Safer in School

11/30/2020

The School Board will be voting tomorrow evening on whether or not to continue to keep students out of school.

Send an email to let local elected officials know that you want kids back in school. Send your own message to vbcpsschoolboard@googlegroups.com and citycouncil@vbgov.com or just click on the "Safer in School" link above.

The automatic email texts states:

Studies show that there is very minimal if any spread of the coronavirus in schools. Virtual learning is creating more disparities in education. Working parents have to choose if they will stay home with their kids to help with with school or go to work and pay the bills. Keeping our schools closed is hurting students with special needs and contributing to the increase in anxiety and depression among our students. The CDC has reported that emergency department visits for middle and high school aged students has increased 31%! Please vote to send all option 1 students back to school immediately. Virtual learning is not working for the majority of students and they continue to lose motivation.

29 Comments

David Kromkowski

11/30/2020 12:01:37 pm

Put the kids back in school!

Jamie

11/30/2020 04:50:48 pm

Our kids are safer in school they have social distancing and procedures in place where at home they do not. some parents are working full-time or single parents like myself and have to send our child to someone else’s home to complete their virtual work how do we know as parents that it’s a safe place for our kids and if they’re following those protocols we depend upon? My son goes to Norfolk Academy and is still in Live school and they are thriving and doing well! I agree Virginia Beach school system can do this as well! Please let’s Give our children’s education they deserve!

Bridget Flynn Nguyen

12/1/2020 08:14:54 am

ALL students should be back in school! VBCPS is not doing enough to ensure that the students and children are mentally and physically safe in their homes. VBCPS did not have a sufficient plan that was in everyone's best interest. If I could afford to send my children to a private school, I would enroll them immediately! VBCPS has done a lot of damage to students and families.

Ivey

12/1/2020 09:15:24 am

It’s time for VBCPS to open the schools and change the requirements to further closures. We have enough information now to make changes that are in the best interest of the community. The teachers are doing their best, but let’s face it, this is not the same quality that we’ve come to expect and appreciate from VBCPS. Our family has had to rearrange our lives because we can’t rely on schools, and we are the lucky ones with the luxury to do so. My elementary-aged kids sit in front of a screen all day, they are isolated and often frustrated trying to do their work, they can’t even have recess or lunch together despite being in the same house because of the laughable synchronous learning schedule, and all for what? Reducing the non-existent school spread? We have enough information to know that it is not happening in schools. The cost of shutting down in-person learning is too high and there are no benefits. This is a no-brainer. It’s time for a change.

Kevin Michael Bremer

12/1/2020 09:35:15 am

We need our children to go back to school. one of my daughters has been locked in her room spending way to much time online with school and afterschool where she approached me about her gender and dating of same gender. She is a 15 year old and all of the media and online talk about this and with her not being at school to interact with students of the opposite sex is causing great harm. This should be a great time for them but you all are destroying it. My wife and I both have had COVID and was nothing more than a small case of the flu and recovered with in 6 days. if teachers are worried find teachers who WANT TO WORK LIKE WE ARE HAVING TO DO.

Courtney Winstead

1/2/2021 02:00:19 pm

Yes i am 100 percent in favor of the kids going back to school

Brett Kassir

11/30/2020 12:07:46 pm

Our kids should be in school full time five days per week for all grades. If teachers do not want to teach; then quit. Our company is in the hospitality industry and if we want to get paid we have to go to work. It is a simple concept, no work should equal no pay.
If not; return all of our tax dollars dedicated to the school budget so we can make some other choices and the teachers.

Roger Pence

11/30/2020 12:49:15 pm

Open the schools now. According to CDC they are the safest place. The focus on risk has obscured the other part of the equation: the benefits. Schools are critical for the services they provide particularly the vulnerable children and families.
How is it that the Chesapeake school board and superintendent are united in their decision to have their schools open successfully?

Victoria Morlang

11/30/2020 12:54:19 pm

As a nurse, I see Covid pts all day. I believe in the virus. What I don’t believe in is virtual schooling. It’s not working. Schools are there for so much more than an education: kids need socialization, some kids need a healthy meal, and all kids need a schedule. Not a schedule of lying in bed on their computers.
And the evidence base research shows that grades are dropping. 80% of middle school and high school students in Northern Virginia have received F’s. Funny how we haven’t seen the percentage in Virginia Beach. Why not post the grades?
Let’s talk about mental illness: the Emergency Departments are seeing an increase on adolescents with depression and anxiety.
Get our kids back in school!

