Education

District's School Leaders Showcase CARE Classrooms

Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins

Toward the latter part of November, hundreds of elementary schoolers returned to District classrooms as part of an arrangement that D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) officials said will meet the needs of parents struggling to balance work obligations and the facilitation of their children’s virtual learning experience.

Despite some community members’ apprehensions about the launch of Canvas Academics and Real Engagement (CARE) classrooms amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, some school leaders who’ve embarked on this journey said they’ve taken the proper measures to protect students and staff members.

“We had to ensure that our custodians were being trained, going to webinars and receiving the right type of professional development on how to keep a building safe and secure,” said Lisa Rosado, principal of Savoy Elementary School in Southeast, one of 25 District public schools that launched CARE classrooms on Nov. 18.

Rosado recently led DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee on a tour of Savoy, during which the duo and others watched three groups of no more than eight students, at socially distanced desks, engaging in virtual learning while under the supervision of a staff member.

Each classroom had copious amounts of hand sanitizer, wipes and other cleaning materials. In the hallways, staff members stationed at desks helped coordinate the movement of students between their classroom and a specifically designated restroom. As has long been the case, visitors also had their temperatures taken before entering the premises.

Rosado said these plans jelled together immediately after Ferebee and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approached her about hosting

Compiled by Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer

EMERGENCY COMPLIANCE

The collection of daily attendance for both in-person and remote instruction remain vital as the District continues to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 health emergency in compliance with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s proposed regulations. The State Board will discuss the proposed regulations in preparation for a vote at its Dec. 16 public meeting.

(Courtesy photo/wjla.com) CARE classrooms at Savoy.

“We were given a wait-list and called each parent to ask if they wanted to join us,” Rosado told The Informer.

“We had to create a master schedule that meets the needs of our CARE and virtual students. We did a building walk-through with our LSAT and WTU members,” added Rosado, in her fourth year as principal at Savoy.

As of Nov. 28, the District has recorded more than 21,300 coronavirus cases and 678 COVID-related deaths.

Earlier this year, the DCPS central office and Bowser revealed that, despite reneging on reopening plans for Term 2, they would maintain CARE classrooms as a resource for students in need of supervised instruction.

The second phase of CARE classrooms launched this week with subsequent phases scheduled ‘GUIDING PRINCIPLES’

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s “20 Guiding Principles” focus on ensuring that revised D.C. social studies standards will include fewer, higher and clearer rigorous requirements for coherent, developmentally appropriate and vertical alignment across grades Pre-K–12. The Guiding Principles push for revised standards that expand on the types of skills and knowledge to which all D.C. students should be guaranteed, as well as recognize to begin during the weeks of Dec. 9 and Jan. 6. Other sites that joined Savoy include Brightwood Education Campus in Northwest, and Stanton Elementary, Moten Elementary and Excel Academy in Southeast.

With nearly 50 CARE classrooms currently open, DCPS officials are hinting at the addition of spaces to meet parents’ demands. During Phase I of this experience, classroom facilitators are staff members from the school in which the CARE classroom is located. Subsequent phases will most likely include temporary hires and additional DCPS staff.

These plans differed from DCPS’ initial plans that, much to the chagrin of Local School Advisory Teams (LSAT), would have transferred middle and high school staff members to the elementary schools hosting CARE classrooms. habit years ago,” Mattox said. “I’m also seeing an increase in nicotine use in those already using nicotine. The natural leap is that anxiety and emotional stressors appear to be contributing to an increase in nicotine use. I have especially seen this more in patients who are unable to afford their psychiatric medications or have chosen to stop taking their medications.”

Karen Gross, an educational commentator and senior counsel at Finn Partners in Northwest, attributed the increase in smoking due, in part, to individual’s re-

In response to that proposal, McKinley Technology High School’s LSAT, after conferring with another on-campus parent group and others around the District, railed against the proposed reshuffling of staff members. In October, parents wrote a letter requesting a meeting with Bowser and Ferebee about the issue, and the overarching question of how to safely reopen schools. That, in addition to other complaints, compelled the DCPS central office to change direction.

“We will likely at some point have staff members from our middle and high schools but we have changed the scope of that work based on the feedback from our principals who thought it would compromise their operations,” Ferebee told The Informer.

“We’re still working with our middle and high school principles

DCPS BRIEFS

HEALTH Page 34 SMOKING from Page 19

to identify the right people.” WI sponse to the pandemic and social isolation.

“We have lost connectivity and I don’t mean zoom. We have been masked and socially distanced,” Gross said. “Smoking, for some, relieves anxiety and creates a connection between oneself and the cigarette in one’s hands.”

“And, since trauma abounds, we show trauma symptomology, and that lets us resort to “bad” habits because we are not exactly in control – our autonomic nervous system is on high alert. The bottom line: Yes, smoking is bad for our health. So is the pandemic. So is trauma,” Gross said.

WI

Proposed Study May Open Doors for Minority Firms to Win City Contracts

James Wright will conduct a city-wide study mittee on Business and Economic WI Staff Writer “to examine the availability and Development. McDuffie said the @JamesDCWrighter utilization of minority-and wom- coronavirus in the District aden-owned businesses under D.C. versely affects the city’s economy

Alfred Swailes, owner of A&A procurement and contracting ac- and minority-owned businesses Premium Painting Distributor, tivities” since 2017 and create a need the support of the District LLC in Northeast D.C., also is a minority business enterprise pro- government. key architect of the D.C. Black gram. “I funded a disparity study in Business Task Force, which has When Swailes heard about the Fiscal Year 2021, understanding long contended that Black busi- proposed study, he said, he began that it is a necessary step to create nesses are not being served well to believe there’s light at the end a true minority business enterprise by the District’s existing Certified of the tunnel. “This is great,” program, a desperately needed Business Enterprise (CBE) pro- he said. “The disparity study will tool to keep the District moving gram. show that Black businesses are forward as leaders for racial equity

The Black firms are often left largely missing out in the District and economic issues,” McDuffie out of contracting opportunities, government’s contracting pro- said. Swailes and the task force argues, gram. D.C. is the only jurisdiction The RFP will be open for those by systemic or covert racial dis- on the East Coast that doesn’t have interested in it until Jan. 5, 2021. crimination and, absent documen- a minority business enterprise pro- The solicitation will be a set-aside tation, can’t prove discrimination gram and that is what is needed, a for CBEs or a joint venture with a is occurring. true minority business program.” CBE as a partner to conduct the

However, there’s hope on the The disparity study is funded disparity study. A pre-proposal horizon. Nov. 17, D.C. Mayor by a bill authored by D.C. Coun- conference for those interesting in Muriel Bowser announced the cilmember Kenyan McDuffie city’s economic planning office (D-Ward 5), who chairs the Com- CONTRACTS Page 46

5 Kenyan McDuffie represents Ward 5 on the D.C. Council and chairs the Committee on Business and Economic Development. (WI File Photo)

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