Testimony to the Committee of the Whole & Committee on Education 
Public Oversight Roundtable  on 
Return to In-person Instruction in DC Public Schools
Meshaun Pratt
YWP Youth Advocate
12.2.20

Greetings Councilmembers. My name is Meshaun Pratt and I am a senior at School Without Walls. I am a Ward 8 resident and I plan to pursue a career in Nursing. I am also a Youth Advocate with the Young Women’s Project (YWP). YWP is a DC nonprofit that builds the leadership and power of young people so that they can transform DC institutions to expand rights and opportunities for DC youth. I am here today to share my experiences with distance learning and my thoughts on the reopening of schools. Thank you for the opportunity to share my experiences and thoughts today.

When distance learning was first put into action and made the mandatory way for school, my mother’s first thought was having stable access to the internet to ensure I would be able to get online. Fortunately, I am blessed enough to have a working computer, printer, and scanner at home already. However, because of where I live and the type of internet we can afford, this was the only challenge I had to face. The internet constantly would stop working (it’s worse when it rains) and would take forever for it to work again. Because of this, we have to use the hotspots on our phones that increases my mother’s bill. It is really a game of Russian roulette every day I get online for school.

I feel as though learning online has its advantages along with its disadvantages. For one, we do not have to get up as early as we used to! Plus, it’s less paper and in-hand materials to keep up with which can sometimes be stressful when unorganized. But, distance learning also poses a few difficulties too. This is my first year at School Without Walls and I have entered as a senior, which is not easy or common. Mostly all my classmates knows each other so being “the new kid” has been difficult but nothing that I can’t handle.

One thing I personally love about my school is that they are extremely communicative. They send out weekly emails about news, mental health checks, and still incorporate different clubs despite the pandemic. They are big on “demanding your education” which means to advocate for yourself when you need help. Some teachers check in with us and make sure we see our grades or what assignments we need to turn in. All of this positive communication keeps me up to speed on what’s happening in my school.

When it comes to the decision of whether or when we should return to school there is a lot to consider. Right now I oppose having us return to the classroom this year.  I first heard about the decision on DCPS’ twitter page and it automatically raised some concerns for me. I understand that schools want to be considerate of families with young children but these kids are still prone to the virus. Having those children all around each other especially when they don’t understand the depth of this virus as much as others I feel is risky. Schools can have procedures and rules such as requiring masks and having students stay six feet apart but in all reality we know that will probably not happen because it isn’t how students think. Kids have been taught to share and make new friends, and it is natural and common for them to want to hug and share things because of that developmental stage of life they are in. They may not keep their masks on or come home with someone else’s on. Children, especially Pre-K – 2nd, like to play games and really interact with other kids their age. Even for middle and high school students who can understand the severity of the virus are still at risk.

One major concern for me are the bathrooms. Schools struggle with keeping them clean on a normal day and I think it will be hard to keep them sanitized. They must be cleaned after each person goes in and who’s to say more than one child will go in at a time? You can clean/sanitize the space but some of the germs can still cohabitate in the area.   

Then there is transportation to think of! Most children take the bus and train to school everyday. You add the children, people who work in school, and others who already are taking public transportation for their jobs, and this poses a serious risk of exposure. Everyone is touching rails, poles, chairs, etc. Are we supposed to wear gloves? How do we maintain 6 feet on a train full of kids trying to get to school and adults getting to work? Why go through all of this risk? What will we do about schools that have 500+ students and are normally supposed to seat 20-25 students in each class? How do we “stay safe” and prevent exposure when we are putting ourselves at risk around 500+ people every weekday? And who’s to say that these elementary kids can go to school without that risk of being exposed, and coming home and exposing their family?

Instead of rushing to get students back to in person classes schools should make sure that all students and families have the support that they need to thrive in virtual learning. Examples include making sure that students have quality computers, providing small (possibly) in-person tutoring for students who are struggling and also abolish some student expenses, especially for seniors.

Thank you for allowing me to testify and share my thoughts.  Have a nice day!

TESTIMONY for Joint Committee of the Whole and Committee on Education-Distance Learning
LaJoy Johnson-Law,
Ward 8 parent and disability and education advocate-12/2/20

Good Morning Chairman Mendelson, Councilmember Grosso and the Committee on Education. My name is LaJoy Johnson-Law (Ms. Law), and I am a concerned Ward 8 Resident, education and disability advocate, but most importantly, I am Abria’s mom. I am here to share the voices of my community and families that are unfortunately not able to be here today. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Ward 8 and our east of the river community deserves to be heard and not pushed to the side. Many families are concerned about sending their children back to school and how we have implemented the attempt to reopen school. Many families do not feel it is safe to go back to school right now with a rise in COVID cases. So today, we call on the Council to acknowledge and implement the following:

Re-Opening Asks:

