Governor Update for June 9, 2020

Virginia Schools reopens this Fall; Rest of Virginia enters Phase 2 Friday

 

 
        As the nation reflects and celebrates the life of George Floyd, in an almost five-hour event, in the Virginia commonwealth Governor Northam made a major announcement on youth sports and on a phased approach to the reopening of Pre-K to 12 schools. Higher education will receive an announcement in Thursday's briefing. 

       Before announcing the verdict for Pre-K to 12 schools, which has been shut down since late March, the governor had some business to get through. "Business" includes an update on his talks with leaders of the police chief association; an announcement on personnel appointments; and an update on how the City of Richmond and Northern Virginia can move forward into Virginia's reopening blueprint. 

      After a brief moment of silence for Mr. Floyd, Governor Northam explained the ultimate shared goal of "rebuilding trust within the community." This shared goal was referring to his earlier meeting and frank discussion with the police chief association on the pain many Americans feel and the protests over-policing in African American communities. The governor also told the public about his future plans to meet with activists and other leaders so "serious reform can occur". Another thing the governor told the public was his call to Chief Justice Donald Lemons of the Virginia Supreme Court thanking him for the temporary moratorium on evictions. 

     Going towards personnel appointments, Governor Northam made a total of 5, which includes 3 to the Virginia Crime Commission. Those 5 include: 

• Curtis Brown to the role of State Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management; 
• Jehmal Hudson to fill a judicial vacancy at the State Corporation Commission; 
• Chief Larry Berman, Cheif of the Norfolk Police Department; 
• Larry Terry, Director of the Weldon Cooper Center for public service at the University of Virginia; 
  
• and Lori Haas of the Coalition Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. 

    Once business was out of the way, Governor Northam first went into the COVID update talking about how the overall metrics and numbers look good and are trending down. Right now it's at 10% statewide. Secondly, the governor announced that the City of Richmond and Northern Virginia can move forward into Phase Two this coming June 12th. Thirdly, Governor Northam announced that all Virginia schools will reopen to students this fall but through a very different and phased approach by the Virginia Department of Education. Dr. James Lane, Superintendent of Public Instruction came shortly after with how the phased approach will go. 

  

     In the phased approach to reopening schools, just in time for the summer, the workgroup that was announced in mid-may put together the following, which shows the opportunities for in-person instruction. The information down below is from the June 9, 2020 press release, which can be found here. 

• Phase One: special education programs and child care for working families
• Phase Two: Phase One plus preschool through third-grade students, English learners, and summer camps in school buildings
• Phase Three: all students may receive in-person instruction as can be accommodated with strict social distancing measures in place, which may require alternative schedules that blend in-person and remote learning for students
• Beyond Phase Three: divisions will resume “new-normal” operations under future guidance

For a more detailed guideline to each phase, that can be found here. For the VDOE "Recover, Redesign, Restart" guidelines, it can be found here. For more information from VDOE, that can be found here. 

   When the first topic of the conference wrapped, Governor Northam went into Youth Sports. Instead of the governor explaining the phase two guidelines himself, he had Clark Mercer, the governor's Chief of Staff, explain it to the public, since he is a former athlete and has two children who loves being outside and playing sports. Youth Sports can start back up on Friday, June 12th. For more information on Youth Sports, see the press conference below at 25:30 ending at 30:09. 

    The final note the governor made was about the upcoming elections. He originally said that today, June 9th by 5pm was the last day to order absentee ballot. The governor misspoke and meant to say next Tuesday, June 16 by 5pm as the last day to request a ballot for the June 23rd election. 

      Lastly, the health update was given by Mr. Norman Oliver, a state health commissioner. Since the last reporting period Virginia, 487 new cases were added to the total bringing it to 51,738 cases. When it comes to deaths there was a number of 19 added, bringing it 1,496 statewide.

      When the health update finished, the governor allowed for questioning. In the questioning period, Henry Graff, a WWBT/NBC12 reporter, asked for an update on the monument removal. Rita Davis, the counsel to the governor answered. That can be found from the 33:20 mark to the 35:18 mark of the conference. The rest of this period can be found through the 53:55 mark. The next press conference is set for Thursday, June 11th at 2pm. 

To see the Governor's Press Conference, you may watch it down below.