school programs (such as those offered by Henrico Police Athletic League, the YMCA and others) in an attempt to collaboratively plan for the fully virtual option, she said. A number of those organizations are expected to develop child care plans that will adapt to the new virtual learning reality, she said.

In an email Monday afternoon, Henrico PAL Executive Director Kenny Ragland told the Citizen that PAL officials expect to meet next week to determine the organization’s course of action.

“Our initial thoughts and plan is to provide full day service to families and elementary students in need of support during the 9 weeks of virtual learning,” Ragland wrote.

‘This will be school’
As those child care programs adapt, so too will many of the actual virtual learning programs the school system intends to use this fall. The system has invested some of the money it received from the federal CARES Act in adaptive learning technology so that teachers can give assignments through programs that will analyze areas in which students need more practice, then automatically tailor online exercises to their individual needs.

The virtual plan students engage with this fall will look much different from Edflix, Cashwell promised.

“For months, we have known that a virtual option would be included for the 2020-21 school year and our staff members have been working long hours to create a redesigned, developmentally appropriate experience that is rich, structured, robust and graded,” she wrote in an email to faculty members and parents. “In other words, this won’t be a collection of online activities. This will be school.”

A typical virtual day for a student might progress much as a traditional in-person day would, she told the Citizen. It likely will include roughly the same mix of class-wide, small group and individual instruction as would most in-person classes, she said.

All middle- and high-school students in the county already receive laptop computers, but the school system also plans to offer a laptop to every elementary school student who needs one, Cashwell said. (Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will be offered tablets.) Wi-Fi hotspots will be provided to as many of those who need internet access as possible. The school system provided more than 6,000 Chromebook laptops to elementary school students who needed them in the weeks after schools closed this spring and also distributed several hundred Wi-Fi hot spots.

And in response to a common criticism that they heard from parents – that the Edflix platform involved too many sub platforms – from Google Meet to Zoom to Schoology and others – officials have streamlined the virtual program so that Schoology will serve as the gateway through which students and parents can easily access most all other materials, Cashwell said.

As for HCPS employees whose jobs revolve primarily or entirely around in-person activities (such as bus drivers, janitorial workers and nurses), officials are working to devise a number of options for them, she said. Bus drivers might be used to deliver food or make other trips into the community, for example, she said.

Putting a timeline on when school officials might again begin to consider a potential return to some level of in-person learning is difficult, Cashwell said, because so much related to the virus can change day to day and week to week. But, she said, officials already have done much of the “heavy lifting” related to the structure necessary for a return to the classroom, such as determining cleaning schedules, distancing requirements and many specifics.

“Those are all things that will serve us well as we transition” back to in-person learning eventually, she said.