Issues

REOPENING SCHOOLS POST COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

thumbnail_5C577479-02AF-4C2A-9E64-B54C813E81B2_1_105_c.jpg

As of June, 2020, the most critical decisions the School Board will make for the 2020-2021 school year are associated with reopening schools post COVID-19 shutdown and responding to the evolving public health implications of the outbreak. We now have detailed guidance from the state found here:

Keeping students safe is priority one. We recognize that HCPS plays a role not only in the lives of our individual students, but in the lives of city families, too. Students returning to school means parents can return to work, and communities can come back together again. The ways we do this – how fast we do this, when we do this – are all factors connected to the most critical decisions ahead. Responding to facts, being transparent with the community, persistently asking questions, and continually revising and refining decisions on the basis of new data and new information is key to getting successfully to the other side of the outbreak. It’s going to be difficult, and will require commitment, as well as dedication to a kind of persistent optimism.
 
Then, we’ll need to focus on adjusting to the new educational environment, the reawakened economic outlook and resource availability, and the new and potentially radically different needs of our students.  Responding effectively to this new environment requires flexibility and innovation. (June 2020)

The Role of the Police in City Schools

The death of George Floyd has turned the attention of K-12 systems across the country to the role of the police in the schools, and Harrisonburg is no exception. The Harrisonburg Police Department (HPD) has responded to community requests for data on the role of police in the community by publishing Use of Force statistics for the city.

Many community members have concerns about the school-to-prison pipeline; others are worried about protecting our children from an uptick in school violence and shootings that may arise once students return to classrooms. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the HPD and HCPS was last updated in 2016, and was signed by a different HPD Chief, a different HCPS Superintendent, and school board member no longer in office. The MOU needs to be updated for a) the upcoming year, with the  short-run special circumstances COVID-19 presents to the students and staff that return to our campuses, and b) for the long run, as all students and all staff resume classes and buildings are full. This conversation about the new, long-run relationship between HPD and HCPS should have extensive community input through the Fall and into the Spring of 2021. (June 2020)

Strategic Planning for HHS2 and for HCPS

HCPS broke ground for a second Harrisonburg High School in January 2020, the result of a multi-year community-wide effort to get the votes to build the school and get the project funded. Less than 4 months later, construction was paused due to COVID-19 financial and public health-related issues.

We will soon address the task of getting the HHS2 project restarted, developing the programming for both HHS1 and HHS2, and adjusting to the new and unknown realities that we’ll face in a world that is continuing to deal with COVID.  At the same time, we are nearing the end of our strategic planning process, a major update to bring us into compliance with VDOE requirements and one to align short term decisions with long term capital and operational planning. Along with construction of HHS2, this new strategic plan process was also paused in May, and will need to be completed  as soon as schools reopen in the fall. (June 2020)