Schools scramble to maintain in-person learning and appeal to community to contain virus

Thatcher Brook Primary School Nurse Allison Conyers has testing samples ready to ship to the lab after COVID-19 testing some 200 school staff across the Harwood Union School District on Thursday. Courtesy photo.

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching and COVID-19 cases sharply growing in Vermont, officials in the Harwood Union Unified School District urge community members to follow public health advice not to travel or mingle households over the holiday in order to prevent spread of the virus.

Curbing community spread through social gatherings will be key to keeping schools open for in-person learning heading into winter, state and local officials say. 

That was a focus of an update from Superintendent Brigid Nease at the Nov. 18 school board meeting where she delivered a detailed report on how the district has been handling several cases of COVID-19 and struggling with staffing with the goal of keeping in-person learning to the greatest extent possible. 

On Friday, the district shared a communication from the administration, teachers union and school board: “So much is riding on Thanksgiving. Together with your support and strong efforts we can keep Covid-19 out of our HUUSD schools. It is clear that social gatherings, not schools, are causing the surge in cases.”

The letter quotes Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine who at each COVID-19 press briefing in recent weeks has hammered away with the message that social gatherings are spreading the virus: “We know that social gatherings — often among trusted family and friends — are a driving force behind much of the virus’ spread right now nationwide,” Dr. Levine said. “Adding the element of travel to the mix only makes it more risky.”

The communication asks families to heed the state guidance over the holiday. “Community members, it is now your turn,” it states. “Gov. Phil Scott released a new executive order severely limiting gatherings and travel. We recognize that pandemic fatigue is very high and that these new orders are really hard for all of us. Despite the challenge we must make these drastic changes so we can keep our community safe and our children in school. We need our community to seriously think about the upcoming holidays and how we can keep our children, teachers, and schools safe and healthy. This is how we can keep our schools open.”

Read the entire communication here. 

In her update to the school board on Wednesday, Harwood Union Superintendent Brigid Nease summarized the district’s responses to cases in several schools so far this year with this main message: “Schools, and our schools in particular, are truly some of the safest places you can be today.”

Nease noted how two positive student cases at Crossett Brook Middle School did not result in any spread of the virus to others in school. As of midweek, approximately 20 students and staff at Harwood Union High School and Middle School were in quarantine and awaiting test results, some related to one positive case in an adult. Nease said test results returned so far were all negative. 

“We do and we will have positive cases. I ask you not to be afraid and not to over-react to that,” she said. 

Local and state officials credit strict guidelines enforced in schools - wearing masks, frequent hand-washing, maintaining distance - to the lack of virus spread in schools. 

This past week Moretown Elementary School also had a case reported in an adult that led to one team of about 30 students and staff needing to quarantine and be tested, Nease said. The school also moved to all-remote learning even before that unfolded due to staff out and insufficient substitute teachers available to fill in. 

The need for substitutes remains a hurdle in keeping schools open, Nease said, although there has been some progress in attracting new applicants recently. She said the district normally has more than 80 people on its substitute list but that has shrunk to about 50 and of those, many have limited availability. Given the recent surge in cases in the region, Nease noted that many were also not willing to work.  

New applicants can be tapped once their background checks are completed. That process is handled through county sheriff’s offices and can take weeks. When asked about this lag at a press briefing this week, Gov. Phil Scott acknowledged that it is a concern that should be expedited. 

Keeping cases in HU communities relatively low

Nease noted in her update to the school board that despite the surge of COVID-19 cases in Washington County that is leading the state, the communities within the Harwood Union district remain relatively low. 

Indeed, data through Nov. 18 released by the Vermont Department of Health on Friday, two communities in the district - Duxbury and Fayston - have had no cases reported all year. Moretown is in the lowest 1-5 case range; Waitsfield and Warren each added cases this week to 9 and 8 respectively. Waterbury has had the most growth with 31 cases, compared with 19 at the end of October. 

Keeping the case-count low within the community at large should be the main goal that will keep schools open for in-person learning. To that end, the district emphasized in its bulletin to families this week to end mixing individuals from different households. “That means ‘pods’ of friends, after-school get-togethers, all group sports activities, etc. are currently banned, as our state and county tries to get the disease rate under control,” the bulletin states. 

Another step the district will take when a case does occur will be to ask all family members connected with the schools to follow quarantine recommendations when a family member is asked by the state Department of Health or a health care provider to quarantine. “This means that siblings will be asked to quarantine” if a brother or sister is required to do so, school officials explained. 

In an effort to gauge community spread, the state has begun a testing effort involving school staff across Vermont. Approximately 200 Harwood Union district teachers and staff took part in this program on Thursday when they signed up for voluntary testing. The state hopes to test school staff members monthly to get a better read on the prevalence of COVID-19 overall. 

So far state and local officials have said they have no intention to shift to all-remote learning “preemptively” anticipating a spike in cases after the Thanksgiving holiday. They so far have preferred to urge Vermonters to heed the public health guidance to limit travel and avoid gatherings to prevent a holiday-related surge. 

Proposal to shorten the school year

Crossett Brook Middle School Principal Tom Drake (left) meets a school bus dropping off students Friday for in-person learning. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti.

In an acknowledgment of the work school teachers and staff are putting in to redesign their teaching methods and incorporate many new practices and protocols in the classroom and school routines, Nease shared a proposal with the school board on Wednesday. 

The state Legislature this year passed a measure that would allow school districts to  shift to a minimum of 170 student days this year rather than the typical 175 required days. Harwood Union usually schedules 178 days and dropped that to 175 at the start of this year, Nease said, with a total of 13 in-service days for teachers. 

With the option for remote learning already in practice, the district already plans to rely on remote learning on what would otherwise be snow days. 

Nease said that would mean reaching 170 days by Friday, June 11. Harwood Union High School graduation is scheduled for June 12. The school calendar currently has the last day as June 18. 

Nease’s proposal would move up the final day to June 11, giving staff five days off with pay. She suggested it as a way to show appreciation to staff for this year’s circumstances in a meaningful way that went beyond “bagels in the kitchen.” And it would be a break for students and families to end the school routine a bit earlier than usual. 

“I got to thinking, parents, kids, teachers, by the time we get to June with this thing, wow,” she said. “And Harwood graduates on the 12th. We could all be done.”

The board briefly discussed the suggestion. Chair Caitlin Hollister said it will be on the agenda for the board to vote on it at its next meeting on Dec. 9.