How COVID-19 is impacting the standard of training in Hampton Roads
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (CURLED) – With positive COVID-19 Cases are rising in our area, many teachers and school staff are out due to quarantine, and school systems are trying to do whatever it takes to stay open five days a week, WAVY.com focuses on the quality of education for children in our area. We spoke to frontline teachers as well as school administrators to find out where the quality of education currently stands.
“Now that the kids are back five days a week we can see their learning loss and we’ve made adjustments to learning loss and we now have kids catching up and getting to where they should be because their schools are open five have days a week,” said Dr. Don Robertson, Chief of Staff of Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
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dr Robertson says the schools want to keep that progress growing. The challenge is that many teachers are quarantined at home.
“We’re about 50% higher every day than any normal year,” said Dr. Robertson.
So, with this record number of absent and substitute teachers, subject teachers and even head office staff covering classes, how can we guarantee that our children are getting a quality education?
“Schools have the opportunity to mobilize their staff to ensure there is a qualified person in front of every classroom in every school. So, fast forward to where we are right now. We can place a qualified person in front of the classroom in every school in every class in all 86 of our buildings. We managed to do that in the last six days. The (COVID-19 test positive) numbers are higher but again, through the plan we have from the staff, from the principals using the existing staff in their building and we have through our chief officers the Identifies individuals who have worked, been in school or have a college degree and been in school to enter and substitute. We have identified 50 of these people and use about 30 of them in schools every day,” said Dr. Robertson.
He makes it clear that the school system is doing everything it can to keep schools open five days a week and give children the education they deserve.
“We all know that there is no substitute for teachers in the classroom. but what we offer is a superior alternative to not having that teacher in the classroom,” said Dr. Robertson.
Both Robertson and Dr. Kipp Rogers, the chief academic officer of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, has enrolled several times this year.
“The replacement plans laid out for those replacing have been second to none,” said Dr. Rogers.
dr Rogers commends the teachers who ensure trainees have everything they need to be successful. He cites a time this month when he was substituted for a 5th grade teacher.
“The lesson plan was designed for a teacher and I struggled for about 20 minutes to make sure I had a solid understanding of what I was supposed to be doing. I had reading groups, three separate reading groups. I had three separate math groups. The lesson plans were very detailed. So it was like the teacher was actually in that classroom. Also, I think the culture in Virginia Beach is set up so that we act as a team. So in that one classroom there were also three other 5th grade teachers who kept checking in with me to make sure I had all the details I needed to ensure the lesson plans were being carried out as they were presented “, he explains.
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dr Rogers also says that there is shared planning between grade levels and subjects. “In a case where a substitute teacher needs something, they can reach out to a colleague who teaches the same subject or grade level to get the activity.”
WAVY.com asked teachers across Hampton Roads what they think of the quality of education they are currently able to provide. We keep their comments anonymous to protect them from potential repercussions.
A Virginia Beach City Public School teacher said:
“Unfortunately, the massive increase in positive cases and the quarantine has impacted both the staff and the students and the quality of instruction our teachers are able to provide. We have so many students that not only do teachers need to plan for the students who are in the classroom, but they also need to catch up with the absent students and use their planning time to communicate with parents and sick/quarantined students (sometimes they meet meet with them virtually or create videos and additional resources for them due to missed instructions). This leaves very little time to adequately plan new lessons or provide feedback. This is especially true at the elementary level, where planning time is almost non-existent. The sheer number of staff who are ill and unable to make backup plans also impacts the remaining staff as they spend their planning time helping and as there is a shortage of replacements, specialists are routinely brought in to cover classes so so unable to work with teachers. For example, our reading and math specialists are needed more than ever to work with teachers and help them differentiate themselves for students who are behind due to the pandemic, but when called upon to cover classrooms on a daily basis, they are not unable to do their work and their classes suffers. And again, due to the lack of backup staff, when there is a rotating cast of adults teaching their classroom day to day, the students are not really getting quality instruction. This also has a strong impact on our special needs students as changes in personal routines can trigger behaviors and surrogates do not necessarily know how to de-escalate the situations. As a result, we’ve seen more behaviors and class disruptions this year. The teachers who were not ill are completely burned out and the only thing that has helped them stay afloat was the extra planning time on Wednesday, which will not continue after January 26. Our best teachers are considering leaving the profession due to the impact on their emotional well-being and the excessively high expectations that continue to be placed on them. We have had several layoffs between last year and this year and it sometimes takes months to fill vacancies due to the lack of teachers. Nobody wants to go to education anymore, which unfortunately will affect the future of education for years, if not decades.”
A teacher at Norfolk Public School said:
“I have not noticed any negative impact on education at my school. We had a record number of staff last week and everyone has banded together to accommodate additional children. We also had some specialists covering the lessons. We made additional copies and got the materials needed to cover our additional students and just kept going. I am really impressed how my colleagues have come together to support each other and help the children.”
A teacher at Newport News Public Schools said:
“The quality of education that teachers can currently provide is limited. Teachers are drowning right now! We try our best to give our students the best education, but it’s impossible when so many students and teachers are sick. We have to devote so much time off work preparing work online for students who are being quarantined and for our children personally. We can’t do that during the day because a lot of our planning times and breaks are canceled or eliminated due to staff shortages. And with so many students being quarantined at different times, it’s difficult to catch up with the missing material, especially when many aren’t completing their online work and teachers aren’t able to monitor this properly because we’re trying to do our best to give to teach the children something personally have. It’s just super overwhelming and annoying. Of course I’d rather be in school, but I’m fully supportive of going virtual temporarily to handle cases. Instead, it seems everyone would rather push teachers to the limit: give them more work and responsibility, make time for it while we try to keep ourselves from getting sick and bringing the virus home to our families. This, along with other systematic educational problems, is why many teachers will leave after this school year. It’s bad now, but I guarantee the staffing shortage will be even worse next school year.”
A Suffolk Public School teacher said:
“I feel like with all of the current struggles in the world, our team has really come together to ensure we make students our priority and focus on education, SEL and student needs. Having students back in the classroom is a huge motivator for teachers.”
A second Virginia Beach City Public Schools teacher said:
“My concern about the quality of education at the moment is not teacher absenteeism (that’s also a problem, of course), but student absenteeism. I’ve had 15-17 kids in A/B day classes and this is hell for them to catch up. In every class I’ve had since returning from winter break, about a quarter of the students have been absent. The math teachers swim in it, trying to make up for individual children when they are absent. Posting an asynchronous video is not enough to help our students who are recovering from 5-10 days without school. All exam/accreditation requirements are still in place, putting pressure on everyone to continue the pace of the curriculum. If we, as a school, went virtual for a week or two, everyone could get well and reduce exposure, and we could work with the kids who were absent. Why can’t we? I don’t want to go back to all virtual or hybrid teaching, but what we’re doing now isn’t working. We have been able to cover all staff absences through the use of counselors and subs and specialists and other teachers who voluntarily cover, but as a result the counseling office is in a situation where it is all about emergencies because they also have people outside and such left cover. It’s very tenuous, and if we continue the pace as usual (because of those accreditation requirements) we’ll be leaving a lot of kids behind. We need someone to apply the brakes and let us catch up.”
The path to quality education during this pandemic is arduous and ever-changing, but Dr. Rogers makes one thing clear.
“All Virginia Beach City public school students are mentored by caring adults and staff who want to see their success.”
It’s something that resonates in all Hampton Roads schools.
