Table of Contents

1. Preface: What we’ve learned from the Covid-19 crisis
2. Immediate steps to address the Covid-19 crisis
3. The Transition to a New Normal in Schools: Our Recommendations
4. Addressing “Continuity of Care”
5. Addressing Root Causes & Inequities: Returning to an Improved Education System with an Education Recovery Act: Action Needed from Mayor and DC Council
6. Take Action: Improve and Advocate for the Plan- Contact Elected Officials

Preface: What we’ve learned from the Covid-19 crisis

You’ve seen the memes - parents and caregivers are newly aware of (and grateful for) the education their children’s teachers and school provides.  Families struggle to replicate the school day, which covers a multitude of subjects and goals usually provided by a team of trained professionals.  However, the new reality has also been stressful for teachers, who are still charged with providing an equitable education-meaning an appropriate, high quality education for each student- in the face of gaping societal resource gaps, further deepened by the strain a national health emergency has put on our already-inequitable society.  And they have to provide that education at a distance. In that context, we think it’s useful to hear from educators about what this crisis has taught us and what educators believe the path forward can and should look like.

        The most obvious educational access issue brought to light by this pandemic has been families’ access to the internet, meaning access to reliable and available internet access on  a working device in the home setting.  Teachers and parents have been pushing DCPS for years to provide educational technology to 100% of families, but that goal had yet to be realized at the time school closure became a necessity.  Now families with independent access to the internet are able to keep abreast of their children’s educational goals and students are able to connect with friends and teachers in a sustaining way.  Families without access are left out of the distance learning community completely.  Our schools have been working to remedy this inequity but have not yet achieved complete access.  The pandemic has shown this is a necessity, not a luxury.

        Getting connected is only the first part of the struggle; then it’s up to the families to manage the crunch of what can be a half dozen classes and assignments for one child or multiple children.  Families with caregivers that do have time to help their children manage the work find it daunting.  And families that have single caregivers, or caregivers still working full time jobs in or out of the home, find it next to impossible.  Even the most engaged caregivers might not be equipped to support their children with the content of middle or high school level courses, and opportunities for after school tutoring, academic parent teacher team meetings, and teacher conferences are gone.  

Families who speak different languages than their school’s primary language face an extra hurdle.  School communities usually support each other linguistically, colleagues may translate for each other in the hallway in a pinch or classroom families might form informal linguistic affinity groups to share information.  Those communities are now gone.  Schools need to really know the platforms and technology they are using, choosing ones with the most plentiful and easy-to-use translations abilities.  Schools should also be asked to compensate staff members who are doing extra work translating during this time, especially if they are classroom aides being tasked with extra family engagement work.

The provision of services to students with disabilities has been very uneven, with parents and teachers reporting very different levels of access and support to the students’ federally-mandated services across different schools.  While some students’ IEPs can be fulfilled by sending home differentiated work, some students are missing out on crucial sensory aids, adaptive living support, and social emotional work best done in person.

        But coming before all of these concerns, is the simple and always stunning fact that students are often going hungry.  When schools shut down due to the pandemic, one of the most pressing concerns was how to get students’ nutritional needs met in another way.  Teachers, counselors, and school staff are going above and beyond simply to get food into the hands of their families who might otherwise not have enough.  And that need is easier to fulfill in some neighborhoods of our city than others, a fact outside the control of teachers to change.  Families who have lost jobs, do not qualify for benefits, or cannot safely travel to the grocery store have more pressing needs than can be served by sending a distance learning lesson.  Schools serving families in neighborhoods with more access to abundant food are able to focus more on lessons - exacerbating the inequities caused by the city’s food deserts.

        What this health crisis has brought into stark relief is the value of the public school as a community: a community that educates, but also nourishes, communicates, translates, supplements, supports, and connects.  When that community is fractured, the danger is that it will be the families that need the most support, the most resources that will be left behind.  Educators have been working incredibly hard to prevent this from happening and have been doing the best they can under the circumstances.  

We are now looking forward: how can we support our families through the rest of this crisis? How can we set up our students for success when school eventually resumes?  How can we address the social emotional needs of families and students in such an uncertain time?  Which features of our schools should be jettisoned, strengthened, or transformed to help students heal from this disruption?  What can we learn from this to be better prepared in the future?

