Monthly Archives: January 2022

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) With positive COVID-19 cases in our area surging, many teachers and school staff out because of quarantine, and school systems trying to do all they can to stay open five days a week, WAVY.com is focused on the quality of education for children in our area. We spoke with teachers on the front lines, as well as school administrators, to find out where the quality of education stands right now.

Now that the kids are back five days per week, we can see their learning loss, and we have made adjustments to the learning loss, and we now have kids catching back up and getting to where they should be because their schools are open five days per week, said Dr. Don Robertson, Chief of Staff for Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

Dr. Robertson says schools want to keep that progress growing. The challenge is many teachers are home in quarantine.

Were about 50% higher per day than we would be in any normal year, said Dr. Robertson.

So, with that record number of teachers out, and substitutes, specialty teachers, and even staff from the central office covering classes, how can we guarantee our kids are getting a quality education?

Schools have the ability to mobilize their staff to ensure that a qualified individual is in front of every classroom in every school. So, fast forward to where we are right now. We can put a qualified individual in front of the classroom in every school in every class in all 86 of our buildings. Weve been able to do that for the last six days. The (positive COVID-19 test) numbers are higher, but again, through the plan that we have of the staff, of principals, using the existing staff in their building, and weve identified through our chief officers those individuals who have worked in a school before, or have a college degree, and have been in a school setting, to go in and sub. Weve identified 50 of those individuals, and we deploy about 30 of those a day out to schools, said Dr. Robertson.

He makes it clear that the school system is doing everything it can to keep schools open five days a week while giving children the education they deserve.

We all recognize that theres no replacement for the teachers in the classrooms. but what we are providing is a superior alternative to not having that teacher in the classroom, said Dr. Robertson.

Both Robertson and Dr. Kipp Rogers, who is the Chief Academic Officer of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, have subbed several times this year.

The substitute plans that have been laid out for those who are substituting have been second to none, said Dr. Rogers.

Dr. Rogers sings the praises of teachers making sure those filling in have everything they need to succeed. He cites a time this month when he subbed for a 5th grade teacher.

The lesson plan was designed for a teacher, and I struggled for about 20 minutes in making sure that I had solid understanding on what I was supposed to do. I had reading groups, three separate reading groups. I had three separate math groups. The lesson plans were extremely detailed. So, it was as if the teacher was actually in that classroom. Additionally, I think the cultures been set in Virginia Beach such that we operate as a team. So, in that one classroom, there were also three other 5th grade teachers who constantly checked in with me to make sure that I had every detail that I needed in order to make sure that the lesson plans were executed as they were presented, he explained.

Dr. Rogers also says there is some common planning among grade levels and subjects. So, in an instance where a substitute teacher may need something, they are able to go to a colleague whos teaching the same subject matter, or grade level, to get the activity.

WAVY.com asked teachers throughout Hampton Roads how they feel about the quality of education they can provide right now. Were keeping their comments anonymous to protect them from potential repercussions.

A Virginia Beach City Public Schools teacher said:

Unfortunately, the massive increase in positive cases, and quarantine, has impacted both staff and students and the quality of instruction that our teachers are able to provide. We have so many students out that teachers are not only having to plan for the students who are in the classroom, but also to catch the students up who were absent, as well as use their planning time to communicate with parents and sick/quarantined students (at times meeting virtually with them or creating videos and additional resources for them due to missed instruction). This leaves very little time to adequately plan new lessons or provide feedback. This is especially true at the elementary level where planning time is nearly nonexistent. The sheer number of the staff that are out sick, and unable to write substitute plans, also impacts the staff that remains as they give of their planning time to help out, and since there is a substitute shortage, specialists are routinely being pulled to cover classes, so they are not able to collaborate with the teachers. For instance, our reading and math specialists are needed more than ever to collaborate with and help teachers differentiate for students that are behind because of the pandemic, but when they are pulled daily to cover classrooms, they are not able to do their jobs and instruction suffers. And again, due to the lack of substitutes, the students are not truly receiving quality instruction when there is a revolving cast of adults teaching their classroom from day to day. This also greatly impacts our students with special needs, as changes in personal routine can trigger behaviors, and substitutes dont necessarily know how to de-escalate the situations. We have experienced more behaviors and interruptions in instruction this year as a result. The teachers that arent out sick are completely burned out, and the only thing that was helping them stay afloat was the additional planning time on Wednesdays, which will not be continued after January 26th. Our best teachers are considering leaving the profession due to the impact on their emotional well-being and the inordinate amount of expectations continuing to be placed on them. We have had several resign between last year and this year, and filling positions sometimes takes months as there are no teachers to be found. No one wants to go into education anymore, which sadly will impact the future of education for years, if not decades, to come.

