Students and teachers can safely return to school buildings six months after schools statewide closed to stem the spread of COVID-19 in mid-March. That’s the message and expectation from Gov. Raimondo, and the state health and education departments.
State leaders, superintendents, education officials and public health experts spent the summer creating and retooling plans for varied school reopening scenarios. Districts were required to plan for full in-person learning, a return to virtual classes, or a hybrid of the two. After districts submitted their plans, state leaders decided they would not be ready for the original August 31st statewide school start date.
Now Raimondo says it is safe for most districts to return based on the level of community spread of COVID-19 in Rhode Island, and the feasibility of schools to handle a litany of new safety measures.
“And it is my expectation that that is exactly what you will do,” Raimondo said during her weekly press briefing.
Leaders used several metrics to come to this decision, among them, the number of COVID-19 cases in municipalities, testing capabilities, and supply availability. While the districts were tasked with developing plans that suited their demographics, the state has stepped in to handle the public health side of reopening.
A newly created task force, which includes the department of health, and national guard and emergency management personnel, will help coordinate testing and contact tracing for the schools. Another group will be conducting building inspections at every public school in the state over the next two weeks, to make sure infrastructure like ventilation systems are properly functioning. Raimondo said if school buildings are found not to be ready they will not reopen.
“Like everything we’ve done together over the past six months, if it doesn’t work, we’ll adjust,” Raimondo said. “If we have problems, we’ll deal with it. But we owe it to our children to get them back into school.”
But many children across Rhode Island will not be going back into schools.
Providence and Central Falls will not be reopening fully. The two districts did not fall below the threshold of 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 within the municipality in time for the September start date. Instead, schools in the two cities will return with limited in-person classes.
In Providence, the state’s largest district, that means elementary school children, students with special needs and students learning English will largely return to class in their buildings. Sixth and ninth graders will begin the year in split groups that return to school in alternating weeks. The rest of the students will begin year distance learning.
“The governor’s decision to reopen school buildings, at least in part, is irresponsible given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Providence,” said Maribeth Calabro, head of the Providence Teachers Union in a statement.
Providence is under state control, since the takeover of schools was initiated last year. The district teachers union has been in negotiations throughout the summer. The teachers’ contract expired August 31st, and a new contract has not yet been agreed upon.
The state will monitor COVID-19 case rates in Providence and Central Falls, and determine in October if the districts can return to fully in-person classes.
Around Rhode Island, thousands of students have already signed up for so-called virtual academies offered through their individual districts. In Providence, more than a fifth of students have signed up for the online classes. In East Providence, more than 40 percent of the student body is set to begin class online. In other districts, large swaths of students have also chosen to remain at home.
By Monday, three local school committees in Pawtucket, Cumberland and Warwick had voted to begin the school year almost entirely online, regardless of the state’s decision.
“I voted as I did because above all I have a responsibility to provide the safest educational environment possible,” said Jay Charbonneau, chairman of the Pawtucket School Committee, before the Governor’s decision was announced.
“I will always vote for what I believe is the safest, and most productive environment for our children to learn in.”
The state does not seem to have much recourse to compel districts to follow their direction. Governor Raimondo said she might be reluctant to use executive authority in the matter, but added that districts might jeopardize their ability to receive federal funding if they refuse to comply. Superintendents have worked closely with the state to prepare for September, but largely answer to their local school committees.
The Rhode Island Department of Education mostly supports districts in maintaining state and federal education standards, and helps disburse federal funds. The agency can also act as an arbitrator in disputes between families and their local school systems.
Raimondo said districts who do not comply may be subject to legal action by families who are unhappy with local decisions that conflict with the state guidance.
“I am hopeful that some of these school committees that made these decisions, will now do the right thing and reverse those decisions, now that we have this new information,” Raimondo said. “If we don’t, certainly they’ll be exposing themselves to any number of lawsuits on behalf of parents.”
The state is giving local districts four weeks to comply with the decision, allowing students and staff to phase into classes on a rolling basis through September.
Still, the decision is likely to be unpopular with many. Over the summer, hundreds of parents and teachers coalesced online, pushing back against plans to return to in-person learning, even staging socially-distanced protests.
The state’s largest teachers unions, the National Education Association Rhode Island and the local American Federation of Teachers have said their members feel nothing but fully virtual education is ultimately safe to start schools, in part because of infrastructure issues they feared would not be fixed in time for reopening.
It is unclear what, if any, action unionized teachers might take if they feel their concerns are not met.
For others, the decision may be welcome news, parents with young students, children learning English and especially those with special education needs found distance learning taxing, stressful, and often unsuccessful.
The announcement on schools came as the state reported 46 new cases, and two more COVID-19 related fatalities, bringing total fatalities to 1,048. Rhode Island health officials tested some 45,000 people over the last week, and currently has a positive rate of 1.2 percent.
As colleges and universities return, and public K-12 students begin school, the state is ramping up testing, and the number of positive cases is bound to increase. The Governor urged residents to continue wearing masks, and warned people not to break social-distancing requirements during the upcoming Labor Day holiday.
“We’re not out of the woods,” Raimondo said.