June 2020 Updates

Over the past couple months the Deputy Mayor for Education has conducted a survey of parents and families on a return to school and the Washington Teachers Union has surveyed educators on their concerns about a safe return.  What is clear is that there is no plan currently on the table that provides a coherent approach for families and educators that adequately responds to the most critical concerns- a safe and health reopening with clear consistent schedules that allows parents to return to work and students to experience a safe, well-rounded and socially and emotionally responsive, trauma-informed education.  For that reason, we are asking DC education officials to consider the following options:

1. Outdoor education -ReOpen DC recognized the problem: you can either increase square footage to accommodate the students, or you can reduce the students.  They chose to educate fewer students, but what if we choose to enlarge the educational space instead?  There is significant evidence that being outdoors significantly reduces the risk of spreading the virus.  Each child can go to school every day by extending classroom square footage utilizing outdoor space. We can minimize COVID-19 exposure risk, maintain adequate social distance, and educate all of our city’s children fully every weekday if we plan well. Teachers believe this should be contingent on safety precautions, equitable access across the city, secure areas, cleaning, weather considerations, sound and health- but that city leaders should explore this idea NOW.  This idea has taken hold in other cities, states and around the world with innovative solutions.  

DC's Mayor chose to close streets to allow for outdoor dining- why not close them for outdoor education?  By closing streets, allowing use of public parks, parking lots and other spaces- we can have an EQUITABLE approach that allows all schools to use outdoor space, improve student mental health, allow adults to go back to work, improve physical health and make sure our educators are safe. Check out how Denmark made it happen. Denmark and many other countries have smartly recognized that the easiest and most effective way to ease back into in-person education is by starting with the youngest grades- those who cannot stay home alone and for whom technology is an even less effective delivery method.

We've all experienced the downsides of virtual learning- including too much screen time for our children.  The Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley (https://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/ collected data across multiple cities in California and found that over 60% of children in low-income neighborhoods never turned on their school-issued devices. A WTU teacher survey found this is also the case here in DC.  It's time to focus on another approach.

Check out this amazing 2 page resource that describes the idea.  Please sign on to our petition here and share.  You can ask the DCPS Chancellor to consider this by emailing Lewis.Ferebee@k12.dc.gov and the Deputy Mayor of Education (who oversees planning for both DCPS and Charter Schools) at paul.kihn@dc.gov.

2. Phase in Early Grades First- Our youngest students both experience the least success and engagement with digital virtual learning and their parents need the full-time care the most.  That’s why countries around the world and many cities and districts here in the U.S. plan to phase in-person learning in gradually beginning with our youngest students first.  By bringing back limited grade bands at a time, we can also use additional space- both indoors if necessary and outdoor space at other nearby schools for the youngest students.

3. Break Before Possible Second Wave- Many health experts believe a second wave of Covid-19 is likely to come as cold and flu season begins next year.  The cold weather will also make outdoor education harder. Instead of waiting for a rush of new cases that will infect students, teachers and families- we recommend schools close two weeks before Thanksgiving and then plan a January return contingent on an evaluation of the Fall term and current Covid-19 cases in the District.  This re-evaluation period will allow for the necessary adjustments to return safely in 2021 and evaluate the effects and possible changes given medical advances and a possible vaccine (time dependent).

Immediate Steps to Address Covid-19 Crisis

This is what educators say we need to do right now, as this crisis and the era of distance learning continues.

1. Close the digital divide.  The city needs to continue to roll out device distribution and ensure oversight not only over DCPS, which has announced plans to distribute devices through each school to all students who need one, but also over the charter LEAs.  We cannot continue to leave to chance whether half of our students have equitable opportunity simply because officials do not believe it is their responsibility to oversee these schools.  As was the original intent, charter schools do many innovative things to solve student and family needs.  Some are going above and beyond to meet the challenge and some are falling short. We should engage in close oversight but also learn the lessons from those who have been able to move quickly to address the digital divide and approach distance learning in a smart way and spread those best practices.  We also suggest DCPS and Charter LEA’s reach out to DC businesses like law practices and major DC firms about donating old laptops in this time when so many are looking for ways to give back.

