December 20, 2020

This petition was originally created in October 2020 when DeKalb County School District (DCSD) first proposed reopening schools. At that time, the metric for reopening classrooms for face-to-face instruction was based on community spread statistics—with new cases in DeKalb falling below 100/100K for 14 consecutive days. 

In recent days, the district has announced a new standard. Parents learned on December 14 at the virtual Family Town Hall that DCSD will ignore community spread and will focus solely on mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission inside schools. 

Phase I will now be implemented on January 4, 2021, when teachers are required to return to schools. Phase II will begin on January 19 with face-to-face instruction for those who have chosen Hybrid, and teachers will also continue synchronous online classes for students who opted to continue remote learning.

In a time when new cases of COVID-19 have increased to 5x the original “safe” to reopen schools community spread metrics (ie, below 100/100K for 14 consecutive days) —as of December 20, 2020, DeKalb County's level was 506/100K—a rate labelled “highest risk of transmission in schools” per CDC indicators, this decision to open classrooms for face-to-face instruction is puzzling and exhibits a wanton disregard for the safety and will of our communities at large. These changes are both hasty and ill-timed.

DeKalb County is large and there is much disparity among the schools. Can DCSD truly ensure that all schools have the necessary resources to comply with the proposed mitigation strategies? Also, contrary to what was communicated previously in October and November when most parents completed the “Intent to Return” form and a non-response then defaulted to remote learning, the new standard is that all non-responses will default to in-person learning. Per the letter from the Superintendent on December 16:

If you did not complete the Intent to Return form, your child is being programmed as an in-person learner. However, parents may contact the local school by January 8, 2021 if you want to change your preference. 

Additionally, families selected the “hybrid” option with the understanding that reopening was contingent on new cases falling below 100/100K for 14 consecutive days. Now that the district is no longer considering its original metrics—or any metrics at all—in determining reopening levels, parents should be given the option to re-evaluate their decisions.

The new DCSD reopening plan feels forced and arbitrary, and it is a direct reversal of their former clearly defined community-spread metrics. What is the point of rushing now while the risk of community spread is the highest it has been since the start of the pandemic?

As Board of Education member, Allyson Gevertz, acknowledged:

“Georgia school districts currently implementing a face-to-face model are having to grapple with staffing issues. Schools have had to close simply because too many teachers are in quarantine due to community spread of COVID.

Georgia school districts are having great difficulty utilizing substitute teachers. In some districts, there are no substitutes at all because they fear exposure to different students in different classrooms from day to day.

Across Georgia, teachers are reporting exhaustion, whether in full face-to-face, hybrid, or full virtual. Each model presents significant challenges to teachers, who are working hard to adapt to technology, COVID mitigation strategies, and rapid transitions of students (and sometimes entire classrooms) between in-person and virtual.”

The World Health Organization reports that in schools “there is a strong link between number of outbreaks and local transmission.”

Guidelines from the CDC include:

In order to enable this and assist schools with their day-to-day operations, it is important to adopt and diligently implement actions to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside the school and out in the community. Vigilance to these actions will moderate the risk of in-school transmission regardless of the underlying community burden – with risk being the lowest if community transmission is low and there is fidelity to implementing proven mitigation strategies.”

Also, the comparatively low risk for hospitalization and death among children themselves must be contextualized to the risk posed to teachers, school administrators, and other staff in the school environment. The risk of teachers, school administrators, and other staff in the school is expected to mirror that of other adults in the community if they contract COVID-19.

With the miraculous introduction of game-changing vaccines on the horizon, we are turning the corner on this pandemic so why is DCSD rushing to reopen now?

 

October 2020

This petition, addressed to the DeKalb County School District Superintendent, Ms. Watson-Harris, and the Board of Education, expresses deep concerns from key stakeholders--DeKalb County students, caregivers, teachers, staff, and community members--regarding plans to return to in-person face-to-face instruction, even in a "hybrid" setting, for DCSD.

We are aware that DCSD discussed the phase-in plan for returning to face-to-face in person instruction at the September 14th Board meeting. Now that there has been a decline in Covid-19 cases in a 14-day average per 100,000 DeKalb County residents, the transition process is moving to the next phase. As families consider their Intent to Return form, we express empathy for those tasked with making these incredibly difficult decisions.

The intention of this petition is to bring awareness to the voices of DeKalb County students, caregivers, teachers, staff, and community members who are worried for the health and well-being of everyone in our community should leadership implement its plan to move forward.

When discussing the reopening of schools, we must ensure that the process is done in an equitable manner that includes all the voices of those impacted by this decision.

CONCERNS:

• DCSD teachers and staff deserve to be given a choice to continue remote teaching or return to school. Many teachers and staff are living with pre-existing medical conditions and high-risk family members. Others have childcare needs. More than 210,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, and we are still learning new things everyday about the nature of this pandemic--for example: children play a key role to the spread of coronavirus in communities per this study from the Princeton Environmental Institute.  In spite of this uncertainty and without conclusive scientific protocols that will ensure community safety, DCSC leadership has transitioned to Phase Two of reopening, a hybrid-working environment for teachers and staff, working in buildings for two days per week and remotely for three days, to be implemented on October 19.
• Not all DeKalb County schools have adequate HVAC, plumbing, or cleaning and sanitation protocols. Likewise, it is not known whether DCSD can guarantee that every school will have the the supplies, PPE, and other safety measures like installed plexiglass shields.
• DCSD has moved to Phase Two based on cases of 100 or fewer per 100,000 residents in a 14-day period, but the CDC's range for "moderate risk of transmission in schools" is 20-50 new cases per 100,000 persons within the last 14 days. This discrepancy is alarming, and brings into question the basis for the original numbers. (Also, it is unclear to most of us what will trigger DCSD to unwind these procedures, and move back to Phase One. If cases go above the 100 per 100,000 persons like it did on Friday, October 9th, does the process go back to virtual learning only?) 
• Is there a way to ensure that students most in need of in-person instruction such as those with special needs be prioritized over families who are able to continue distance learning? 

We thank the Superintendent and the Board of Education for working  to ensure the safety and well-being of all in the community. We hope you have a peaceful Indigenous Peoples' Day.