Brandy D’Antonio

11/30/2020 02:00:27 pm

Our kids need to be back in school! You all have mitigated risks with masks, protocols, plexiglass dividers, etc. Our students and teachers are suffering with virtual learning while our children fall further behind. Developmentally, children are not meant to sit on zoom calls all day, especially younger grades. It makes no sense that our schools are closed yet restaurants are open and club sports without masks are taking place. Our children are isolated and anxiety/depression is increasing. Please, for our children’s sake, open our schools!

Don Henry

11/30/2020 02:05:47 pm

I do not see the rush to get these kids back in school. Myself and wife care for our grandkids while their parents work. What happens when one of our grandkids are exposed at school and bring it home to us? All of my grandkids are doing amazingly well virtually. As for teachers not earning their pay as others have said. They are more than earning it by what they have to do daily. This whole mental health issue is baloney if a kid is suffering from depression from doing virtual learning there are way more issues going on with the kid than.

Danielle Mitchell

12/1/2020 02:21:17 am

If you had a member of your family that was living with you and high risk, than you should have chosen option two to keep your kid virtual. Why are we penalizing parents who chose option one for many reasons; single Moms, kids who have IEPs and don’t learn well virtually..there are plenty of reasons people chose what worked best for their family.

Bridgette

11/30/2020 04:43:35 pm

My elementary aged children learn better in inperson learning. The are doing very well following all of the guidelines, I would love to see them back in school.

Amy Kreider

11/30/2020 05:49:11 pm

The kids are safer in school. Somehow restaurants and stores are fine with people in them but not children learning in a safe environment... It should be a parent’s decision if they want in school or virtual for their children. At this point, the children are suffering more mentally than the chances of getting the virus and having a bad outcome from it.

Dr. Shawna Gugel DO

11/30/2020 06:19:58 pm

I have two high school students that are athletes also. I feel as a mother and a physician, it is imperative that our children return to face to face educating if that is what their family has chosen. The mental health of these students is suffering. Children need their friends who are a huge part of their support system.

As a physician, I have no concern about my child returning to school and them being exposed to COVID. As a doctor, I am exposed to the virus. We as a health community know this virus is not going anywhere. We know we need to accept this as fact and continue on with our lives.

Julia David

11/30/2020 06:40:54 pm

Hard to believe we still have to discuss this when we know the best thing for our children is to be in school engaged and learning. For those who are afraid and concerned about Covid we already have a solution keep your children home for virtual. Just like the virus doesn’t care who you vote for our children don’t either. They just need the best education and future we can give them. We all need to fight for them!!!

Courtney graves

11/30/2020 06:51:04 pm

No longer should it be perplexing as to why our American students academically fall below their European counterparts. Currently, in Wales, families are allowed to leave their houses to go to the store and to exercise, oh and to go to school. Educating their students is their priority. It's definitely not the priority here in the US and the mismanagement of opening schools will have grave effects on our future....our youngest, most vulnerable citizens are bearing the brunt of this pandemic. We were given an option, so let us use it. Those who are fearful were also given an option, like the grandfather above with his grandchildren. To call childhood depression and anxiety 'baloney' is sad on so many levels. Your kids can stay home and learn virtually since it's going so well. If as parents we feel going to school and learning face to face with their peers is the best choice for our family (and we were given that choice) then please let us exercise that choice because there are teachers who want to
Be with their kiddos and a majority of kiddos (was it 67 percent?) want to be with their teachers.

12/1/2020 03:00:37 am

I completely agree with the above statement. If your family was high risk or you had personal concerns, you were allowed to chose option two. I have zero problem with your decision and will not be judging you for your concerns, so please don’t minimize the reasons that families chose option one.
Furthermore, I cannot believe that we have to even sit here and convince the school board that we elected to look out for the well being of our students..that they should allow students to sit inside a classroom and receive a proper education. The CDC & the WHO have publicly announced that schools are the safest place for kids to be, that closing schools does not decrease the number of covid cases in the community, and that research has shown schools are not a hotspot for spreading Covid. Since when are we in the business of taking advice from local health officials over the top health professionals in the country? How come VB can not adjust their plan like Chesapeake Public Schools and only go virtual for the particular school with an outbreak instead of closing all of them out of fear? If our kids can go to sporting events, ballet classes, the supermarket, Busch Gardens with a bunch of kids from daycare, prek, and Chesapeake public schools that are all attending in person classes ..than they should also be attending school and getting the proper education they deserve.