As schools continue to connect with families during this time, every LEA should complete a more robust family digital inventory.  It’s not only important to ensure all families have a device but that all families have a device per student, since many parents may be continuing to work from home for some time and often need their own devices to do so. Every family without internet access should also be given a hotspot and both paper and video instructions on how to use them should be provided.  These inventories should be submitted centrally to DCPS and PCSB who can coordinate a complete response.  We’ve seen so many teachers requesting to have devices donated that we know, 6 weeks into distance learning, schools have not yet sufficiently met this demand.

2. Continue Meal & Grocery Distribution Through Summer- We know that the economic devastation caused by this crisis will not go away overnight. Those in need of food will continue to have great need even if and when care-takers can go back to work or find new work.  We recommend that the city implement meal and grocery distribution through the summer and shift the focus to groceries that can be picked up weekly- increasing capacity and sites to meet demand and set a schedule that clarifies where pickups may be done and whether you need to be a member of that school community to pick up groceries at each site- as has been done so far at some capacity through spring.  We believe a plan should be in place for higher need as job loss continues.

The Transition to a New Normal

How can we transition back to a semblance of normal schooling?

Principles for Re-Opening:

• Contingent on the lifting of the current health emergency based on the guidance of health experts
• Uniform approach to re-opening decision across schools and sectors
• The city must establish a uniform and written approach dictating what would trigger further closures.  For example- would a student or teacher have to simply register a fever, or have to test positive for Covid-19? If cases were isolated to a class, would the whole school be closed or only that class?  What about schools of the siblings of the student who tests positive or schools of the children of a teacher who test positive?  We need these guidelines established in advance for clarity.
• The city should have a plan in place for how the school system can administer tests to students, teachers and staff and who will be eligible for those tests, if not all.
• Given health conditions that will certainly still be pressing in the Fall, every single school must have a full-time nurse in place when school returns.
• Focus early weeks of return on individualized student needs, social-emotional support, responding to student trauma, addressing the crisis itself with students, and community building without the pressure of the typical curriculum progression.
• Any transition back must avoid the mistake to block out all non-math and reading subject areas. Students need and deserve a well-rounded, holistic curriculum and we believe a particular focus on the arts and social studies will help students process this unique moment.
• Utilize some aspects, if not full implementation, of teacher “looping” (to be discussed in depth later in this document) to ensure continuity and social-emotional support for students- details should be decided by school and will need to vary by grade level.
• Assuming there is no vaccine, a near certainty this fall, no parent should be compelled to return their child to school, nor a child lose credit for lack of physical attendance, until there is a vaccine.  That is, while in-person learning will be essential for some, especially parents who need to continue to work and cannot manage distance learning at home, virtual learning should continue to be an ongoing option until a vaccine is developed.
• Many teachers themselves may fall into the category of vulnerable or immuno-compromised individuals who may not be able to return even when students do.  
• No teacher who tests positive for Covid-19 should be penalized sick days or risk termination for missing days from school.
• ASK: DCPS and LEA’s should consider forming a “distance learning educator corps” available to any teachers in this category to continue their work in the safest way possible for all.

1. Summer School- If we get to the point in June or July where we have seen a consistent drop in cases for an extended period as the Mayor has outlined, we believe the city should consider a limited in person summer school schedule that allows for some practice of social distancing. The practices should be dictated by health experts, but may need to involve the commitment of families who voluntarily choose to participate to continue to quarantine at home with contact tracing in place if possible- using DC’s already hired contact tracers to assist in this task.

2. Options for Fall 2020- We believe that there are common principles schools should consider for coming back to school in the fall. While we believe all schools - across sectors - should agree on a basic calendar for the sake of district parents, many of whom have students attending different schools, we believe each LEA will have to make individual decisions that will differ by grade level to put these priorities into practice.

Our Proposal

• We are proposing for consideration a model to begin the coming school year with a four- to six-week intensive focused on addressing the social-emotional needs and learning loss from spring-summer to complete SY 19-20.  We propose beginning school (if health conditions allow) at the beginning of August with students returning to their SY 19-20 classes where possible and the same teachers, where possible, to give students continuity, social-emotional stability and academic and personal closure. We discuss this much more in depth later in this plan. Since we also know students may have to return in smaller groups- the city should be planning now for the use of new facilities like unused office spaces, community or recreation centers or open non-profit space, to facilitate bringing students back in smaller groups.

