Some Fairfax Students Go Back to School 2 Days a Week, Wear Masks, Sit 6 Feet Apart While Their Teachers Stay Home

A Fairfax, Virginia, high school has at long last reopened: Some students can now come to class two days a week, sit in desks that are six feet apart, open up their laptops, and receive virtual instruction from their teacher, who remains at home. An additional school employee—one of 800 new “classroom monitors”—sits in the classroom with the students.

Rational parents might object that such a school—Annandale High School—is not meaningfully reopened in any sense, but this is what students are being asked to live with for the foreseeable future. Under Fairfax’s reopening plans, thousands of teachers will be permitted to keep teaching from home—even if their students are back in the classroom.

Some students returned to the classroom today in Fairfax County. These students at Annandale HS are in the building but still learning virtually. Each is in a different class with a different teacher who is teaching from home. One of FCPS’ new class monitors is in the room. pic.twitter.com/cDrm7wgDA