New School Board leaders elected; Second Step program on hold; WCPS preps for possible switch to virtual learning

The Warren County School Board unanimously elected members Kristen Pence as chair and Ralph Rinaldi as vice-chair during its first meeting of 2022 and acted to temporarily — albeit indefinitely — put on hold the school division’s Second Step curriculum pending review.

Board members also learned that Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) is preparing for a possible switch to virtual learning due to staffing shortages associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the school division’s COVID-19 Dashboard data as of Thursday, January 6, there are 21 active staff cases of COVID-19 with 10 staff members quarantined. There are also 34 active student cases of COVID-19 and 105 students are quarantined, according to the dashboard.

“Looking at our case count, we may face a time when we will have to make the decision to possibly close schools due to staffing issues,” WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger told the School Board members during their regular meeting on Wednesday, January 5. “Staffing is becoming an issue everywhere so we will look at that on a daily basis.”

Ballenger said that he is talking daily to principals, who are monitoring their staff numbers. In preparation, he said that principals have discussed a possible switch to virtual learning with their staff.

According to a January 3 letter that Ballenger posted online and sent to parents and guardians, WCPS will continue to operate in phase two of its COVID-19 mitigation plan, which requires masks to be worn indoors at all times unless there is a medical or religious modification on file.

“Schools will start this semester with continued mitigation measures to help ensure that our environment is safe,” according to the letter. “This may include, but not be limited to emphasizing hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, minimizing congregate settings, increasing physical distance where feasible, enhancing cleaning and sanitization throughout the day and overnight, and adjusting meal procedures and schedules as needed.”

With an increase in positive COVID cases within the Warren County community, Ballenger wrote that individual school closures may occur due to staffing issues. Staff at all schools, he said, will be prepared to transition to virtual learning if it becomes necessary to close individual sites.

“WCPS will try to provide advanced notice, but parents should be prepared, and understand, that school closures could happen with little notification,” according to his letter, in which Ballenger noted that WCPS also will adhere to updated guidance issued on December 27, 2021, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During Wednesday’s School Board meeting, Ballenger said that since the start of the current academic school year, WCPS has and will continue to conduct deep sanitation every night in hallways and in classrooms. This will be enhanced by increased daily cleaning on high-touch areas, he said.

WCPS staff also are conducting all meetings virtually, the superintendent reported.

Surprise action taken

With School Board members Pence, Rinaldi, Antoinette Funk, Andrea Lo, and Melanie Salins present during Wednesday’s regular meeting, they unanimously approved an unlisted, additional action item to temporarily put on hold the use of the Second Step Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program curriculum in WCPS following a motion by Rinaldi that was seconded by Salins.

The Second Step program is a registered trademark of the nonprofit Committee for Children, which is based in Seattle, Wash. WCPS purchases Second Step from the Committee for Children, which says on its website that the Second Step programs are research-based, teacher-informed, and classroom-tested to promote the social-emotional development, safety, and well-being of children from early learning through Grade 8.

Two Front Royal, Va., residents voiced concerns about the Second Step program during the community participation segment of the School Board’s meeting. Both Rinaldi and Salins suggested action during the School Board members’ reports segment of the meeting.

Mike Mayer questions School Board on Second Step SEL curriculum.

Residents Mike Mayer and Amber Morris said that the Second Step SEL curriculum is being implemented in WCPS without the approval or endorsement of the School Board or the public.

“Who is responsible for this? Is it the Board? Mr. Ballenger? I want to know who made the call to use my tax dollars to implement this garbage in our schools without the informed consent of the people,” Mayer said.

Morris and Mayer said they are concerned about the program’s content. Morris called it Marxist while Mayer said it is dangerous.

Amber Morris tells School Board she doesn’t co-parent with the government.

Board members Rinaldi and Salins — who said they received communications from concerned parents this week — also said they also are concerned that WCPS parents cannot easily view the scripted Second Step lesson plans, which are trademarked material, although there are some basic overviews and videos provided online by the Committee for Children, they said.

And while parents may opt-out their children from participating in Second Step, per the WCPS handbook, Rinaldi and Salins think parents should be made more aware of the program’s content.

Rinaldi, for instance, said that as a former Fauquier County, Va., middle school teacher and football coach who taught a similar family life education curriculum there, he looked at a Second Step video and wondered “is there a possibility that some teachers can interweave the critical race theories idea?”

Ralph Rinaldi, the new Vice-Chair of School Board, motions to suspend the Second Step vote.

Salins said that while there is a student opt-out form in the WCPS handbook for the program, that’s “not the same thing as being upfront, open, honest, and transparent” about the content.

“Parents want to know specifically what is being taught,” she said, adding that WCPS must be “hypervigilant” in ensuring that parents and the community have easy access to easily understandable information. “Parents just want to know what kids are learning about and I don’t think they’re asking too much when it comes to that,” said Salins.

Rinaldi’s motion was to temporarily suspend Second Step until parents, school administrators, teachers, the School Board, and community leaders have time to review the program’s content. Following a review, he said, board action can then be introduced to either continue the program, modify it, or cancel it.

“We’re at the point where every once in a while, you have to sit back and review what is being done and reevaluate it,” he said.

Following the Board’s vote to suspend the program in WCPS, there was no plan instituted on how the review will happen or how long it will take, nor how long the program will be halted. Rinaldi said that will remain open-ended until a decision on the program is reached.

“The School Board has always and will continue to make the best decisions possible for all of the children of Warren County,” Ballenger wrote the Royal Examiner in an email today. “The Board has asked for an opportunity to review the program and so as a division, we will provide an opportunity for review.”

The superintendent also added that the Second Step program was purchased at the middle school level in 2015 and has been used at the elementary level since 2011 to address bullying, as well as to help students cope with stress and anger. He also wrote that the program was used to supplement the Life Skills program being offered. The link to the scope and sequence for K-8 is:  https://cfccdn.blob.core.windows.net/static/pdf/scope-sequence/second-step-k8-scope-sequence-full.pdf 

The School Board’s next meeting is its work session, which is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19, at 5 p.m. To watch the January 5 regular meeting in its entirety, click here.