• HOW? One option proposed by teachers focuses on using August until early to mid-September to serve as the end of school year 19-20, where those teachers who have returned go back to class with their group from the previous year and then, after a period focused on individualized learning and sustained social-emotional learning to give students continuity and closure, they would begin with the 2020-2021 school year. While we believe we must address academic learning loss, it would be a major mistake to immediately put students and teachers under intense pressure to rush through curriculum when the needs will be so varied. In fact, we hope this can be an opportunity to re-visit whether those conditions were ever useful for our students.

Of course the August-September period closing out SY 19-20 would not apply to current high school seniors- who should graduate as planned- and obviously presents challenges to those moving up from elementary to middle or middle to high school and would involve thoughtfully managed schedules and provisions for departed teachers’ classes. The plan is not without challenges, including new staff and new students in each school - but we believe a transition and trial period should be planned for. This could also assist in helping meet IEP and ESL hours for students who did not receive those services at a distance this spring. A major advantage to this model is that if the virus spikes again in the fall or schooling is contributing to a resurgence, this gives us a test period of “finishing out” SY 19-20 instead of beginning new classes and facing a possible more detrimental second interruption.   Most importantly, this time should be spent testing our new normal and educating and preparing students for this new reality while addressing trauma and providing academic supports that students most at-risk need to be prepared for at the start of a new school year.  It is imperative we do not fall back into the same mistakes of filling student schedules with math and ELA (the tested subjects) but instead provide a holistic, well-rounded education during this time. We also believe students would benefit from additional time for social studies and civics during this transition time to process the unique moment the country is in, their role in it, and how they can help make a difference in pushing for a better future for their generation.  This will be especially important and relevant for our upper grade students just months before our upcoming Presidential election.

3. Physical Alternatives for Fall 2020 -  If we are not at the point by fall 2020 where we feel like we can commence a normal school year as we have in the past, schools should consider options such as staggered start times to reduce contact, a shorter daily schedule where students come in shifts with a cleaning in between class periods, or altered class schedules.  If the beginning of the day is staggered, we suggest something like having early grades begin around 8 am city wide, followed by middle grades beginning at 8:45 - 9am, followed by high schools around 9:30 - 10am.  This can ensure that older siblings, as they often do, can help get their younger siblings to school. This could serve as a pilot for implementing this type of schedule in a more permanent fashion, as in recent years many students have testified to the DC Council that this sort of grade staggering would help with improving attendance. Within each school, schools will need to stagger times by grade to not have all entered simultaneously - which would probably need to be spaced out about 30-45 minutes to prevent larger mingling.  Later in the report we discuss possible alternative schedules, like a 4 x 4, so that students take fewer classes at a time for a shorter duration- reducing contact and reducing teacher case-loads.

While we don’t believe it will be possible to limit interaction, especially in the younger grades, measures may be taken to keep the students only in one classroom with educators rotating or to have students transfer classes one group at a time instead of the whole school moving through the building simultaneously. Another option is for students to only attend a single class of 15-20 students with a single teacher for a period of time until normal operations could resume. This teacher would be responsible for delivering lessons in their subject area or a subject area in need in which they are certified and facilitating “distance learning” materials provided by the teachers of other subjects in an abbreviated school day. None of these options are optimal, but for families to recover, we also need to consider the adverse impact of families needing to stay home and care for children when they do not have other child care options and desperately need to return to work and a steady paycheck.

4. Implementing New Health Guidelines- Schools will need to implement education on guidelines for physical distancing and health, including the limiting of handshakes, high fives, hugs, and other physical contact if health experts believe that is needed. Intensive teaching will be required especially at the early childhood level, and since many of those things may not be possible at that age, schools might have to consider how the physical set up of classrooms or the day needs to be adjusted to minimize how many students each student comes into contact with during the day- if health professionals continue to advise only gathering in small groups.

5. Planning for Improved Future Distance Learning- We know that it’s likely that next year, at a minimum, certain schools will likely see new closures if they experience new cases of Covid-19.  In that context, we need to be prepared to have the absolute best in virtual learning prepared for our students.  Teachers have created a wide-array of resources for distance learning during this period.  The best resources come directly from educators who know their students.  Let’s open up a process for teachers to submit the best of their own virtual learning experiences both to have a bank of lessons for the future as to not rely on hastily put together lesson plans or ones that depend on technology many students may not have, but also to create a much more engaging and rigorous credit recovery program that meets teacher standards.  

