Delaware’s largest teachers union wants districts to err towards a remote learning start to the school year this fall.
The Delaware Department of Education (DOE) released its guidance to districts and charters Wednesday outlining the necessary precautions for schools to take to ensure children are safe from the virus in the classroom.
The guidelines are built around three scenarios: a full return to school, complete remote learning or a combination of the two. The DOE has said a decision regarding which path to take will be made early next month.
Delaware State Education Association President Stephanie Ingram served on one of the working groups which developed the guidance, but says schools don’t have enough time to implement the guidance and open school campuses safely.
“I would like the districts to be honest as well,” said Ingram. “When they go through the –what is it—34 pages of material and they are seeing ‘we really may not be able to get this done.’ Let’s start remote and give ourselves enough time to implement these ideas and these guidelines.”
The 34 pages includes guidance around things like sanitation, foot traffic, desk positioning, social distancing and mask wearing.
Ingram says teachers have worked out many of the remote learning kinks.
“We learned a lot from March when we absolutely had to jump into remote learning. We learned what works well and what we still need to work on.”
The state has said whether or not schools will open in fall depends on community spread of the virus.
Currently, the average percentage of people testing positive remains below five in Delaware. 5 percent is the World Health Organization’s target as one indication the virus is controlled. And the state’s five-day average of new positive cases is below 100.
