by Alexis Gutierrez

On Wednesday night, October 14th, DCPS and DC Health held a second in a series of webinars and conference calls to prepare parents for the gradual re-opening of DCPS Elementary schools on November 9th. Dr. Lewis Ferebee, Chancellor of DCPS, kicked off the evening outlining the plan for re-opening. He emphasized again that virtual learning is not working for all students, especially children facing homelessness, English language learners and those children deemed at high-risk.

At this point in the year, going to a hybrid model for the second term would be more disruptive than a five-day-a-week approach. This gives those students with the greatest likelihood of opportunity gaps more time for learning.

Dr. Lee Beers, Children’s Hospital and DCPS parent, joined Dr. Ferebee to emphasize that for kids with special education needs, doctors are seeing huge slides in their skills. Schools are an important place for those children to get the resources they need whether it be for autistic children or other special need kids. She also noted that not all DCPS children are in safe and stable homes and that by offering a safe space, the necessary social services can connect with those children.

Further, pediatricians are seeing increasing trends in self-harm and suicidal expressions among children. With a safe reopening the kids that depend on the services that they receive in schools can get them.

Dr. Ankoor Shah, Deputy Director for Programs & Policy at DC Health, went through DC Health’s ASK-ASK-LOOK approach. He said that there is no silver bullet to stop Covid, but that layers of protection come from mask wearing, hand washing, social distancing and health screening before entering schools. Individually, each layer is not sufficient, but together they make in-person learning safe.

Interestingly, Dr. Shah emphasized that kids or parents that are waiting for Covid tests should NOT come to school. He further noted that if a person has been around someone who tested positive and they test negative, they still HAVE to quarantine for 14 days before returning to school. A negative test in of itself would not be sufficient for a kid to come back to school. Unfortunately, a question on whether a family member or the student is awaiting Covid testing results is not part of the ASK-ASK-LOOK screening questions.

Patrick Davis, DCPS Chief Operating Officer, reviewed the extensive assessments and upgrades of all the elementary school’s HVACs. The goal in every school is to increase air exchange and air filtration. In every school that has a DOAS system, MERV-13 filters will be installed. If a school does not have a DOAS system, medical grade HEPA filters will be installed throughout the school. Currently, every school has contractors assessing their HVACs.

By Friday, October 16, all the assessments were scheduled to be completed and a specific plan will be prepared for each school. On PPE and cleaning products, Mr. Davis noted that the Mayor’s office has freed up significant resources so that stockpiles of PPE and cleaning products are positioned and ready to move out. 1.8 million masks have been purchased for students, for instance. He noted that DCPS has developed a monitoring system so that they can predict when schools are running low on supplies and move them out in advance. While this sounds amazing, it's a little hard to believe that DCPS went from not being able to buy paper towels and soap last school year to predicting when they are going to run out and supplying them promptly this year. Fingers crossed that somehow DCPS pulls this off.

On Covid testing, DC is not setting walk up testing for their youngest students. (Recall, fire houses only test six years old and up, so if pre-K and kindergarten students need a Covid test they have to go through their pediatricians.) Teachers will be able to get prioritized testing at certain locations at certain times around the city each week.

Finally, Dr. Bryant-Mallory, DCPS, wrapped up the panel, talking about how DCPS is preparing to help students with mental health issues. She largely reiterated that prior to Covid, DCPS has ensured that every school has a designated behavioral health coordinator. And that services like grief counseling, bounce back programs and other services will be there to support children.

Dr. Ferebee concluded the evening by letting parents know that he had just finished having a positive conversation with Elizabeth Davis, the head of the Washington Teachers Union.

DCPS will have additional teleconferences each week until term 2 starts on November 9th. Petworth News will continue to report on them.