6. Extended School Day- The EmpowerEd Teacher Council proposes that LEA’s implement an optional extended school day and that the extra time be used not only for additional reading and math instruction for “catch-up” but as an extension and opportunity for a fully well-rounded education and social-emotional development- including extended day options for experiential learning in social studies, science, world languages fine arts, theater, dance, health and physical education and more.   Extended day should be optional for teachers and all LEA’s should compensate teachers who choose to participate.  We propose schools survey their students and teachers now about what they would desire to learn and teach in an extended day setting and begin the development of a calendar to match those interests now.  In addition to helping students make up “learning loss” and meet graduation requirements, we also believe this will be fulfilling to educators to serve students in a smaller setting teaching the courses and electives they feel most passionately about.  Given the extra hours in the day dedicated to instruction, we believe it’s also imperative to lift some administrative responsibilities, especially by auditing duplicative reporting and paperwork teachers are required to complete, to ensure that time can still be focused on providing instruction and student feedback.

7. Testing- EmpowerEd teachers recommend making reasonable adjustments to the use of the testing in the coming school year. While we will need to assess where students are given the learning loss many will have experienced, adaptive tests like MAP (given over a short period of time in the fall) may be more useful than using tests like PARCC.  The urgency of this crisis dictates we focus on using assessments to inform personalized instruction while moving away using them for purposes of accountability of students or teachers.

• Many ELL students ended the year without completing WIDA ACCESS testing, which is important for teachers and schools to be able to assess language level preparing for the new school year.  Some provision should be made to allow for placement testing or leveling in late summer/ early fall.  
• While there will be great temptation to use standardized testing to judge learning loss, we should consult educational researchers and data experts to ensure that in interpreting any learning loss as attributable to a distance learning period, we very carefully study and separate out the many possible causes of any potential loss and inequities that may cause them.
• Testing should be limited in scope and time.  When we have missed a significant amount of school, the last thing we want to do is to go back to our practices of disrupting up to one to two months of regular classes for PARCC testing among other exams.  Perhaps this moment can serve as a point of reflection on whether we as a community believe that we should continue to prioritize our time in that way.  While we need measures to know where we stand, when we have such steep opportunity gaps, we should be focusing our attention on what we know helps close them- the face to face time with educators who can personalize instruction and better tailor learning based on their own observation and formative assessment data.  
• We also want to state strongly that under no circumstance would it be acceptable to use PARCC and other standardized testing data as part of a teacher or principal evaluation in the year or two years to come since it will likely be impossible to properly determine what part of any progress or regression is attributable to in-class, in-school factors.  This is especially true if we return to school with a mixed approach including social distancing measures that change the nature of regular classroom practice. Courts throughout the country have consistently ruled that “value-added” measures are arbitrary and unproven by data, and this gap in education where families face so many distinct variables and inequities adds an additional complicating factor to assigning gains or losses to an educator in isolation. Smart, limited standardized testing should be used in the coming year, as always, for the purposes of planning.  In that light, teachers should have significant input into what testing data will be most useful to their planning for instruction in the year to come.

8. Educator Mental Health- In addition to the great need for investment in the mental health of our students, which we expand upon below, schools should also invest in educator mental health and wellness. We propose LEA’s add a set of additional “mental health days” to regular sick and PTO leave policies in the coming year as educators cope with many of the stressors of the pandemic and its consequences.  As educators deal with difficult times in their own lives, they are also taking on the secondary trauma of students who will be in extraordinarily difficult situations economically, socially and emotionally.  If we don’t invest explicitly in educator mental health, self-care and provide the space for teachers to process alone and with each other, we are certain to see higher than average mid-year departures next year and eventually end of year turnover.  EmpowerEd partners with schools to implement educator self-care and works to build positive adult culture in DC schools.  We’re already seeing increased demand for this work and we’re prepared to expand that work with new partners next year. This must be a priority for schools.

