Dr. Babur Lateef posted to Twitter today a message asking residents to “never forget” the school closures that led to students across Virginia falling behind in math, science, reading, and writing, according to the latest Virginia Standards of Learning scores released Thursday, August 18.
“NEVER FORGET what misinformed and misled public health officials, politicians, constituencies, and media did to stop the busses and close schools,” Lateef stated.
https://twitter.com/PWCSChairman/status/1560983026695372802
The message comes 48 hours before the start of the 2022-23 school year in Prince William County. More than 90,000 students will return to the classroom, and most won’t be faced with coronavirus mitigation mandates such as forced masking or social distancing requirements.
However, the community’s smallest children in Head Start must continue covering their faces due to federal regulations handed down by the Biden Administration. Head Start programs accept federal and state funds and must adhere to rules set by the Federal Government.
When Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order earlier this year for school divisions to allow children to enter school buildings without a face covering, Lateef and seven others on the county School Board sued Youngkin, seeking clarification on the order.
About two weeks later, Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly in Richmond worked to bring a bill to Youngkin’s desk to repeal mask mandates, which the governor signed.
As we reported on Thursday, SOL scores, though improved from last year, continue to be well below pre-coronavirus pandemic scores tallied in 2019. Reading scores improved by two points, history and social sciences increased by 11 points, and math was up 12 points to 67%. In Prince William County, the overall writing score dropped by nine points over the past year, with 70% of students mastering the skill.
The scores continue to trail 2019 numbers that showed more than 80% of students in the school division were proficient in science and math, and 79% did well in reading.
Then Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was the first in the U.S. to shutter school buildings across the state in March 2020, sending hundreds of thousands of children and parents in more than 180 school divisions in Virginia scrambling to adapt to online learning.
According to state education officials, it didn’t work.
“The bottom line is that in-person instruction matters. When we compare the 2021-2022 data with achievement in 2020-2021 — when the majority of our students were learning remotely or on hybrid schedules — we can see the difference our teachers made once they were reunited with their students in their classrooms,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.
