Richmond Schools discuss reopening options for fall

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Richmond City School Board met virtually Monday night to discuss reopening schools in the fall.

The district has four options, and there seems to be a front runner with option two, according to a survey that was sent to parents and staff.

Here is a look at all four options that were given:

Schedule 1: AM/PM – Half the students would come in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, with a cleaning break in between.
Schedule 2: Alternating Days – Half the students would come on Monday and Tuesday and the other half on Wednesday and Thursday, with cleaning on Tuesday evening. Whole class virtual learning would occur on Friday.
Schedule 3: Alternating Days with Saturday – Half the students would come Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and the other half on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Cleaning would occur on Wednesday evening. (Of course, this schedule would be contingent on a sufficient number of staff volunteering to work on Saturday in lieu of another day of the week.)
Schedule 4: Alternating Weeks – Half the students would come on Week 1 and then do virtual learning during Week 2; the other half would do the opposite. Then the schedule would repeat. Cleaning would occur each weekend.

Option two seems to have gained the most support and would have students alternate coming back. Half would be Monday/Wednesday, the others would be Tuesday/Thursday, and then all would have virtual lessons on Friday.

But not all students and staff feel comfortable coming back to school, and some won’t be coming back.

“Now we know, as the survey indicates, some percentage of families will not send their students back. So that could be 10%, could be 20. I think what we can learn from the survey is that it’s a sizeable percentage,” Superintendent Jason Kamras said.

There was no public comment during Monday night’s meeting, which concerned some board members. There was a push for another meeting before the scheduled July 9 vote to allow for parents and staff to speak their minds.

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