Addressing “Continuity of Care”

1. Looping- As students and families throughout the District experience this incredibly difficult period, many of our students and families who already experience the most instability are seeing that instability dramatically worsen.  The last thing we want to do is have our education system compound that problem.  As we have discussed with teachers how to ensure continuity from a broken academic year with our students, teachers have expressed great concerns of the social and emotional well being of young people and their families.  We surveyed teachers on the concept of teacher-looping, where teachers stay with their students the following academic year as they move up the next grade.  While there are many proponents, teachers were mostly concerned with the academic challenges- mainly educators teaching courses and grade levels they are prepared or even certified to teach outweigh the positives.  Of greater concern was the risk of teacher turnover.  

2. Teacher Turnover a Greater Challenge- "Annual teacher turnover in DC is already among the highest in the country, and we know that losing these adult role models can be devastating- so an increased investment in teacher retention right now is absolutely critical.  Our high rate of teacher turnover is likely to be even more detrimental to students, given the emotional impact of not being able to close out the academic year with their previous teachers.   Evidence shows that after an emergency situation like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a city can lose many experienced educators who retire early, and disproportionately lose teachers of color.  There are concrete steps we can take right now to prevent this from happening. EmpowerEd, along with the State Board of Education, has led the conversation on solving this problem over the past three years and stands ready to help district leaders implement measures to prevent turnover right now. EmpowerEd’s 2018 report (updated in 2019) spelled out concrete steps to address turnover that the city should now work quickly to implement, including explicit work to build positive adult culture in our schools, moving towards peer-to-peer growth systems (rather than punitive evaluation systems), increasing teacher leadership programs, flexible and part-time scheduling and a new model for teacher-led professional development, described more below.

With annual teacher turnover in DC already the highest in the country, students will be even more affected with educators not returning after not being able to close out the academic year and experience closure with them.  Losing these adult role models can be devastating- so an increased investment in teacher retention right now is absolutely critical.  Evidence shows that after an emergency situation like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a city can lose many experienced educators who retire early, and disproportionately lose teachers of color.  But we know concrete steps we can take to prevent this from happening. EmpowerEd, along with the State Board of Education, has led the conversation on solving this problem over the past three years and stands ready to help district leaders implement measures to prevent turnover right now. EmpowerEd’s 2018 report (updated in 2019) spells out concrete steps to address turnover that the city should now work quickly to implement, including explicit work to build positive adult culture in our schools, moving towards peer-to-peer growth systems (rather than punitive evaluation systems), increasing teacher leadership programs, flexible and part-time scheduling and a new model for teacher-led professional development, described more below.

3. School Leadership Stability- School leader stability has always been essential to sustained success in schools.  For some time DC has seen higher than average principal turnover.  LEA’s should be putting a higher premium than ever on ensuring principal continuity in this time.

4. Getting Professional Development Right- To provide “continuity of care” for students, a teacher-led floating professional development model is more important than ever.  This year EmpowerEd’s teacher retention teacher action group- a committee of both DCPS and DC charter school teachers- has led the way in drafting a proposal to shift the district’s professional development for educators towards a more peer to peer, teacher-driven system, including the concept of “floating PD”.  The concept, which has been very successful when fully integrated into school districts around the country, involves teachers identifying professional skills they seek to develop to refine their craft, spending their professional development time observing and learning from expert teachers they know and trust- whether at their school or others- and integrating that work back into their own teaching.  This system also builds organic mentor relationships. It’s even more important in the current context because such a model could be used to help educators learn successful distance learning strategies and strategies for individual students they will not be teaching from their counterparts vs. one-size-fits-all centrally driven professional development which often fails to meet the diverse needs of new, developing and veteran educators. An overview of this proposal, which can take various forms, can be found here. It’s also critical the district implements district-wide professional development on virtual learning platforms to ensure that if this happens again everyone is prepared to quickly and safely implement distance learning.  

Addressing Root Causes & Inequities:

Returning to an Improved Education System with an

Education Recovery Act

We are asking that the City Council consider, approve and the Mayor sign an Education Recovery Act this summer to ensure the Covid-19 Crisis re-doubles our commitment to educational progress in the district rather than exacerbating existing inequities that lead to opportunity and achievement gaps. Below we provide an outline of what that Act might entail.

