The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education has made the decision to conduct the first five weeks of the 2020-21 school year via remote learning due to concerns over COVID-19.
The first day of school will be Aug. 24.
“Distance learning is not how students, families, or staff hoped to start the year. We all know that in-classroom learning is best for most students academically, socially, and emotionally,” said CPS Superintendent Laura Mitchell in a press release. “While we have seen early signs of improvement, current transmission and positivity rates are too high to ensure the safety of our students and staff. We hope with the commitment of the community to further reduce the spread of the virus, and sustain that reduction, we will see our students in our buildings on September 28. We are prepared for all learning models — distance, blended, and fully in person — and know we must all be agile and flexible during the 2020-2021 academic year.”
Initially, CPS was slated to follow a blended learning model, wherein students would be broken into two groups — basically Group A and Group B. The groups would attend school in person for two days one week and three days the next week, and attend school remotely the other days. The days that Group A was in school, Group B would be learning remotely and vice versa.
Now, all students will be learning remotely until at least Sept. 28, when district leaders hope they'll be able to resume in-person education.
CPS said they will decide during the week of Sept. 14 whether or not students can return to the classroom based on three criteria:
- A sustained daily decrease in new confirmed COVID-19 cases
- A positivity rate — or the percent of people testing positive for COVID-19 — that is equal to or less than 5%
- And a ranking of yellow or orange (Level 1 and Level 2, respectively) for Hamilton County on the State of Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System
For distance learning, all K-12 CPS students will receive a school-provided tech device; students in pre-K through grade 1 will get an iPad and everyone else will receive a laptop.
Cincinnati Bell has also partnered with the district on a "Connect Our Students" program to ensure that all households have WiFi connectivity. CPS says that with the help of community partners, including the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, they expect to connect roughly 11,000 households to free internet for a year.
CPS will also be continuing its free weekly meal distribution program through the fall.
Parents can access more information at cps-k12.org, or by calling the customer care hotline at 513-363-0123. There will also be a virtual town hall meeting at 4 p.m. Aug. 10, which will be recorded for those who cannot attend.
Yesterday, the Cincinnati chapter of Our Revolution, the Cincinnati Socialist Alternative and Democratic Socialists of America of Metro Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky hosted a rally for the safe reopening of Cincinnati Public Schools at the Board of Education building during the Board's meeting to make final recommendations regarding how to reopen schools later this month.
The Cincinnati Federation of Teachers sent out their own press release saying this was not a CFT-sponsored event. But said they had been talking to the Board on their own:
"CFT leaders have been talking with the Board and Administrators over the last month on how and when schools can safely welcome students back. The Ohio Health Department continues to rate Hamilton County as 'Red', described as a 'Public Health Emergency', with a 'very high exposure and spread' of COVID-19. In the City of Cincinnati conditions are likely worse. CFT has repeatedly told the Board and Superintendent that under these conditions, it is unsafe for students, school staff and their families to reopen schools to students, even with the blended learning model currently planned. We remain optimistic that our Board will make the right decision to protect CFT/CFOP members, students, our families and community."
The Ohio Education Association and its Board of Directors also issued their own statement last month saying "that Ohio’s schools and campuses should only reopen for in-person instruction when conditions are met that ensure the safety of students, educators, education support professionals, their families and communities."
In light of this, they urged those institutions in counties that are classified as red (Level 3) or purple (Level 4) under Ohio’s Public Health Advisory Alert System to move to a full remote learning system and close to in-person instruction until the alert levels drop to orange (Level 2) or yellow (Level 1). Then, schools should only open to in-person instruction if all Centers for Disease Control safety requirements can be met, with a minimum buffer of two weeks to allow for the transition from remote to in-person learning.
