Reopening Decision

Dear DSST Team,

I have been inspired by all the e-mail and messages I have received over the last week about re-opening. There is nothing easy about this decision and it’s been very helpful to me, personally, to know that so many of you are also struggling to find the right balance that honors our commitment to providing students with the education they need in this moment, but also keeps students and staff safe. I was reminded of this on Tuesday when I viewed an 8 minute video of Montview HS students thanking their teachers and saying how much they miss them. I love working on this team with all of you.  

Over the last couple of weeks, I have shared the criteria by which DSST will make a reopen decision.  Here it is again for reference:

• We will ground our decisions in science
• We will prioritize safety to ensure we can keep the DSST community healthy
• We will consider the educational needs of our students and families 
• We will communicate transparently and in a timely fashion (giving advance notice of decisions when possible)
• We will extend grace to each other and all parts of the community as we navigate this process together 

So, what is the decision?  I have decided to proceed with planning for a partial return to school for our middle schools and high schools on October 26th.  This decision is conditional.  Meaning, I will be revisiting our health metrics and the current state of COVID in Denver and Adams counties in consultation with public health doctors on Friday, October 16th.  

If it becomes clear that it is unsafe to partially return to school--either on October 16th or the day or week after we start--we will return to online school.  In the meantime, due to the complexity of returning to school and planning requirements from DPS and APS, I have asked our team to continue to plan so that we are ready to partially return on October 26th should it be safe.  

How did I come to this decision?  1) By listening to all of you, our students and families, 2) I am not an epidemiologist or doctor, so I have actively sought out experts.  I have met multiple times with Dr. Bill Burman, Executive Director of Denver Public Health, and Dr. Steve Federico, a pediatric specialist at Denver Public Health to understand the current state of COVID, the recent surge in health metrics, and to get their guidance on school safety and this decision.  3) I have done my best to follow the criteria laid out above. Here are some thoughts on the safety side of this decision. 

• The health metrics we have been sharing on our health monitoring dashboard are very important and have shaped this decision.  I am making this decision conditional because of where they currently sit in Denver and Aurora and my understanding of the underlying data and science. 
• Denver Health Doctors who lead the Denver Department of Public Health recently affirmed that it is safe to carefully return to school at this moment in time even with the recent spike in cases. Please see their public letter here.  In my conversations this week they reaffirmed this stance with both elementary and secondary students. 
• Cherry Creek School District has been using a hybrid model for the last six weeks and while there has been a student diagnosis that was highly publicized, the larger story is that they have had no confirmed transmissions of COVID within a school environment. Denver Health Doctors believe this experience is transferable to a Denver context and is a strong indicator that when COVID basic health guidelines are followed, schools are safe. To be clear, DSST is planning to have far more stringent health and safety protocols than Cherry Creek.
• Positivity rates are extremely low in Denver and a little higher in Aurora.  Public health experts are confident that the low positivity rates and low transmission rate signal that school communities, when following the basics (symptom screening, masking, social and distancing), can minimize risk and keep students and staff safe.
• As we have seen over the last six months, the timing of spikes in cases makes a big difference.  Cases have increased in Denver and Aurora over the last month, attributed by doctors to college outbreaks at the University of Denver and Regis University. This past week has begun to see a decline in cases and a decline in positivity rates (the most forward looking metric).  With our possible in-person return nearly a month away, tracking the cases in Denver and Aurora will be important and at this point, we have reason to believe that the cases will continue to decline, but we don’t yet have enough insight to know what it will be like at the end of October.

From a student and family perspective, we need to do what we can to provide our students in-person learning.  Our students are hurting relationally and academically.  We see it in the data.  Students’ self-reported wellness has fallen well-short of our goals and many parents have shared with me and school directors that they are worried about the mental health of their children.  Academically, our students are falling behind.  Middle school students are starting this year on average 9 percentile lower in reading and math than last year based on our diagnostic testing.  High School PSAT scores dropped 10 percentile.  Our most vulnerable students, despite our best efforts, are falling further behind.  Since June, 70% of our parents have told us they want their children safely back in school. Yet, we recognize that COVID is disproportionately impacting our families of color which makes it important that we honor and respect the choices of our families.

So, what does it mean to “partially return”?  I use the word partial because remote learning will still be a primary mode of instruction, particularly in our high schools through Trimester 1.  Because of challenges with scheduling, there are two different draft return to school plans that we have developed with our school directors—one for middle schools, one for high schools.  The complexity of course offerings, AP courses and student choice at a HS level would have meant completely changing the courses students are enrolled in and eliminating many AP courses if we had offered instruction in-person. If we do move forward to partially re-open on October 26th, we will still not have more than 40% of our students in a building at a time, leaving class sizes and transitions at a manageable level that minimizes risk to students and staff. 

We look forward to getting much greater input from teachers and staff at each campus as we move draft plans to more concrete plans in the coming weeks. Here’s a high level description for both:

• Middle schools will use an A/B week schedule.  Students in each group will attend class in-person 4 days every two weeks.  Fridays will remain fully remote.  Students will continue to take their core courses and electives, with a majority of them in person in an A/B cohort if they choose the in-person option. 
• High schools will remain fully remote for classroom learning, but we will offer in-person programming specifically focused on tutoring, special services and college advising.  We will also open Remote Learning Centers for up to 20% of students so they can be receiving onsite support, internet access and study space.

Both of these plans would begin after Fall Break.  I remain hopeful that we can increase the level of in-person learning in our high schools at the beginning of Trimester 2.

In order to create time for training, we will be extending Fall Break for students.  October 21^st – 23^rd will be staggered professional development time for team members and no school for students.  We will be sharing this information with families later today.

I recognize that this is a lot to absorb and you likely have many questions. This is a deeply personal matter for all of us, and I recognize that we need to share grace with each other as we continue to navigate this pandemic together.  I invite you to join me at our Town Hall tomorrow at 3:15PM where we will share a little more detail.  Over the course of the next week, your school leaders will begin to share some of the planning that they have started to get your further input on school specific plans, as well.

Thank you for your patience as we’ve worked through this initial decision over the last few weeks--and thank you for always working hard for our kids.  I will be closely tracking metrics and COVID as we move to finalize this decision in mid-October.  

As always, your feedback is welcome. I am so grateful for each one of you.   

Bill