A Note on Funding: We recognize that the city’s budget is tight and even with the additional federal recovery funds, some immediate cuts may be in the cards.  In that context, we know asking for the city to make further investments may seem like a steep challenge at this time. But it is precisely because of the moment we’re in that we need additional investments to prevent additional setbacks for our schools and students. We have seen tremendous charity during this crisis from the community with so many residents doing everything in their power to make sure their neighbors and communities can thrive.  DC has a history of persistent inequities; we call on the Mayor and the DC Council to have the courage to ask more of those with the capacity to give more.  The city should ask our wealthiest residents to pay more to invest in our most vulnerable residents.

1. Stimulus for Schools- Pass school stimulus funds as part of an Education Recovery Act.  This could be done by making a retroactive change to the At-Risk designation by using a model in Council Member Trayon White’s Critical At-Risk legislation, thereby providing additional funds to schools that have over 70 % of students designated at-risk and amending to provide additional funds to schools where distance learning has proven to have the most traumatic impact and “learning loss” due to the digital divide.  Funds would be determined based on a new formula and schools would be provided the difference in Summer 2020.

2. Addressing a Coming Emergency in Child Care- A new analysis finds that as many as half of the child care centers in the U.S. may not be able to reopen after the pandemic.  That is a five-alarm fire needing an emergency response. Workers throughout the economy are dependent on that child care, including teachers who are among the least able to telework or work flexible schedules. Families, including teachers' own families, depend on 0-3 child care in DC and 0-5 child care for the many who live in surrounding suburbs.  This is the right time for the Mayor and DC Council to expedite planning to provide or subsidize child care for our educators and provide funds to struggling child care centers throughout the city to ensure workers across industries and businesses can survive and thrive in a post-covid era.

3. Investing in Social-Emotional Support and Community Schools Model- Make the long overdue investments in additional school counselors, social workers and school psychologists and community schools.  This crisis has taught us just how important the work these people do in our schools every day really is.  One of the most frequent things we hear from teachers is that if they could add anything to the budget it would be additional social workers, counselors and school psychologists.  At the same time, with all of the additional needs our families will face moving into a period of intense economic instability- investing in a community schools model is more important now than ever.  We can’t make the mistake of putting all of these additional responsibilities solely on the classroom teacher.  We must fund and organize to ensure community organizations and schools work hand in hand to build effective community schools across the city.

When the economy takes a downward turn and families lose livelihoods and even possibly their homes- our social workers play an indispensable role, but they are far too often overburdened.  In a city with a growing Spanish-speaking population, it’s also essential that the city invest in bilingual social workers and counselors.  We need an investment from the mayor and city council in funding these school level positions, especially at our schools with the highest concentration of at-risk students.  In DCPS, a change to the Comprehensive Staff Model should be considered both to increase the presence of social workers, counselors and school psychologists, but also for additional English Language Learner and Special Education teachers per school.  We know that students with special needs and their families will face additional challenges with distance learning and we must increase our staff support in this area. Teachers have been calling for more funding for special education teachers and support for years, and now the additional challenges faced by this community during the public health crisis mean even more investment will be necessary.

4. Adult and Parent Education- During the course of the covid-19 crisis DCPS has posted virtual webinars in a “Parent University”.  Beyond the resources provided to parents in this setting, sessions on preventing bullying, managing stress, and understanding graduation, we should use the “Parent University” concept to begin to build out an accessible adult learning companion program for DCPS families. This crisis has elevated the importance of parental education to student learning.  The adult education gap has always had a huge impact on educational achievement for our most vulnerable students, but when education turns virtual, those gaps can quickly become chasms.  By taking a proactive approach to parent learning, we can target the stubborn opportunity and resulting achievement gaps with a proven strategy.  DCPS and the PCSB or individual charter LEAs should engage their families in the construction of a systemic adult education approach through centers that model the approach of the INEA system in Mexico.

5. Family Outreach and Engagement- Dramatically increase the resources provided for family outreach and support, including for home visits.  Many DCPS and DC charter schools engage in routine home visits to get to know their students’ home environments, families, and the challenges they face in their daily lives.  That work is especially important in the time we are in, and entering into, of even harder economic impact for our most in need families.  This takes a considerable amount of time for educators and support staff.  For this work to happen in a meaningful way, case loads, especially for middle and high school educators, would have to be dramatically reduced. We may have to find ways to be creative with this work if health conditions don’t allow for widespread direct home visits.

