One of the best public schools systems in the nation, Fairfax County Public School System (FCPS) in Virginia has taken the joy out of learning for elementary school children aged 5-7 in grades K to 2 by requiring a "virtual" schedule of 9 to 4, thereby forcing kindergartners and other elementary school children to sit in front of a screen for their entire day. The problem is specifically glaring for kindergartners who cannot read and they are expecting to navigate through different virtual classrooms and "click in links" provided by teacher in real time. 

This is absurd when Administrative Code 8VAC20-131-150 A requires a "minimum of three hours for kindergarten" instructional hours and "recess may be included in the calculation of required instructional hours." 

The 9:00-4:00pm virtual schedule is not working for these young children and the work schedule of their parents. The FCPS teachers are doing a fantastic job and they are doing their best by using creative ways to keep the children’s attention but it is an unreasonable expectation from FCPS system to expect elementary school children to sit glued to their screen for so long when all along we have been preaching “that is too much screen time” since they have been aware about “screens.”

Every morning we are having to give our children pep talks and boost their morale to encourage them and get them to sit in front of the computer. Every evening at 4:00pm we are having to wipe their tears and collectively take a sigh of relief that the day is over. They are children going to elementary school, not to war. We should not have to wipe their tears and give them pep talks every morning just to try and get them to pay attention. Also, did FCPS think even once the impact this will have on children with special needs.  "A [system]'s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." 

Here is why the 9:00 to 4:00pm schedule is not working and not practical with working parents:

1.      Parents are having to constantly monitor their children to make sure they are logged on and paying attention. Parents are having trouble fulfilling their work obligations. Some of us are not even lucky enough to work from home, thus we are having to make childcare arrangements to oversee the children.

2.      Parents with multiple children in elementary school cannot even tag team with work as one parent is attaching to each kid.  

3.      Most kindergartners cannot read and have not used a laptop or mouse before. They are struggling to learn because they are expending brain cycles learning to operate the laptop. 

4.      Children are incapable of switching from one “virtual” classroom to another virtual classroom. Parents need to check in at every scheduled change to make sure their children have logged off one virtual classroom and log into another virtual classroom. We do not understand how this was considered to be a good idea for elementary school children. And there are a lot of virtual classrooms and switches. 

5.      Parents are having to entertain children in the extra-long recess.

6.      With the extra-long recess, children are mentally unplugging from learning mode and parents are having to re-motivate them to get back into their seats and log back on. They just want to escape the misery.

7.      Most importantly and this is the most concerning, children are using their entire brain power to just get themselves to sit in the seat and watch the screen, because every fabric of their body is telling them that this is not right and this is too much screen time because of what they have been conditioned with. Because if this they are not learning anything. Their brain is so busy throwing a pity party that it has no cycles left to actually learn. This needs to change.  

8.      The schedule is taking an emotional toll on special needs children and their parents.  

Here is a sample proposed schedule: 

9:20-9:30           Logging In/Attendance

9:30-9:45           Morning meeting

9:45-10:45         Language Arts Workshop

10:45 – 11am     Break

11:00 – 11:45     Math Workshop

11:45 – 12:30     Science/Social studies

12:30 – 1:00       Lunch/Recess

1:00 – 1:30         Rotating Specials

A shortened schedule will create the most conducive environment for learning. This will strike the right balance allowing parents to work the rest of the afternoon while children will appreciate and look forward to the short amount of screen time. Where appropriate, parents can then also account for other activities 1-5 and/or find childcare for a reduced number of hours as opposed to requiring fulltime supervision. At least the following counties/schools acknowledged this and have shortened virtual hours for elementary school children this school year:

Kings Park Elementary School
Kings Glen Elementary School
Bailey's Elementary School
Laurel Ridge Elementary School
Elementary Schools in Chesterfield County 
Springfield Estates Elementary School

Let’s not dim their yearning for learning. Let’s work together to keep them motivated. Let’s figure this out together so together we can make our way through this pandemic with less tears and more smiles. Is FCPS willing to listen to the parents? We pass the buck to FCPS now in the hopes that they will listen and do something that is workable.