Fairfax County Schools To Pause Return Of Next Student Cohort

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Public Schools is delaying the return of a fifth cohort of students that were scheduled to return on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Superintendent Scott Brabrand made the announcement on Monday. The group 5 cohort of students includes students in early HeadStart, pre-K and kindergarten, and select students who receive special education services. New pilot programs and classes that were scheduled to start Tuesday will also pause.

"The current health metrics for COVID-19 cases in our community now exceed the threshold to expand our in-person learning," Brabrand said in a message to families.

Group 5 will remain in virtual learning until at least Nov. 30, and updates will be provided closer to that time. Students and staff in the groups 1 to 4 cohorts and existing pilot programs that already returned to in-person instruction will remain there. In keeping the existing cohorts in schools, Brabrand cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that allows FCPS to keep small cohorts of students.

FCPS officials monitor health metrics daily and use core indicators from the CDC to guide decisions on bringing back new groups of students for in-person instruction. Brabrand said FCPS will continue to monitor Fairfax County metrics to decide when to begin expanding in-person instruction again.

The core indicators for Fairfax County and other school districts are tracked on the Virginia Department of Health's pandemic metrics dashboard. As of Monday, the county's 211.2 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days are labeled as creating the highest risk for transmission in schools. The county's 7.1 percent of positive PCR tests is labeled as creating moderate risk.

Teachers unions have been pushing for the school district to dial back to virtual-only instruction. The Fairfax Education Association, along with the Arlington Education Association, Loudoun Education Association and Prince William Education Association, called on Gov. Ralph Northam to return schools to virtual learning in a news conference on Monday. New coronavirus restrictions put in place statewide by Northam on Sunday do not impact the reopening decisions of local school districts.

Another labor union, the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, has pushed FCPS to adopt its 11 Pillars of a Safe Reopening before moving to in-person instruction.

"This is a good step in the right direction and will help limit COVID-19 exposure in our schools and community," said FCFT President Tina Williams in response to the FCPS pause. "However, there are still staff and students in school buildings and COVID-19 is on the rise in Fairfax County. We are shocked that FCPS wants to bring additional groups of students back on November 30th, directly following the Thanksgiving holiday. Experts have said this period will be a hot bed for new cases because of expected small group gatherings."

On Nov. 13, FCFT Williams wrote to the school board expressing concerns about "unsafe conditions" for specialist employees such as school counselors, librarians, technology specialists, instructional assistants and teachers. Williams noted that these specialists are tasked with additional duties outside their subject matter, which means they would not only remain with the same cohort of students throughout the day.

Brabrand will be hosting a virtual town hall with the latest return to school updates on Thursday, Nov. 19 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Questions can be submitted in advance to returntoschool@fcps.edu or during the Town Hall at 1-800-231-6359.