It seems everyone has something to be angry about.
The decision for FCPS schools to go all virtual starting in the Fall is still in dispute among parents, students, and teachers alike. What was originally a confusing suggestion by the superintendent turned into the official plan last week, sparking yet another controversy. The original plan, for students to decide between attending school or going virtual was already controversial in the first place. Parents staged protests, and teachers’ unions demanded a different course of action. The school board eventually caved in, and decided to go all virtual, angering some who did want to return to school. Again, parents are protesting, this time even joined by some disgruntled students.
The Stinger set up a poll last week for participants to react to the change in plans, and the results were about two thirds agreeing and one third disagreeing. The change was made largely in part due to the danger of limited teachers. Many teachers that could retire would have done so if the plan remained as it was, and on top of that, the majority of teachers surveyed by FCPS chose to go virtual. Though it was considerably a win for the majority of teachers, it was a loss for the majority of students, sixty-percent of whom chose to go in person. Regardless of the past choices, the sudden change has flustered the community, and struck a nerve with a large number of students. A Change.org petition calling for the removal of Scott Brabrand as Superintendent has gained nearly 8,000 signatures already.
Though, in reality, the current situation is not the disaster that it’s being made out to be. No one in any administrative position would have decided to have students go all virtual if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Mr. Pafumi, the theatre director for Herndon High School, spoke to the Stinger on the necessity of going virtual, despite it certainly not being ideal. “Personally, I opted to go back to the classroom this fall in the staff survey. I miss my students, and with teaching theatre, we need to be in the same space. However, I completely understand and can appreciate the decision to side with caution and go 100% virtual for the first quarter. It would have been hard anyway, trying to meet the needs of both the at-home students and those that opted to come back live. With this decision, equity is the key, and all will get the same opportunities to learn, even though virtual is not the ideal setting for any of us.”
Another reason besides avoiding the inevitable messiness of handling students at home and at school is the health risk. Mr. Ezrol, a Math/Special Education instructor, firmly believes in the necessity of limiting as much physical contact as possible in the sphere of education. “I believe there was no other choice (but to reopen) under the circumstances. Various authorities claimed that school age people have little chance of catching or spreading the virus, but the facts based on vacation gatherings and other things show that those authorities are lying. Thousands of children from birth on up have been infected and hundreds have had serious cases of the illness or even died. Teachers, of course, are not children, at least not physically, so they are vulnerable to infection. Without teachers, there cannot be much in-person education. Many teachers, some with better reasons than others, simply refused to work in classrooms. Had the schools opened, the teachers who taught would not have childhood immunity, and we would have seen many infected and some killed by the disease.”
Teachers, more so than students, have a lot more responsibilities to balance, and have to adapt the way they go about preparing for the Fall. Mr. Keay, an English teacher at Herndon, had this to say on how he plans to go about indefinite distance learning: “I’m really going to streamline things for students and make assessments as variable as possible. There are students who will have limited time online because they are sharing technology with others in the household. There are students who will be full-time caregivers to younger siblings during the day. There are students whose families need support economically and must work to help provide for the family. Making things accessible to all our students means we need flexibility built in. I need to streamline things for those who have limited time online while simultaneously providing for more challenging work for those capable of undertaking such work.”
The question of leadership in FCPS has been especially contentious. As emotions run high, people find it easier to pin the blame on one person out of sheer convenience. The messy handling of distance learning last Spring set a faulty standard that everyone hopes doesn’t carry on into the Fall. Dr. Cronin, an Assistant Principal at Herndon, still has faith in the FCPS leadership. “Dr. Brabrand is an FCPS guy and is here for the long term. As a former teacher and local level admin, he understands how this is all affecting our schools.”
