Education

Parents in D. C. Express Concerns about CARE Classroom Staffing

Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins

Students enrolled in DC Public Schools (DCPS) started their second term in their virtual learning environment this week, much to the relief of parents who’ve requested an opportunity to meet with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chancellor Lewis Ferebee about various aspects of school reopening plans.

One aspect involves the Canvas Academics and Real Engagement [CARE] classroom where, in a matter of weeks, some elementary students will engage in virtual learning under the supervision of a DCPS employee who, more than likely, will be transferred there

from their school of employment, per a plan shown to Local School Advisory Teams [LSATs] across the District.

“We’re standing to lose our director of biotechnology and that’s critical for seniors going through the college application process,” said Sherice Muhammad, president of McKinley Technology High School’s LSAT.

Since the start of the pandemic, McKinley’s LSAT and other groups have formed working groups to assess the quality of virtual instruction and the public health threat that’s COVID-19.

In a letter to Bowser and Ferebee last month, McKinley’s LSAT and Parents Teachers Organization [PTO] criticized DCPS’ building safety planning and decried McKinley Middle and High schools’ anticipated loss of seven full-time and eight part-time staff members in the launch of CARE classrooms.

“Just because our staff is non-instructional doesn’t mean their non-essential,” Muhammad said.

“We need them at schools where they’re employed. The CARE model is a glorified way of warehousing kids during the week. I’m not in full agreement with that model. The expectation is that we should bring children where they’re learning.”

Since The Informer last spoke with Muhammad, McKinley’s director of biotechnology had been removed from the list of people scheduled to transfer to a CARE classroom. Muhammad said that those who are still part of what’s been called the reassignment process list include Jacqueline Pendergrass, McKinley’s NAF college and career coordinator.

For nearly a month, the District’s public elementary schools had been scheduled to resume in-person learning for 21,000 students on November 9.

However, after the Washington Teachers' Union [WTU] spent weeks rallying against DC Public Schools’ reopening plans, school officials made the last-minute decision to exclusively launch the CARE classroom program.

Despite the continuation of virtual learning, and the tightening of COVID-19 restrictions in the District and surrounding areas, District officials still have their sights set on in-person learning.

Bowser iterated this point on the Nov. 6 edition of WIN-TV, telling Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes that in-person learning serves as an effective means of learning. She also cited as part of her commitment to reopening schools ongoing conversations with teachers and visits to school buildings, including the Southeast-based facility from where she joined The Informer weekly online program.

For the time being, CARE classrooms in three dozen public schools would be available to children whose parents need child supervision during the school day when most synchronous and asynchronous learning takes place.

The CARE classrooms, scheduled to launch in less than two weeks, counted as part of DCPS’ original phased reopening plan that Ferebee announced on October. 5. A school readiness checklist accompanying those plans touted HVAC upgrades and appropriate COVID-19 signage among the requirements for a safe reopening.

Though DCPS officials maintain that teachers were involved in discussions about reopening, WTU officials, along with unions representing school nurses and other personnel, have repeatedly said that wasn’t the case.

Some parents, including John Hassell, have made similar assertions.

Hassell, president of McKinley Technology High School’s PTO, told The Informer that he signed the October 26 letter to Bowser and Ferebee out of frustration with the manner in which Ferebee revealed the reopening plans earlier that month – without consulting with LSATs and PTOs.

Hassell recently hosted a virtual rally with parents from other

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EDUCATION

Instruction in PG Schools to Remain Virtual Through February

William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill

The increase in confirmed coronavirus cases in Maryland has some school officials making sure students won’t return to the classrooms until at least early next year.

Prince George’s County, which continues to record the most confirmed cases in the state exceeding 34,400, will continue to assess whether to incorporate a mix of in-person instruction and virtual learning by Feb. 1.

Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson said students would come back to the buildings only “if it is safe to do so.”

Theresa Mitchell Dudley, Prince George’s County Educators’ Association president, said Goldson reaffirmed that message with members of the union Thursday, Nov. 5.

“It gives people a sense of relief. We have had three members of PGCEA die from COVID that I know of. Our members are very reluctant about going back into the buildings,” she said. “The one thing [Goldson] said about six times in our meeting is, ‘I won’t send anybody back in the buildings until it’s safe.’ We are extremely happy with that.”

Dudley said an in-person instruction plan would be shared with the union in a few weeks.

School officials in the majority Black jurisdiction conducted a survey between Oct. 5-18 with about 68 percent expressing “discomfort” with allowing their children to return to the classroom in the spring.

The coronavirus pandemic T:5.85" also called COVID-19 caused school officials in other parts of Maryland to suspend in-person instruction and revert to virtual learning at home.

Dorchester County public schools, located on the Eastern Shore, Oct. 21 halted in-person instruction after just one week when it recorded the state’s third highest positivity rate at 6.1 percent. The figure represents the number of tests taken that come back positive.

Because of a seven-day average with 15 new cases per 100,000 people, the Anne Arundel County school board voted last week to delay instituting the hybrid model of both in-person and distance learning for the second semester. Small-group instruction ended Friday, Nov. 6 for some students at a technology school and three development centers.

“In-person opportunities for

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our special needs and technology students are critical and that is why they were the first students we brought back into our buildings this fall,” Superintendent George Arlotto said in a statement. “The case rate is at such a point now, however, that the prudent thing to do in alignment with the health and safety metrics established by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health is to return to a virtual environment.”

St. Mary’s Public Schools posted an announcement on its Twitter page Sunday, Nov. 8 to inform parents and students “no in-person instruction for the week of Nov. 9-13, 2020” due to the increase rate of COVID-19 T:5.5" cases.

