DC Public Schools (DCPS) will move their classes online in the 2020-2021 academic year, which is scheduled to kick off on Monday, August 31, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday.
The school year will continue with remote education for all students through November 6, 2020.
“I wouldn’t say that the attention to the health metrics is the only thing leading to our decision today,” Bowser said at a press conference. “Clearly we want to work with our workforce. We want to make sure parents have confidence in an in-person option and make sure that, when we do have an in-person option, we can maximize the attendance of our teachers and our kids.”
The mayor explained that the city was considering opening schools with limited capacity for some students, however, if most teachers refuse to come in person, there will be a need for finding other employees to attend to the students, which depends on the decision of DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee.
In recent weeks, Bowser was expected to announce the District’s plan to reopen schools. She later said it was still early to make a decision on schools because of a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the city.
DCPS asked families and staff members for their opinions through a survey. Thousands of families provided responses for the survey on the issue of reopening schools.
Teachers will be holding lessons live and there will be daily checks to make sure every student is attending classes by logging on to the platform named “Canvas.”