CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education will discuss an update to its reopening plan at its scheduled Aug. 3 meeting, according to an agenda released Friday afternoon.
The agenda provides no details about the potential content of the update or whether it will represent a significant change for parents, teachers and schools during the 2020-’21 school year.
At the time the agenda was posted, Cincinnati Public Schools’ back-to-school plan involved separating most K-12 students into groups attending in-person classes part of the week and learning online for the remainder to reduce the change of contracting COVID-19. Students whose families are uncomfortable with an in-person return can choose to learn digitally instead.
However, the district has received significant pushback from its teachers and other staff members, who have no choice but attend in-person through the entire year. Refusing to do so could cost them their jobs.
“I have no choice,” CPS employee Lexie Lopez-Mayo said at another meeting in mid-July. “I have to work. So that means that I’m either putting my life at risk or my children’s life at risk because you’re sending me back into the schools.”
Some teachers criticized the district’s hiring process for substitutes, of which officials expect to need many. They’ll be required to teach in person, too.
The interviews are being conducted virtually for safety.