A Norfolk Public Schools teacher said:

I havent noticed any negative impact on education in my school. We had record number of staff out last week, and everyone pulled together to take extra kids. We also had some specialists covering classes. We made extra copies and got the needed materials to cover our extra students and just kept on trucking. Im really impressed by the way my colleagues came together to support one another and help out the kids.

A Newport News Public Schools teacher said:

The quality of education that teachers are able to provide right now is limited. Teachers are drowning right now! We are trying our best to give our students the best education, but it is impossible when so many students and teachers are out sick. We are having to use so much time outside of work to prepare work online for students quarantining, as well as for our kids in person. We cannot do it during the day because many of our planning periods, and breaks, are being canceled or taken away due to staff shortages. And with so many students quarantined at different times, its hard to catch them up with the material they are missing, especially when many are not completing online work and teachers cannot properly monitor this because we are trying to do our best to teach the kids we do have in person. Its just super overwhelming and upsetting. Of course, Id rather be in school, but I fully support temporarily going virtual to get cases under control. Instead, it seems like everyone would rather push teachers to the limit: giving more work and responsibilities, taking away time to do it, all while we are trying to keep ourselves from getting sick and bringing the virus home to our families. This, along with other systematic problems with education, are why many teachers will be leaving after this school year. Its bad now, but I guarantee the staff shortages will be even worse come next school year.

A Suffolk Public Schools teacher said:

I feel that, with all of the current struggles in the world, our team has really come together to make sure that we are making the students our priority and focusing on education, SEL, and the students needs. Just having the students back in the classroom is a huge motivation for the teachers.

A second Virginia Beach City Public Schools teacher said:

My concern right now in terms of quality of education is not the teacher absences (that is a concern, too, of course), but the student absences. Ive had 15-17 kids out across A/B day classes, and thats hell on them for catching up. Every class Ive had since the return from winter break has had about a quarter of the students absent. The math teachers are swimming in it trying to catch individual kids up when theyve been absent. Posting an asynchronous video isnt enough to help our students who have to recover from 5-10 days out of school. All the testing/accreditation requirements are still in place and putting pressure on everyone to continue the pace of the curriculum. As a school, if we were to pivot to virtual for a week or two, everyone could get well and decrease exposure and we could work with the kids who have been absent. Why cant we do that? I dont want to go back to all virtual or hybrid teaching, but what were doing now is not working. Weve been able to cover all staff absences by using counselors and subs and specialists and other teachers who volunteer to cover, but as a result, the counseling office is on an emergencies only situation because they have people out too and the ones left are covering. Its very tenuous, and if were going to continue the pace as usual (due to those accreditation requirements) then were going to leave many children behind. We need someone in charge to pump the brakes and let us get caught up.

The path to quality education during this pandemic is exhausting and ever changing, but Dr. Rogers makes one thing clear.

All students in Virginia Beach City Public Schools are being cared for by caring adults and staff that want to see them be successful.

That is something that resonates throughout all schools in Hampton Roads.

Original post:

How COVID-19 is impacting the quality of education in Hampton Roads - WAVY.com

Sure, there are official CDC quarantine guidelines and a new state hotline and website for people who test positive. You should consult both. But sometimes its good to hear from another human. These Oregonians share what was hard and what helped them get through.

Tyson Bittrich

Courtesy of Tyson Bittrich

Name: Tyson Bittrich

Variant: probably delta.

Days in isolation: 13

Most useful coping strategies: living on separate floors, buying a pulse oximeter.

Tyson Bittrich, 40, is a musician whos studying renewable energy engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Wilsonville.

He started feeling cruddy on the Tuesday after Halloween. He went to get a test on Thursday with his partner, but it took two days to get the results.

Saturday morning I woke up and I couldnt smell my coffee. I couldnt smell my oatmeal. And sure enough, my results came back Saturday afternoon that I was a positive case, he said.

Bittrich says hed been doing all the right things: wearing a mask; getting vaccinated twice with Pfizer.

I guess there was a sense of surprise and also guilt or shame or something, Bittrich said.

When you test positive for something like this, its not just like a: Oh, wow. Im in harms way. Its: Oh, wow, Im letting the team down.

Before testing positive, Bittrich and his partner were cooking, eating, sleeping, even practicing yoga together. But when he tested negative, they wore masks whenever they got close. Friends offered to put his partner up for the duration, but they decided to stay together and distance, especially because there are two floors in their apartment.

