Fully Engaged

Sent to engage@apsva.us on this day.


Good Morning APS,

As an Arlington teacher, parent and taxpayer, I would like to urge you to revise your reopening plan to 100% distance learning for this fall. 

If we make that commitment now, we can all get to work on planning for a DL experience that far surpasses what we cobbled together at the last minute in the spring. If we plan for both hybrid and DL we will be stretched in two directions, we will be full of anxiety, and we will be less effective at both approaches. It will be a nightmare. 

As an almost 58 year old woman in good health, I would be the only member of my immediate family leaving home for work or school. (Isn’t it telling when even many APS teachers plan to enroll their own kids in the DL option?) My husband, who will be 61, can continue to work from home.

Furthermore, I have only seen my 94 year old mother twice, behind glass, since February. If my strong preference to do DL is ignored and I am summoned into school this fall, I may never see her alive in person again. So not only will many teachers be filled with anxiety, but some of us will also be struggling with grief. While sharing this I also realize that many of our students are already struggling with anxiety, depression or grief.

I am too young to retire. I do not feel done working with middle school students. As an EL Resource teacher I plan to host my own Canvas page for my dually-identified caseload students in order to support the work they are doing in their classes. I believe I can more effectively do this through Canvas Conferencing than in person, given the constraints of social distancing. I believe most teachers will be teaching through iPads even if they are with students in person, because it is going to be too risky to implement the student-centered, small group, cooperative learning techniques that we all know are best for students.

Here’s the crux of the matter: we are seeing the lack of social distancing and mask-wearing INCREASE this summer as the state begins to open back up. Local reports indicate that the bars are crowded, and only 5% of folks on our bike trails (my husband included) are wearing masks as they walk or ride. Yet teachers will be asked to sacrifice themselves more than the citizenry whose children we teach?

Only if we as an entire county can drastically minimize new cases of Covid for at least 14 days running will you find nursing-mother teachers, older teachers, immune-compromised teachers and anxiety or grief ridden teachers ready to step into their classrooms again by this fall. 

There are still too many unanswered questions, for example:

1. Will our preferences for DL be honored even if we ourselves do not meet the standards of medical risk?
2. What happens if I get sick and run through my paid leave? (I am at least part of a two income family. Many teachers are not.) 
3. Will there be any subs at all, or will my on-site role become that of subbing for colleagues while neglecting my own caseload and attendance at IEP meetings as stipulated by the DOJ settlement agreement?
4. Will the School Board continue to meet virtually even as teachers are asked to return to the classroom? And will the central office staff continue to work remotely, too? 

I understand that segments of this community want and need to see a plan that allows their children to return to school. I understand that we as a school system needed to develop such a plan so that stakeholders can see what it looks like. But I sincerely hope that your data collection will show you that the vast majority of parents and teachers are not ready and willing to put their kids or themselves back into a situation that is no safer than the one we pulled out of on March 13th.

Respectfully submitted,
Enid Dunbar