Review‌ ‌the‌ ‌latest‌ ‌information‌ ‌related‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌coronavirus‌ ‌disease‌ ‌2019‌ ‌(COVID-19)‌ ‌pandemic.‌ Our special education attorneys and advocates can help you and your child prepare for the return to school.

Department of Education (DOE)

  • The DOE has shared guidance as to how states should approach assessing student learning. They emphasize that assessments should be used to target resources and support rather than for accountability this year. The DOE encourages flexibility and offers approaches such as extending testing windows, moving assessments to the summer or fall, remote assessments, and shortening assessments.
  • They are also allowing states to request a waiver for the Every Student Succeeds Act’s accountability and school identification requirement, such as the 95% test participation rate.

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS)

  • ACPS announced they will be administering Local Alternative Assessments (LAAs) instead of History Standards of Learning (SOLs) for grades 4 and 8 and Writing SOLs for 8th graders. This is thanks to the emergency flexibility issued by the Virginia DOE.
  • ACPS welcomed back some of their elementary students on March 2, 2021. The return was successful and they look forward to welcoming back more students in the coming weeks.

Arlington Public Schools (APS)

  • APS welcomed back some of their students to classrooms on March 2, 2021, to great success.
  • Some members of a Yorktown High School sports team tested positive for COVID-19 as part of a contact tracing investigation conducted in late February. It has been identified as an “ongoing outbreak investigation” by the Arlington County Public Health Division, per the Virginia Department of Health definitions. Outbreaks are considered when there are more than two cases in a given setting with no known exposure elsewhere. All protocols were followed, including quarantining and contact tracing as soon as APS was notified.

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

  • FCPS has welcomed back students to their classrooms. All students are still scheduled to return to school by March 16, 2021.

Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS)

  • FCPS plans to increase their in-person learning for students in grades 2–12 from two to four days per week. To do this, they plan to adjust the social distancing standard from 6 feet to 3 feet. FCPS plans to adhere to all other mitigation measures.
  • Superintendent David Sovine intends to present this plan to the School Board Instruction Committee on March 9, 2021, and a report to the School Board on March 16. If this decision is finalized, it will likely take effect on April 12, the start of the fourth quarter, to allow time to plan the logistics of returning students.

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS)

  • LCPS was happy to bring students in for hybrid learning from their 17 middle schools and 17 high schools, to total 6,784 middle school students and 8,092 high school students.

Spotsylvania County Public Schools

  • Spotsylvania welcomed back pre-K through 12th grade students into the hybrid learning mode, which has been successful thus far.

Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS)

  • SCPS brought back pre-K through 12th grade students to their hybrid learning model. More than 15,000 students are now spending two or more days learning in school buildings, which is more than half of enrolled students.
  • They hope to provide students with a five-day in-school option at the start of the 2021–2022 school year.
  • SCPS will provide a report on March 23, 2021 to address returning elementary students to school four days per week. They hope to do this by April 20.