During a June 23 work session, Chesterfield County Public Schools board members heard about six options for reopening schools on Sept. 8 and 9.
The first option – a normal five-day week – can’t be accomplished, deputy superintendent Thomas Taylor said at the virtual meeting.
Option 6 involves all-virtual, or online, learning. Even if the school board selects another option – the rest of which involve in-school instruction one to three days a week – parents could still decide for their student to learn online, superintendent Merv Daugherty said.
Although the board typically does not have a meeting in July, they will meet July 20.
Daugherty said Chromebooks have been purchased for every student in kindergarten through 12th grade.
In addition, the district increased its online bandwidth from 8.5 GB per second to 10.5 GB per second, and an agreement was being worked on with Comcast to provide internet service for households of students without it, he said. Comcast has a national program for such, he said.
Taylor noted that buses will have a “checkerboard” seating pattern that would accommodate 26 students per bus in compliance with social distancing recommendations. He said the district ordered masks and some will be available on buses in case a student doesn’t have one.
Taylor described some of the obstacles teachers will face as “hills that we have to climb, not mountains.”
In spite of that, the Chesterfield Education Association called for a total virtual learning schedule in order to protect vulnerable teachers.
Midlothian member Kathryn Haines said she received probably over 100 emails from parents asking for five days a week of school.
Clover Hill member Dot Heffron asked if each school will have a nurse. Daugherty said that is the goal, although he added that it depends on securing the funding and hiring the nurses.
Heffron also asked if students’ temperatures will be checked outside the school prior to entering. Daugherty said the district purchased laser thermometers for nurses, but noted that taking temperatures of every student would take too much time and result in large volumes of students standing in line. Daugherty said taking students’ temperatures prior to boarding a bus could result in children being left at a bus stop. He said that the Virginia Department of Education suggests parents take their children’s temperatures at home.
Virtual town hall meetings were held June 30, July 1 and July 2. The “project restart” video can be viewed on the district’s website, mychesterfieldschools.com.
Finances
The district’s chief financial officer, Robert Meister, presented a financial plan to the board that he said will involve spending increases of $36 million, $33 million, $30 million and $39 million each year through fiscal year 2025.
The number of students is projected to increase from nearly 63,000 students to 66,000-plus by the end of fiscal year 2025. This growth would involve adding more than 100 full-time-equivalent teachers each year and additional transportation costs.
Meister noted that the district is expecting completion of a salary study by August or September.
Heffron said the district is facing the specter of increased growth, increased expenses and uncertain revenue.
Equity report
Jennifer Rucker, the district’s director of equity and student support services, said each school principal was given a copy of the book, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.”
A curriculum audit will be conducted, she said, noting that the district’s “equity design team” will be hearing guest speakers with “the focus on the mental health of black and brown students.”
“Our role is to move away from traditional leadership to equity leadership,” said Lisa High, chief of schools.
Haines noted that the district hasn’t funded its equity coordinator position. In addition, “a lot of people have asked me to review the 9-11 curriculum for any Islamophobic bias,” she said.
