Normally, I wouldn't be sending an RPS Direct this evening, as we're closed today. However, in light of recent events at the state level, I felt it was important to reach out.
Masks – As I shared via social media this weekend, RPS will maintain its 100% mask-wearing policy for all students, staff, and families. The science is clear: masks are safe and effective. Per the CDC: "Experimental and epidemiologic data support community masking to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2...The relationship between source control and wearer protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic, so that individual benefit increases with increasing community mask use."
Despite the Governor's Executive Order #2, we believe we have the legal authority to maintain our mandate. Senate Bill 1303, signed into law last year, stipulates that Virginia school divisions must offer in-person instruction, and: "[P]rovide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
Therefore, we are actually mandated by Virginia law to follow CDC guidance, and to do so "to the maximum extent practicable." Given the CDC's clear position on mask-wearing in schools, our charge is clear: maintain our mandate. Towards that end, School Board Members Burke and Doerr will be introducing a resolution to reaffirm our 100% mask-wearing requirement at tomorrow's School Board meeting.
Updated Isolation and Quarantine Guidance – One of the key topics that came up last night during the town hall hosted by Chair Harris-Muhammed and Vice-Chair Gibson was confusion over isolation and quarantine protocols, given evolving guidance from the CDC. To clarify matters, we have updated our guidance in collaboration with the Richmond City Health District, and will be implementing it starting tomorrow. If you have any questions after reviewing the updated protocols, please don't hesitate to reach out.
"Divisive Concepts" – The Governor's Executive Order #1 bans the teaching of critical race theory and other "divisive" concepts. First, as has been widely discussed in the news media over the past year, critical race theory is a graduate-level framework that's not taught in K-12 schools. As for the far more nebulous prohibition against teaching divisive concepts, all I can say is this: At RPS, we will continue to honestly study the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia was literally created on the backs of enslaved Africans, and we will continue to help our students understand the connection between that history and the injustices that still grip our community today – in education, housing, healthcare, the legal system, and more.
To quote Dr. King in honor of today's celebration: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically." That's what we'll continue to do no matter how painful the truth of our past may be. It's only by fostering a deep understanding of how we arrived at the present will we equip our students to create a more just and equitable future.
