DCPS Parents Worried About Reopening 2021

Yesterday, the DC Council unanimously passed emergency legislation as a preliminary step to make DC schools safer for children, families, and communities, during this ongoing global pandemic. The legislation expands the virtual learning option, requires more robust asymptomatic testing, and more.

This emergency legislation came to be in large part because of the leadership and advocacy of parents and educators of this group DC Families for Covid Safer Schools and the broader community.

Thanks to you all for your tireless work to spotlight the many deficiencies in the city's reopening plans and for continuing to fight for the safest school environment for all DC children!

The work continues.

DC Council Passes Emergency Legislation Expanding Virtual Learning The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday expanding the virtual learning option in schools — a plan Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on, saying it goes against the best interests of students. Since the school year began with full-time in-person learning, almost 200 D.C. Public Schools s...

For more information about DC Families for Covid Safer Schools, our mission and goals, and how you can get involved, visit:

Home | COVIDSaferSchoolsDC DC Families for COVID Safer Schools is a grassroots group of parents and teachers who want to ensure all schools have SAFER protocols. Join covidsaferschoolsdc.org to help protect students, parents and families in DC.

Contrary to the narrative Mayor Bowser and her administration have been pushing since August, DC Public Schools were NOT READY to reopen safely for our children and families. Faulty infrastructure and broken HVAC systems, grossly inadequate testing, ineffective and confusing quarantine policies, lack of data transparency, lack of much-needed outdoor equipment, and no virtual option for parents who want it, are just some of the reasons why we have to continue to hold city leaders accountable. The city has a responsibility to protect our children from COVID-19 when they're at school, and they are falling.

In large part due to parents, teachers and community leaders ringing the alarm, today, the DC Council plans to introduce emergency legislation would require an increase in asymptomatic testing, looser virtual option restrictions, and more.

We all believe in-person learning is best for most DCPS students, but only when it's safe!

How strict should requirements to participate in virtual learning be? D.C. Council and Bowser feud over the answer. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser wrote a letter Sunday rebuking the D.C. Council’s proposed emergency legislation.

Are you a parent or an educator in DC? Do you have concerns about DCPS' school reopening plans? Do you believe city leadership has failed in providing a plan, guidance and support to administrators, teachers, students, and families that optimizes safety for our school communities? If so, JOIN US!

DC Families for Covid-Safer Schools is a fast-growing coalition of DC public school families, educators, and community members from all 8 Wards, that shares DCPS’s belief that in-person learning is better for the vast majority of students, but only when A+ mitigation strategies are required, supported, and fully resourced and implemented.

The current DC schools reopening plan DOES NOT adequately protect students or empower families. As important as in-person learning is, as parents, educators, and government leaders, ensuring the safety and health of our children and students has to be our number one priority.

Like our page and join us in our efforts to ensure city officials provide DC families with a virtual option (which would help decrease the number of children in classrooms for effective distancing) and MUCH BETTER safeguards for our children and teachers inside crowded school buildings!

Here are the things that need to change about DCPS’s in-person reopening plans: https://docs.google.com/file/d/15DBDQRJPc_e6TNEOiWRfMxIHz0RvIZjl/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword

Here is a list of the things that need to change in DCPS’s school reopening plan: https://docs.google.com/file/d/15DBDQRJPc_e6TNEOiWRfMxIHz0RvIZjl/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword

Please consider signing this petition, which asks Mayor Bowser to provide a virtual school option for all families who are interested, without requiring a medical waiver.

Sign the Petition DC schools must provide a virtual option until children under 12 can be vaccinated.

Here is the letter that a growing coalition of parents sent to Mayor Bowser on 8/17/21. We are asking for 1) a safer covid plan for in-person learning, and 2) a virtual option for all interested families (with no medical waiver needed).

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the District, largely due to the Delta variant surge, and an alarming increase of cases among children, we are asking the Mayor to mandate a virtual learning option for all DC schools.
DCPS has an obligation to keep kids safe; its own policies require that our children be provided a safe, secure, and healthy environment to thrive. The current reopening plan for in-person learning does not meet these requirements, particularly for unvaccinated pre-K and elementary-aged children. We demand that DCPS fulfill its obligations by adjusting its reopening plan prior to the scheduled opening on August 30.

Please consider signing this grassroots petition for a DCPS virtual option.

Sign the Petition DC schools must provide a virtual option until children under 12 can be vaccinated.