'It feels like the goalpost keeps moving': Vaccine battle brewing in Fairfax County Public Schools
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - A grassroots parents group is calling out the Fairfax County Public Schools school district and the unions for delaying in-person instruction for students.
The founder of #OPENFCPS Christy Hudson is also a Fairfax County Public Schools parent. She says they want students to return to the classroom now.
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Initially, one of the county’s top union heads, Kimberly Adams, said the union was comfortable with a return to in-person instruction as long as staff had received both coronavirus vaccine doses but now that could be changing.
As one source at Fairfax County Public Schools told FOX 5’s Tisha Lewis, "It feels like the goalpost keeps moving."
Right now, Fairfax County Public Schools is pushing for a tentative and phased-in return to in-person instruction for students and staff starting February 16.
The Fairfax Education Association, the union, says they’d prefer a later start date and now they’re exploring delaying in-person instruction for students who have not received the vaccine.
"We think all students need to be vaccinated before in-person instruction resumes full time. For now, a hybrid learning option must continue to be available to all students and staff," said Fairfax Education Association President Kimberly Adams.
Adams received her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine a couple of weeks ago.
Adams is the president of the Fairfax Education Association, one of the top teachers' unions in Fairfax County, now saying there should be an option for students who do not have the coronavirus vaccine.
The coronavirus vaccine is not currently available for children and clinical trials and research on the vaccine in children are far from complete.
The school district insists, despite the union's assertion, that it will not wait for students to be vaccinated to resume in-person instruction.
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Even so, anything later than returning to school tomorrow is too late for one group of parents.
"Children could go back to school tomorrow. We would support it. We think Fairfax County schools is ready... we think they can do it safely," said Christy Hudson, an FCPS parent and founder of #OPENFCPS.
Hudson says she supports not just a hybrid option. She wants the school to start in hybrid and then quickly expand to a full five day in person schedule.
So far, FOX 5 has learned 90% of FCPS staff have signed up or received their vaccination — that’s about 22,000 employees.