Cape district reverses decision on remote learning

In an announcement to district families released late Monday, Dec. 14, Cape Superintendent Bob Fulton said the district’s operational issues had become significant since his Dec. 4 announcement that schools would remain hybrid, resulting in a move to remote learning beginning Friday, Dec. 18.

“Unfortunately, the number of necessary quarantines for the positive cases have increased over the last few days,” Fulton stated in the letter. “This increase in quarantines, along with a lack of substitute teacher coverage in the classrooms has caused operational challenges for our schools.”

The district will “pause” hybrid learning for three days before winter break beginning Friday, Dec. 18 until Tuesday, Dec. 22, Fulton said; all students will participate in remote learning on Friday, Dec. 18; Monday, Dec. 21 and Tuesday, Dec. 22.

Students and families can expect to receive more information from their school and/or individual teachers later this week, Fulton said, and staff will receive more information from their building administration.

“Please know that it is our intention to return to our hybrid learning plan on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021,” he stated. “We will continue to monitor district COVID-19 and staffing data over our winter break and notify you as soon as possible if there are any changes to our plan.”

The decision comes just four days after the Dec. 10 school board meeting in which the Cape teachers union asked leaders to reconsider remaining hybrid, and Fulton said the number of cases and operational issues did not merit closing schools.

On Dec. 3, Gov. John Carney recommended that Delaware schools with significant operational challenges transition to remote learning from Dec. 14 through Jan. 8. On Dec. 4, Fulton said the Cape district is not facing those challenges; he reported 49 total positive cases since the school year began Sept. 16, equating to less than a 1 percent positive rate, and that of the 27 staff members who had to quarantine, none had tested positive.

At the meeting, Cape Henlopen Education Association President Lacey Brown said teachers don’t want to go remote, because being in school is best for students and educators, but said union members have been pulled from normal assignments to cover classes when teachers are quarantined and substitutes aren’t available. 

Brown said teachers aren't confident the district is accurately reporting positive COVID cases and quarantines, and that designing and implementing instruction on multiple platforms for in-person and remote students has been stressful. Several other teachers spoke, citing similar concerns regarding a shortage of staff and asking the board to follow the governor’s recommendation.

At the time, Fulton said he spoke with Carney and Secretary of Education Susan Bunting before making the decision to stay hybrid, and confirmed that state leaders want districts to stay in person unless they are experiencing significant operational issues. As of Dec. 8, he said, the district recorded 56 total positive cases, 24 students and 32 staff, equaling less than five total cases per week since Sept. 16. Based on positive cases, Fulton said, 76 students and staff have had to be quarantined, equaling 1.4 people quarantined per case. 

At the meeting, Fulton said he felt the operational issues existing at the time did not even come close to rising to the point of shutting schools down.

“If at any point it does, I have no trouble with shutting things down tomorrow and sending everyone home for remote learning,” he said.