In Providence, the state’s largest school district, classes begin Thursday. This is the first full academic year for new acting superintendent Dr. Javier Montañez. He spoke with reporter John Bender this week. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
On planning school reopening amid increasing cases of COVID-19 and the Delta variant:
“As we open, we know that the Delta variant means we have to get a little more aggressive with COVID.
Making sure that everyone is following the universal masking policies, make sure that the weekly asymptomatic testing for schools, hosting vaccine clinics throughout the year. So we have a system in place to make sure that everyone is safe.”
According to a spokesperson for PPSD, there will be at least one vaccine clinic at each of the district’s secondary schools.
On asymptomatic surveillance testing:
“[This year] we’re collecting the data weekly instead of bi-weekly, and that’s going to help guide the decisions that we make as we move forward. It’s for everyone, anyone that wants to volunteer and get the test.”
This academic year, PPSD will offer asymptomatic surveillance testing for COVID-19, once a week for all students and staff. Testing will be voluntary, and require parental consent for younger students.
On required surveillance testing for staff:
“That is not something we’re doing right now. But we want to make sure that we’re educating everyone. We’re educating the staff, students and families on the importance of being vaccinated. So that’s the approach we’re using right now; making sure that they’re aware that by individuals doing the vaccine or getting checked, it’s not only personal safety, but also for the community.”
According to Montañez, PPSD has not surveyed teaching staff on vaccination status. The district is relying on the state’s estimate that about 90 percent of all teachers, education staff, and early childhood education professionals working in Rhode Island have been vaccinated.
That estimate is based on the number of people who took part in educator-specific vaccination clinics in February of this year, according to a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health. The state vaccination registry does not include occupation data.
The vaccination rate in Providence is about 55 percent.
On the district’s plan for positive COVID-19 cases:
“So usually what would happen, I remember, as an administrator, once I find out once that someone has tested positive, we’ll do the tracking and will give the information to the nurse. And they’ll do that from the nurses department. They’ll do the tracking, to inform the parents that someone within the classroom, or someone in the building has tested positive. It’s almost the same day they’ll be receiving the information.”
According to Montañez, school staff will work with the state Health Department to do contact tracing and investigate cases. According to a spokesperson for RIDOH, contact tracing operations’ staff was cut by about a third during May, June and July. As schools reopen, health officials say they are recruiting more contact tracers.
On returning to online classes:
“Even before the COVID pandemic, we had medically fragile students…those individuals received their studies online. And then we have those students who may be in quarantine; then what happens is all students have a Chromebook (laptop), we also have hotspots for internet connection.
Those students will be required to log in in the morning to the Google classroom with their teacher, as they sign into the asynchronous work. Then they’ll be marked like they attended school.
Then you have those students who may have tested positive, depending how those students feel – if they’re feeling really sick, we’re not expecting them to do the asynchronous work, because they’re sick. But if they’re home, and they’re able to log-in, they will be marked present. As long as they do their work…they’ll be marked present.
If a whole class has to flip over to distance learning, then they’ll follow the same criteria pretty much. But we’re ready for that as well. I mean, we had these experiences last year. So this is not new to us. It’s just making sure that we follow the procedures.”
On the academic and mental health effects of the pandemic:
“It has taken a toll on the adults and students. It has touched each and every one of us in one way or another. But one of the things that we did, starting last year, was make sure that we had a program put in place for social-emotional learning where the teachers do lessons with the students, and just check in on them. As an administrator, in my building, we did it twice a day. Also making sure that we were having conversations with the adults as well because they also suffer from this.”
