On Tuesday, Jan. 25, longstanding concerns about insufficient COVID-19 mitigation in D.C. schools resulted in scores of disgruntled students to either stay home or leave their respective school grounds during lunch hour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young people from at least a dozen public and public charter schools participated in the citywide walkout coordinated by Students 4 Safe Learning (S4SL)<\/a>, a group of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) students who continue to advocate for safer learning conditions now and until the pandemic\u2019s end. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Affiliates of the movement said their demands include greater transparency about COVID-19 cases, metrics which would determine when schools should transition to virtual learning, weekly testing of the entire student body and unfettered access to KN95 masks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some remain frustrated with the dearth of more informative conversations which collectively-advised students, parents, teachers and administrators about the Omicron variant that not only compelled a string of closures in December<\/a> but revealed discrepancies about the total number of positive COVID-19 cases officials found during test-to-return activities earlier this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudents stress about not knowing if they\u2019re going to encounter COVID and with the lack of transparency, we don\u2019t know how much administrators are telling us,\u201d said a Banneker Academic High School student and SFSL affiliate who requested anonymity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re super secretive about the information that students and parents should [be able to] access. It\u2019s stressful worrying about coming into close contact with the virus and bringing it home to family members. We have to choose between our health and education,\u201d the student said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the last few weeks, students in school districts across the U.S. have walked out in opposition to leaders\u2019 decision to continue in-person learning amid the Omicron variant. Last week, students in neighboring Montgomery County, Md. walked out in demand of virtual learning. Public school students in Chicago, Denver, New York City and Portland have taken a similar course of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tuesday\u2019s protest reportedly took place at Banneker, Dunbar High School, School Without Walls, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Wilson High School and Columbia Heights Educational Campus [CHEC] in Northwest, along with McKinley Technology High School and Ron Brown Preparatory High School in Northeast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It followed an hours-long meeting<\/a> between teachers and administrators at Anacostia High School in Southeast about safety concerns. Data compiled by DC Health shows that, as of Jan. 19, District schools have recorded more than 6,000 positive COVID cases<\/a> this academic year, with public and public charter schools accounting for 90 percent. Wilson High School and Capital City Public Charter School in Northwest count among the schools with the highest number of cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, three in four cases involve students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n