I stayed in the top floor and she stayed in the bottom floor. Since I was feeling fairly crummy, she took care of me. I would have not made it through as well without her of course.

They separated their toiletries in the bathroom. She cooked and when they ate together he sat 15 feet away. They separated their toothbrushes, but didnt sanitize the door handles in the apartment, figuring the greater risk was from breathing in aerosolized virus, rather than via contaminated surfaces.

He contacted any friends and bandmates that he thought he might have infected, but hasnt heard that anybody else caught COVID-19 from him. After testing positive at Zoomcare, Bittrich talked online to an advice nurse.

The advice I got from the nurse, which I followed, was just keep track of two vitals, high fever and your oxygen saturation, he said.

He bought a pulse oximeter, delivered to the house by Target for about $30, to keep track of his oxygen levels. He took his temperature and measured his oxygen saturation three times a day.

I didnt get my taste back until Thanksgiving, but it gave me peace of mind, right? That Im not doing the wrong thing by not going into urgent care, he said.

Bittrichs partner did not get the virus, even though they were in close proximity before he started feeling sick. Their theory is that shed received a booster three weeks earlier, so she had high levels of antibodies to ward off infection.

The times I felt the scariest were the days when my lungs felt the heaviest and head felt like an over-inflated balloon.

Natasha Schwartz

Courtesy of Natasha Schwartz

Name: Natasha Schwartz

Variant: omicron

Days in isolation: 20

Advice: Take the time you need to recover five days wont be enough for some health workers. Use a primary care doctor or immediate care/urgent care clinic, rather than the emergency department. An Apple watch can serve as a heart rate and oxygen-saturation monitor.

Schwartz is an acute care nurse at Oregon Health & Science University, working in the emergency general surgery unit. She lives with her partner, a medical student at OHSU, and has been vaccinated and boosted. Schwartz says shes spent the last two years limiting her social contact to avoid the virus.

Schwartz believes she was likely exposed at work by a patient or co-worker. Until recently, OHSU only tested patients on her unit for COVID-19 if they were showing symptoms, she said.

Her symptoms started on Dec. 23. At first, it was just a headache.

I get migraines, so I thought it was just another migraine, Schwartz said, and then as my shift progressed, I developed some congestion.

After her shift she got a rapid PCR test, and through that OHSUs occupational health program found out she was positive for COVID-19.

She felt angry, defeated, and guilty that shed gotten the virus in spite of wearing a mask and PPE at work and being so careful to protect herself from exposure over the last two years.

I was at work and I knew that I could have been contagious, you know, two days prior to that. Just thinking about potentially exposing my co-workers and patients to COVID really was the biggest thing, she said.

Understanding how much more contagious the omicron variant is than previous variants has helped her with those feelings.

Schwartz called her unit and let the charge nurse and her manager know shed tested positive, and asked her to share the news with the people shed interacted with.

Christmas was coming up and people were going to probably go see family members and you know elderly relatives and I just didnt want people to potentially infect their family members over the holidays, she said.

She canceled her own in-person Christmas with her parents and video chatted over Zoom instead.

Schwartz takes a medication that suppresses her immune system and is considered immunocompromised. At home, she monitored her heart rate and oxygen levels using an Apple watch, kept track of her temperature, and took Tylenol.

She experienced a wide range of symptoms: fever, body aches, severe fatigue and shortness of breath. Five days after she tested positive, her symptoms worsened and she decided to see a doctor. She was too sick to walk around the house or prepare food for herself.

My heart rate was getting really elevated and I was just having so much physical pain from the body aches. I just really wasnt able to move much, she said.

To avoid a long wait in the emergency department, she emailed her primary care doctor and ended up getting seen at an immediate care facility. There, she was prescribed monoclonal antibodies, and treated through an at-home infusion service.

I think the hardest part of it was getting access to care and the fear that, if I needed to go to the hospital, the system is just really overwhelmed. Even as a nurse, I may not have access to the care I need, she said.

Schwartz said after three weeks, shes mostly recovered and getting ready to return to work. She believes the antibody treatment helped.

However, she still has lingering symptoms. She wears a heart monitor to track her heart rate, which is still elevated.

Her partner only had symptoms for a few days and has no residual symptoms.

Schwartz says her doctors recommended that she quarantine for a full 20 days because of her compromised immune system, which might lead a person to shed the virus for a longer period of time.

Shes returning to work. New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allow hospitals with staffing shortages and high patient demand to return COVID-19 positive staff to work after just five days of quarantine, with or without a negative test.