6. Reducing Case-Loads- The previous work cannot happen successfully without dramatically reducing the case-loads of teachers, social workers, counselors and school psychologists- who are so instrumental in student and family support.  While early childhood educators are often better situated to perform home visits having 15-25 total students in their care, in high school many teachers have up to 150 students on their roster in the multiple courses they teach simultaneously.  There are many ways to address this.  Among them is a block scheduling system or a 4 x 4 where students take classes more intensively for shorter stretches of time and switch classes more frequently.  In a 4 x 4 students would take semester classes over one quarter and full year courses over one semester.  This would cut simultaneous case-loads in half, but should be implemented with scheduling flexibility that allows for some courses that must be taught over longer stretches to prevent learning loss- like language and sometimes math- to be taught in full-year settings.  Case-load reduction is especially important given the coming realities that many schools will have to reduce class size itself to ensure safe social distancing in schools.

Take Action: Advocate for the Plan

If you support this plan, or feel passionately about parts of the plan, let our public officials know. The most important time for this advocacy is now, before May 15th when further decisions will be announced about reopening plans for the summer and fall.  See full contact information below:

Mayor Muriel Bowser:  muriel.bowser@dc.gov

Deputy Mayor for Education: Paul.Kihn@dc.gov 

Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development: john.falcicchio@dc.gov 

Superintendent at OSSE: Hanseul Kang: Hanseul.Kang@dc.gov

DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee- lewis.ferebee@k12.dc.gov

PCSB Executive Director Scott Pearson- spearson@dcpcsb.org   

Chairman of the DC Council and Co-Chair of the Ed Committee: Phil Mendelson: pmendelson@dccouncil.us  CC: CSetlow@dccouncil.us and Ljordan@dccouncil.us 

Chair of the Committee on Education- David Grosso (At-Large)- dgrosso@dccouncil.us , CC: Akeem Anderson: aanderson@dccouncil.us

Education Committee Member: Robert White (At-Large)-  rwhite@dccouncil.us , CC: Katie Whitehouse kwhitehouse@dccouncil.us 

Education Committee Member- Charles Allen (Ward 6) callen@dccouncil.us, CC: Laura Marks, lmarks@dccouncil.us 

Education Committee Member- Trayon White (Ward 8)- twhite@dccouncil.us, CC: Wanda Lockridge- wlockridge@dccouncil.us

Education Committee Member- Anita Bonds (At-Large)  abonds@dccouncil.us, CC: Irene Kang, ikang@dccouncil.us

DC Council Member- Elissa Silverman (At-Large)- esilverman@dccouncil.us, CC: Kelly Hunt, khunt@dccouncil.us

DC Council Member- Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1)- bnadeau@dccouncil.us, CC: Aamir Mansoor, amansoor@dccouncil.us

DC Council Member- Mary Cheh (Ward 3)- mcheh@dccouncil.us , CC: Michael Porcello, mporcello@dccouncil.us

DC Council Member- Brandon Todd (Ward 4)- btodd@dccouncil.us,  CC: Manny Gerlado- mgeraldo@dcouncil.us

DC Council Member- Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5): kmcduffie@dccouncil.us, Brian McClure- bmcclure@dccouncil.us 

DC Council Member- Vincent Gray (Ward 7)- vgray@dccouncil.us, CC: Terrance Norfliss- TNorflis@dccouncil.us 

State Board of Education Members

Note: While they do not establish policy in these areas, they can advocate for them with their important platform!

Ward 1 Representative Emily Gasoi: emily.gasoi@dc.gov

Ward 2 Representative Jack Jacobson: jack.jacobson@dc.gov

Ward 3 Representative and President: Ruth Wattenberg: ruth.wattenberg@dc.gov

Ward 4 Representative Frazier O’Leary: frazier.oleary@dc.gov

Ward 5 Representative Zachary Parker: zachary.parker@dc.gov

Ward 6 Representative Jessica Sutter: jessica.sutter@dc.gov 

Ward 7 Representative Karen Williams: Karen.Williams5@dc.gov 

Ward 8 Representative and Vice President Markus Batchelor: markus.batchelor@dc.gov 

At-Large Representative- Ashley MacLeay- ashley.macleay@dc.gov