1. We call on the council to mandate a collaborative safety plan to both DCPS, Charters and Early Childhood Centers in regards to physically reopening ALL schools and their hybrid plans. What if a family that has children that are in both sectors and someone in their household contracts COVID19 and now everyone in that household is at risk and the children are in different schools, does everyone in the household and the respective schools have to shut down to quarantine? There are so many multiple factors but everyone needs to be on the same page: Mandate cross sector collaboration—there needs to be a united health response to reopening schools for the safety of everyone.
2. We call on Council to provide oversight into DCPS’s communication plans with families and teachers. Many families have been concerned about not receiving adequate and timely information in regards to the reopening plans or being told they must send their children back when it is the family’s decision for a child to return to school.
3. We call on the Council’s Committee on Education to establish a new community, family, teacher, school and student led Reopen Education advisory committee to collaborate with the executive branch on the reopening of schools to ensure decisions are being made with all stakeholders.
4. We also call on Council to mandate a new online distance learning plan standard—schools, families and teachers should have the option to continue public education learning in a distance learning setting. There are many families that are having great online experiences and should be able to continue this method of learning in the future.
5. We also call on Council to look into other Innovative approaches to learning such as outdoor learning. There have been studies and other jurisdictions around the country that have adopted this approach to keep students engaged.
6. Lastly, we call on the council to invest in emergency mental health resources now and when children return back to school to properly address the trauma happening due to the pandemic. If we can invest 10 million dollars in helping businesses, then we can invest in our children’s mental and emotional well-being.

We understand that this is a tough time for everyone and this is an unprecedented pandemic and no one has a roadmap but we must ensure that we are making decisions with all of our stakeholders which include schools, teachers, families and students. This public health emergency has only shown us the deep inequities that we have in our school system, inequities that we should all be ashamed of allowing to go on for so long and we should all be committed to improving these inequities immediately. DC cannot continue to allow any more inequities in our education system. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! Thank you,

LaJoy Johnson-Law (Ms. Law)

Committee of the Whole
Committee on Education
Joint Oversight Roundtable on Return to In-person Instruction in DC Public Schools
December 2, 2020

My name is Suzanne Wells.  I am the president of the Ward 6 Public Schools Parent Organization. 

I think it is fair to say we all want teachers and students to be back in school.  Students have experienced learning losses; on-line teaching particularly in the younger grades, for students with special education needs and English Language Learners is especially challenging; parents who are fortunate to have jobs are stretched thin juggling child care and work; and many families find themselves just struggling to survive.

But the coronavirus is keeping us from having what we want.  This past Saturday, the District reported more new coronavirus cases in a single day than any day since the start of this global pandemic.  The DC Council is working from home and holding on-line hearings because it is not deemed safe to be in the Wilson building.  Dr. Fauci has told us to “hang in there a bit longer” until vaccines become available.  It seems to me that no matter how difficult this time is, we want to protect the lives of as many people as possible.  It is unfathomable that over a quarter of a million people have died in the past eight months from covid-19, and we don’t want opening schools to result in additional deaths.

We’ve been resilient these past eight months, and that resilience combined with determination and hope has given us an opportunity to do things differently, and in some cases do things better.  There are some things that are working well that should be encouraged:

1. Some promising “Learning Hubs” have been started at public housing units.  GOODProjects is running a Learning Hub at the Greenleaf Garden Apartments, and Little Lights is running Learning Hubs at Potomac Gardens, Hopkins, and Benning Terrace public housing units.  These learning hubs are operating similar to CARES classrooms where students are getting help with their on-line instruction.  Students don’t have to travel far to these learning hubs, and risk coming in contact with the coronavirus.  These are the exact students we fear are suffering significant learning losses.  I strongly encourage DCPS and the City to see if there are additional opportunities to start learning hubs at homeless shelters and other public housing units.
2. Facilitating as many outdoor learning opportunities as possible.  Many of the Student Support Centers that principals and their school communities had planned to begin in October supported learning outdoors while minimizing the risk of contracting covid-19.  DCPS should be encouraging as many of these outdoor opportunities as possible.
3. Strengthening online learning, and plan now for computer acquisitions needed for next school year.  Our organization is firmly behind all of the recommendations made by Digital Equity in DC Education.

In closing, one thing that DCPS has not done well is collaboratively planning with principals, teachers, students, parents, and community based organizations.  The top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to planning simply haven’t worked.  DCPS needs to genuinely involve their key stakeholders in any effort to return to in-person learning. 

Alexandra Simbana
for the
Committee of the Whole and Committee on Education Joint Public Roundtable on DCPS Return to In-Person Instruction

December 2, 2020

Good afternoon my name is Alexandra Simbana, a Cleveland Elementary parent and LSAT member. As a DCPS parent I want to stress the health risks front and center for many of our DCPS families. Remaining with distance learning is the safest option and offers the most stability to our students, teachers and staff. Maintaining the routine for students is the option which will help our children be most confident and secure in their learning during these strange and scary times. 

Unfortunately DCPS has once again developed a plan without community engagement and presented it as a fait accompli and then surprised when families, teachers and staff speak out against it. This practice MUST stop.  Parents MUST be front and center of any planning. 

There are many issues with continued distance learning but all of those can be mitigated by actually engaging with families and asking what they need instead of making assumptions. 

I would encourage any future plans include input directly from LSATs, the education councils, PTAs/PTOs and open forums where all families can provide feedback. The risks and consequences are life and death choices and those should not be minimized. While no one anticipated a pandemic, we can and should plan for how to best manage the current situation with health, safety, and transparency at the forefront. 

Increasing and improving citywide internet is a whole government issue which can be implemented if it is made a priority. Improving the OCTO helpline service can also be done with real input from users. 

Time and again, the DCPS families and community has made itself available to find long term solutions to the issues that hold back our system from being great. Today you will hear from us again as we continue to offer ourselves and our assistance. Please work together WITH us so we can all move forward for the benefit of all our DCPS schools. 

Thank you.