Request for the Francis Howell School District to change their plans for the fall 2020 Semester

I would like the Francis Howell Board of Education and the Academic Team to reconsider their request that parents choose between full in person, or fully online school for the upcoming semester. Right now, you are asking parents to make a decision for a semester of education with very little information.

To my knowledge, we have not been informed about what criteria or benchmarks the district will use to make decisions about switching to the blended model of A/B groups or going fully virtual. I fundamentally believe that in person education is better than online education, but only if it can be done safely. How can parents make an informed decision, without knowing the circumstances under which the district or individual schools will modify their schedule? Will decisions be made school by school or district wide? Will we modify schedules based on the positivity rate in the county, community spread, or cases in particular schools or the district as a whole?

The stop light put out by the St. Charles County Government, the current surge in cases, community spread, and positivity rates in the county, would indicate that going back fully in person one month from now is not the wisest choice, barring major changes in the above referenced criteria. If the County says playdates, weddings, and group hangouts aren’t safe, how is it safe to pack schools with hundreds or even thousands of people for seven hours? Maybe we should consider different schedules for grade schools, v.s. middle and high schools? The current research out of South Korea indicates children over the age of ten catch and spread the disease as much as adults. In addition, grade schools can stay in cohorts more than those at middle and high schools. Older kids would also more easily be able to stay home a couple of days a week and do online learning.

Having worked in a local high school for almost two decades, I can assure you that we cannot possibly meet the CDC recommendations for opening schools safely unless at least half of our students opt for the online option. As such, that would essentially be the equivalent of the blended model, but now you have to manage a huge population of online students with no additional resources and upset a number of families who opted for the online option, but would have preferred the blended model. Maybe provide the opportunity for parents and staff to vote on which model they prefer?

Other local districts have been more transparent about their plans and what criteria they are using to make their decisions; as a premiere school district in this state, I would hope we could do the same. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sean Fowler