Randy

12/1/2020 06:57:54 am

Virtual learning is a disaster for our family. The kids emotional, intellectual and social lives deprnd on interaction with their peers. This is an educational issue and you all are failing our children. You take care of protecting the kids while at school and we the families will take care of the kids at home. Virtual learning is Not a viable option for our kids education

Carl Master

12/1/2020 07:05:48 am

KIDS IN SCHOOL! The science says GO.

Kimberly Conklin

12/1/2020 08:11:00 am

I am a nurse and have many friends in the medical field including a number of physicians working in and around covid patients. We believe This virus isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If private schools in Virginia and throughout the country can open up and teach kids full-time since the beginning of the school year, with everyone wearing masks there is no reason except for politics (the teacher unions ) keeping the public schools from opening. Open up the schools you are doing nothing but hurting our children.

Nicole Piette

12/1/2020 08:52:54 am

Our kids need to be back in school 5 days a week. Kids need to be in a classroom with their peers & teachers. The effects from virtual learning will be felt for years to come. Students are not getting the same education virtually. Students are falling behind, getting lazy, having mental breakdowns.
Get our kids back in school!

Linda Haas

12/1/2020 09:00:12 am

It is imperative that we get students back into the classroom. The impact of not being in school will not be fully measured for years, but some things are for certain. Students are being negatively impacted scholastically, socially, mentally, and is some instances physically. If private schools can have students attending in person, why can public schools not follow the same safety protocols? Do the right thing...OPEN THE SCHOOLS!

Callie

12/1/2020 09:12:24 am

It is evident that the kids need to be in school. Even trying our best to keep them focused at home and support their learning, they need to be in the classroom for peer and teacher interaction. When frustration sets in with the younger children, they aren’t learning or retaining information. All this screen time is not good for them either and trying to troubleshoot tech issues distracts from what they are trying to learn.
There has been no indication of covid outbreaks or massive spreading in the schools and it seems the kids are doing a good job at following the protocols put in place to mitigate spread. Everyone is out shopping, going to work, etc.... why can’t they sit separated by plexiglass with masks on and learn in the classroom like they have been?

Dianna L Howard

12/1/2020 09:32:27 am

If children can be in school for daycare they can be in school for education the school board needs to stop taking tax revenue for services they are not providing so our children can get in person education elsewhere.

Wendy M. Froehlich

12/1/2020 10:33:17 am

Dear school board members - you keep preaching "follow the science" -- now is the time to practice what you preach and stop letting the Teacher's Union control you.

Quote from Dr. Fauci, "Close the bars and keep the schools open, is what we really say. Obviously, you don't have one size fits all. But as I said in the past ... the default position should be to try as best as possible, within reason, to keep the children in school or to get them back to school. If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not really very big at all, not like one would have suspected."

NYC schools are re-opening - but Virginia Beach is not? Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted this virus is not a threat to children when he announced schools will be reopening.

You should all be ashamed of yourself for putting our children at risk by not putting them back in school!

Rachael Small

12/1/2020 12:08:11 pm

Students need to be in the schools with their teachers and educators. For those uncomfortable, high risk, etc should continue to have the option for virtual. More harm is being caused by putting these kids in front of a screen than COVID ever will (majority). Put our children back in school!

Sara

12/1/2020 01:22:56 pm

Exactly what “science” is being looked at to determine if we close schools. The CDC has come out with a statement that kids are not major spreaders and that they need to be back in school. If Teachers are still going out in public to grocery stores, hair salons, restaurants, dentist appointments and doctor appointments why are they not able or allowed to provide face to face instruction? Everyone else who is working with the public is taking a risk of catching the virus but that isn’t stopping them.

Carol Bratten

12/1/2020 03:41:57 pm

This is dangerous our children should be in school full time. If teachers do not want to teach; then quit. It is a simple concept, no work should equal no pay. If the schools remain closed then return all of our tax dollars dedicated to the school budget so parents can make other arrangements.


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