Those guidelines have been condemned by nursing organizations, including the Oregon Nurses Association where Schwartz sits on the board.

Schwartz says OHSU is requiring a negative antigen test first from anyone returning five to 10 days after their symptoms start, an additional step she finds reassuring.

But after her experience with COVID-19, shes concerned about the pressure other nurses may face to work while they are still sick.

Even if my symptoms had improved and I wasnt contagious, theres no way I could have gone back to safely taking care of patients after five days, she said.

Her advice to other nurses is to take the time they need to recover and to accept their physical limitations.

Aarti Kamalahasan

Courtesy of Aarti Kamalahasan

Name: Aarti Kamalahasan

Variant: omicron

Days in quarantine: five

Advice: Get your kids their boosters as soon as you can.

Kamalahasan is an instructional coach for a large school district in Washington County. Shes recently remarried and lives with her husband and a 22 year-old daughter who works in health care. Her son, who is in high school, splits his time between living with her and with his dad.

Kamalahasan and her children have a history of asthma, so shes been afraid COVID-19 could hit them all particularly hard. She got a booster for herself, and pushed to get both her children boosters in mid-December, as soon as they qualified.

After Christmas, her son got a Snapchat message from a school friend who had tested positive for COVID-19. Within a few days, that had snowballed into five or six friends whod all tested positive.

Kamalahasan spent several days hunting for at-home antigen tests after both her son and daughter started experiencing possible symptoms exhaustion and a scratchy throat but was unable to find them anywhere.

They decided to assume they were positive until they knew otherwise.

Tests were hard to come by, and we didnt know what to do, she said. We finally got both of them into their pediatrician and they tested positive. And then I started showing symptoms later that day.

Kamalahasan usually works in-person, supporting and coaching other teachers. She got permission to shift to online-only work.

She went through a rollercoaster of symptoms: serious nausea, chills, a headache and body aches, and shortness of breath.

I kept telling myself, this is mild, she said.

Kamalahasan says they stuck to her sons parenting schedule, so he quarantined at his dads house. Her adult daughter, who usually lives with her, also ended up quarantined at a separate home.

Neither got as sick as she did, but not being able to see her children while they were sick was the hardest part of the experience. Shed try to listen to how their breathing sounded over the phone.

I was just not able to sleep at all, constantly texting, calling, snapchatting. My kids were like, mommy were okay. Im like, okay, but Im going to call you again in an hour.

They were all able to manage their symptoms with over the counter pain medication, lots of hydration, and their inhalers. Mainly what we realized we needed was loads and loads of rest, she said.

Ultimately, knowing her children had their boosters was a major relief. She wasnt afraid theyd wind up hospitalized.

Science had my back, she said.

She was able to finally get antigen tests from Walmart and all three have now tested negative.

Name: Eva McCarthy

Variant wave: wild-type (original)

Days in quarantine: 21

Advice: Accept that it may take time to fully recover and be ready to adapt your routines.

McCarthy practices family medicine in Sublimity, Oregon.

She had a mild case of COVID-19 in the relatively early days of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, in November 2020.

McCarthy was symptomatic for about a week with sinus congestion and upper respiratory symptoms.

At the time, there were much longer isolation guidelines in place, so she had to wait a full 21 days before returning to in-person work.

In the meantime I did telemedicine from home and received a lot of pies and chicken soup on my porch, which I couldnt taste but were very thoughtful, she said.

Even though McCarthy considers herself lucky to have had had only a mild case, she says she still hasnt fully recovered her sense of taste and smell.

Speaking with co-workers who are more recently recovering from COVID, there is a general consensus of surprise over how long the alteration in taste and smell has lasted and how it has changed the things we used to enjoy. For example, I no longer like cilantro or sour foods. Lemon, lime, and orange flavors also have a bad aftertaste and my tolerance of spice has gone way down (and Im Korean so that is sad), she said.

I also hear from colleagues and patients that brain fog and fatigue is real and it has affected work performance for some.

McCarthy wishes shed received better guidance on what to expect, and how long symptoms can last for some people.

Everyones recovery will be slightly different, and in her experience, it helps to focus on the things you can control. Change what you eat to accommodate your new taste buds, or spend more time walking and stretching rather than jumping right back into high intensity workouts.

I also want people to remain fully vigilant of the potential to get re-infected as I have personally known people who have had it again after being fully vaccinated, she said. While I hope that I will not get re-infected and have been boosted, I am not ruling it out and I dont think my taste buds could tolerate another round of COVID.

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My COVID-19 infection: Oregonians whove had it share their advice - OPB News