Gov. Larry Hogan expressed some frustration Thursday at a press conference in Annapolis urging residents to follow the basic guidelines: stand six-feet apart from each other in public spaces, telework when possible, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol and avoid traveling to “hotspots,” or states with a positivity rate above 10 percent.

Most importantly, “just wear your damn mask,” he said.

About schools, Hogan and State Superintendent Karen Salmon have encouraged school officials to “safely” bring students back to the classroom.

However, Hogan said county and Baltimore City officials can set local standards.

“Nobody was really pushing to fill up the schools, but there are special populations that just can’t do the distance learning and [school officials] were really trying to give it to kids who need it the most,” he said. “Many of the school systems will continue to be able to do that. Nobody is looking to fill the schools back up with the virus spreading around as it is.”

In the meantime, teachers and students will continue to see each other virtually through an iPad, or another computer device.

Dudley said teachers in Prince George’s are “brand new” this year in adapting and becoming proficient in various technology formats such as Zoom and Google classroom.

“It has pushed people to be even sharper. It’s been great. I have seen some wonderful lessons,” she said. “If we do stay out for the remainder of the [school] year, our educators are competent to keep things going.”

WI

Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer

Going into 2020, local businessman James V. Page, Jr. was gearing up for all eyes to be on Page After Page Business Systems, Inc. [dba Page Global TM] as a national sponsor and the official Office Equipment, IT Solutions Provider, Copier and printing solutions of the 140th National Baptist Convention [NBC].

The largest Black Baptist convention, which represents millions of members, was set for September at the Gaylord National Resort in Maryland primed to bring unprecedented exposure for Page’s company.

“In 2018, I was approached by Mr. Melvin Forbes representing the NBC for Pastor Charles McNeill heading up the responsibility of orchestrating the entire event,” Page said. “Mr. Forbes said to me Pastor McNeill is looking to have several African American-owned businesses be the majority of the host sponsors for the first time in its history.”

“He said there is Xerox, Canon, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, but we want to put our dollars behind African American businesses.”

Page said he committed almost a quarter of a million-dollars in sponsorship knowing that his business would receive advertising and marketing that many Black-owned businesses don’t get their fair share of primarily due to a lack of finances.

“So I’m getting in position in 2018 and 2019. I’m getting ready to roll out everything that we are supposed to do, the staff, advertising paraphernalia, the bells, the whistles, the tents and then the pandemic hits in March 2020 -- and the dream of a million-dollar opportunity goes down the tube.”

With the onslaught of COVID-19 and the canceling, or going virtual of such large gatherings like the NBC, the business veteran says he knew he had to pivot, much like 29 years before when he was a father of five, in the Navy with four jobs and still not making ends meet.

“I left the military because I had my fifth child by the time, I was 23 and the money wasn’t adding up,” Page said. “At that point, I started realizing that I wanted to be a leader, manager of people, but with no degree, I found out that wasn’t happening.”

“The only place that I would be considered on equal footing as a leader, president or a manager was to go into sales.”

Page then pivoted to a job at Minolta Corporation, a copier business solutions and technology company.

“I found out that in sales, in less than a month, I was making more money than in all four of those jobs including IBM.”

So when COVID hit, Page pulled on his prior pivoting experience to deal with the new unforeseen challenges.

He says he knew that there was a message in the pandemic and its impact on his business.

“What I pivoted on was not the fact that I lost a million-dollar opportunity, but what is God trying to tell me? Because sometimes what you think are failures turn into your successes,” he said.

Page After Page was expecting a threefold return on its investment.

They would for the first time be a viable source for over nine million members of the National Baptist Community. Second, they would get notoriety for their name being omni-visible at the MGM Grand and National Harbor. Third, they would provide the transportation for the convention VIPs, and there was going to be a banquet hall specially designed with their equipment.

Then there was also the political element with local mayors from D.C., Maryland and Virginia. And the national look with political candidates stopping into the convention looking to attract votes before the November election.

Page says the possibilities were endless, but instead of his legal counsel and board members pressuring him to demand that the organization return the company’s money back, he decided to do something different.

“I wanted to do good inside of the Baptist community. First with my lifelong friend and role model Mr. Melvin Forbes, next the energetic and powerful leader for the DMV NBC-Baptist region and community Pastor Charles McNeil. My thought was to let the donation stay put in the hand of two people that have given me an opportunity of a lifetime and stay the course,” Page said.

“As an African American business there are times that a blessing can be deferred but it does not mean it has been denied.”

While COVID tempered a major opportunity with the convention into small sponsorships, it hasn’t had much of an impact on Page After Page’s bottom line or its 12 employees and over 40 contractors says its founder and president.

“I didn’t have to lay-off or fire anyone,” Page said. “My approach has always been to be half commercial and half government. The government like the FBI, the Justice Department and the Washington, DC Library are still paying us, even though the commercial side has suffered.”

Page says he in large part has been able to stay afloat due to the knowledge gained from past mistakes like owing the IRS over $1 million dollars and coming razor close to filing bankruptcy.

These days even in a pandemic he knows how to navigate through bumpy waves.

“One thing I did was I made an internal commitment to pay back all of the money I owed to the IRS,” he said.

5 Pastor Charles McNeill NBC Maryland Region Executive, Melvin Forbes NBC regional Affairs Contractor and Jimi Page display the historic contract

“I’m so proud today that that’s been my storyboard...that I decided not to file for bankruptcy and I was able to pay back every penny.”

“It’s so freeing now.”

This is the first in a two-part series. Stay tuned for how Page went from a high school drop-out to profiting millions in part two of the series.

5 Jerry Young, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc and Jimi Page, President and CEO of Page Global display the proclamation recognizing Page Global as an official provider for NBC USA, Inc (courtesy photo)