Virginia Department of Health Creates Pandemic Dashboard; VEA Urges Careful Decision-Making
September 29, 2020
September 29, 2020
The Virginia Department of Health has created a “Pandemic Metrics Dashboard,” which pulls together data on the spread of COVID-19 and includes information designed to help schools make decisions about how to deliver instruction.
The VEA believes that it’s always good to have as much reliable information as possible but urges educators and local officials to use the Dashboard as one source of information. Here’s VEA’s statement:
“The Virginia Education Association’s first priority during the pandemic has been the health and safety of students, their families and communities, and educators. We are grateful that the leaders of our Commonwealth have consistently based their decision on science. While we believe that the dashboard is a good tool to help guide local decisions, we are concerned that if it leads to a rush to return to face-to-face instruction, that will potentially put students and our members at risk. We urge all school divisions to work with their local health departments and their local education associations to make decisions that will keep us all safe.”
Teacher shortages are a serious issue across the country. Here in Virginia, there are currently over 3,648 unfilled teaching positions. (FY23)
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