D.C. Public Schools reach reopening agreement with teachers union

D.C. Public Schools and the Washington Teachers Union have reached an agreement to reopen schools after months of back-and-forth over safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The agreement had been stalled for months over various issues, including the union wanting its members to have the option to continue teaching virtually regardless of whether they were approved for government-issued leave or online workplace accommodations.

Nonetheless, the union has decided to allow school officials to assign members to teach in classrooms if the demand for in-person learning exceeds the available amount of those members in the final two terms next year, according to a WTU statement.

“We are proud to have worked collaboratively with the Washington Teachers Union on an agreement that represents our shared commitment to ensuring students have the high-quality education and supports they need to thrive,” schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said in a statement.

DCPS will send union members a survey asking whether they want to teach in-person or continue virtual instruction. Additionally, the agreement includes increased transparency for facility safety walk-throughs performed by Local School Advisory Teams and other school community members.

The agreement comes after months of union protests and petitions, as well as a labor board ruling in October that directed DCPS to start bargaining with the WTU for a plan to bring students back to the classroom.

“D.C. teachers miss our students and recognize that many have struggled to adapt to distance learning,” WTU President Elizabeth Davis said in a press release. “Reopening our schools won’t be a return to normal; we are committed to finding ways to best support our students who have struggled the most during the pandemic.”

Since November, DCPS has brought some children back to schools in Canvas Academics and Real Engagement (CARE) classrooms where they learn virtually in a classroom supervised by a noninstructional staff member.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser praised the agreement Thursday: “While CARE classrooms have been limited, we know that for many families they have provided a critical lifeline. Still, we know that the best option for our young people is in-person learning, and that has remained our focus. The road ahead is long, and there is much learning loss to be made up for, but this agreement brings us another step closer to getting our students where they need to be — in the classroom, surrounded by educators and friends, feeling challenged and loved.”

Mr. Ferebee recently said he plans to expand CARES classrooms in January and start reopening schools with in-person instruction in the third term, which begins in February. Both goals will depend on coronavirus health metrics.

Pupils at Montgomery County Public Schools also may be going back to classrooms in February for the first time this academic year.

The county school board tentatively approved a plan last week to allow children to shift from online learning to partial in-person instruction at the start of the second semester if certain coronavirus health metrics are met.

Classrooms can reopen if the county’s 14-day average new case rate is less than 15 cases per 100,000 residents and the 14-day average test positivity rate is less than 5%.

Meanwhile, thousands of children at public schools in Fairfax and Loudoun counties have gone back to in-person instruction over the last few months, but virus metrics recently prompted the majority of kids to return to virtual learning.

Both school systems use health metrics similar to those in Montgomery County, and officials said they aim to bring students back in-person once the metrics allow for it.