Part of being a leader means making tough decisions, knowing that it’s going to anger some people. But in the long run, it’s the results of those decisions that speak for themselves. Mr. Ezrol had this to add, in defense of the administration. “In a difficult situation, with no advance notice of what would be required, a lot of mistakes were made last spring, and I expect a lot will be made this year. But I think bringing the students and staff into what could very well have become, like the ill-planned reopening of stores, etc., a launching pad for a new round of pandemic spread, would have been a very sad mistake that, contrary to what proponents of re-opening despite the risk claim, would have made teachers and students very, very sad.”
A common trend in times of crisis is people clinging to the negative and ignoring the positive. The missteps FCPS has made always get the limelight in favor of its successes. But FCPS has been consistent in its efforts to serve the community as best as it can. Mr. Keay spoke on FCPS’s commitment to the community, saying, “I actually do have a lot of faith in the current FCPS leadership. They may have not been first to say, ‘we’re going virtual,’ but I feel they made the right decision. Since March 13th, FCPS leadership has been tasked with not only providing learning for all the students, but also connecting students and families in need to food, mental health, domestic abuse assistance, and a wide variety of other resources. By putting grading on the back burner, it allowed faculty to connect with students to maintain a semblance of normality for them in a time of great uncertainty and fear. It obviously had its drawbacks with low student engagement once kids realized 4th quarter and finals would basically be eliminated, but all that is secondary to making sure we meet the most basic needs of our community. To that end, I think FCPS leadership has made the right decisions, and I support the efforts they’ve made to keep our community connected and safe.” Taking a step back from the thrill of arguing and putting the whole situation into perspective is extremely important in forming an opinion on this unique problem at hand.
Not all teachers happen to agree with the decision to go virtual. Mrs. Faul, an English teacher at Herndon, still sees the potential in a hybrid option. “I am not in favor of the decision to open schools on a virtual basis in September and believe a hybrid option is viable. I watched school board meetings, participated in surveys, and had conversations with parents and students regarding the virtual opening this fall. In several cases, students told me they could not focus in a virtual setting, were bored, and were losing hope; they are looking forward to going back to school even though they know it will be different. Some parents continue to be concerned about keeping their jobs and doing their best to keep their children focused on school lessons. While some are a bit nervous about an in-class start, they are in favor of it. Mental health and welfare of students, challenges with technology, accessibility, and participation, and lack of valid data to support a virtual school decision are some of the reasons I do not favor the decision.”
The emphasis on being able to choose whether or not to return to school was also lost with this new decision. Mrs. Crosson, also an English teacher, disagrees with that removal of individual choice. “The schools had a plan for a safe return, which included having roughly 25% of the normal capacity of students and teachers at school, wearing masks, and practicing social distancing as per the CDC guidelines. The school board presented the plan to families, and families chose what was best for them, based on all the variables that each family has. Then the school board took away the choice, ignoring half of its community. It would be one thing if serious cases of COVID-19 were out of control in Fairfax County, but they are minimal. My heart goes out especially to those young students with complicated home lives, those without the support of their families for various reasons, and to those students with special needs who simply cannot learn on a computer and who will continue to go without help from their own school system. We are letting down our most vulnerable students when they need us the most. We have proven as residents of our county that we can abide by new rules to keep ourselves and others safe. Pools, sporting events, restaurants, retail, etc. have been successfully re-opened for weeks with new protocols, but we aren’t letting kids go back to school? As an FCPS teacher and mother to three young FCPS students who struggled with virtual learning, I believe that the people who are comfortable going back to school should be allowed to go back to school.”
From the Administrative perspective, the priority for this year is in ensuring that the current plan goes smoothly. Dr. Cronin has already begun preparing for the Fall, and has his mind set on helping every student thrive in this new, strange environment. “I will miss the activity and hallway interactions, but I know that the more we do now, the quicker we get back into the building where we all want to be. Professionally, making sure we can connect with all of our students, not letting anyone slip through the virtual cracks.”
The decision to go all-virtual has sparked yet another series of arguments over what’s best for students and teachers alike. Though, as the school year draws closer, acceptance and adaptation will become more and more necessary.