Editor’s note: This is the first part of a three part article highlighting how school districts are grappling with challenges as they figure out when and how to reopen. Part 2 will print in Saturday’s edition and online at Record-Bee.com
Just as students and teachers across California are adjusting to distance learning, many districts are bracing for a new challenge, one that may be even more daunting: How — and when — to re-open campuses safely.
Although the coronavirus continues to spread in California, some districts have reopened for in-person classes, and others may be able to welcome students back to campus as soon as this month. Those in areas with the highest infection rates will stay closed for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, decisions about reopening are fraught with unknowns. Teachers, parents and superintendents all want to ensure safe conditions, but disagree about what constitutes “safe.” And conditions change constantly, as research about the coronavirus evolves, infection rates fluctuate and counties move on and off the state’s monitoring list.
The result, in many districts, has been fear and painstaking caution, no matter how eager students and their families are to return to in-person school.
“People are scared. They don’t have firm information, and they hear contradictory information, which only furthers their fears and uncertainties,” said San Jose Unified Deputy Superintendent Stephen McMahon, whose district is currently still barred by state guidelines from in-class instruction. “I think that is our biggest challenge in getting schools open: Nobody knows the best practice for adults and young people working together.”
Parent Talmera Richardson of Oakland, where schools are similarly restricted from opening, said the deliberations over reopening campuses feels like “playing Russian roulette” with children’s lives — especially for communities of color, which have seen particularly high infection rates.
“People must look at the science, stick to the science and look at the numbers, especially in the Black and brown communities,” she said.
Districts are mulling hybrid schedules, classroom deep-cleaning protocols and other steps to minimize risk. They’re also looking at what has worked, and has not worked, at charter and private schools that have already re-opened for students.
Regardless of their timelines, all districts will eventually navigate the complicated steps to bringing students back to campus.
“At some point, we’re going back to school,” said Bob Nelson, superintendent of Fresno Unified. “So we need to start dealing with it.”
The issues surrounding how and when to reopen schools are complex and rife with debate and many unknowns. The following are key pieces that must fall into place before school districts can welcome students back to campus, even if their counties are not on the Tier 1 purple-colored list.
Teachers may get the final word
In most of California’s school districts, teachers will be the X factor in the plans for an in-person return to school. Negotiations in coming weeks between unions and administrators — and their lawyers — will determine when and if, particularly for at-risk and older teachers, they will return to the classroom and under what conditions.
The California Teachers Association has insisted teachers should return only when it is safe and health and safety protocols are in place. But teachers, like parents, are divided on what they consider “safe,” and perceptions can quickly change, said Patrick Bernhardt, president of the San Jose Teachers Association.
In July, partly because of perceived health risks, San Jose Unified teachers rejected the district’s request for them to teach via distance learning from their classrooms to their still homebound students. Yet as of late August, 70% of teachers on their own decided to teach remotely from their schools, Bernhardt said. That is why most districts are once again surveying parents and staff.
For districts with formal agreements already in place with their unions on what hybrid and other in-person systems will look like, the transition could be quick.
Terry Walker, superintendent of 35,000-student Irvine Unified, said a reopening date will be set shortly after schools can open in Orange County on Sept. 22. When they return for in-person instruction, students will have the same teachers they had during distance learning. Student assignments factored in which teachers have health risks and cannot do in-school instruction.
Other superintendents face weeks of intense negotiations. Bob Blattner, a Sacramento-based education consultant, said it’s a sensitive issue with conflicting interests: Can parents get back to work? Will teachers be exposed to asymptomatic carriers? Will highest-needs students fall farthest behind?
“Superintendents do not want to get ahead of negotiations or get sideways with the community,” he said.
Julie Walker, president of the Sweetwater Education Association, which represents 1,800 teachers in Sweetwater Union High School District in south San Diego County, said Covid-19 metrics will determine when teachers return. She said officials should consider not only countywide rates but those in specific areas such as Chula Vista, which has had high spikes of Covid-19. The district should “err on the side of caution” and learn from the experience of private and charter schools that will reopen first, she said.
Maintaining social distance “with kids who want and need contact with their peers” will be a challenge. Proper ventilation in old buildings is a big concern. Having handwashing stations in place and cleaning protocols for classrooms serving different student groups are non-negotiable, she said.
The reluctance of teachers with health concerns to return could be one of the biggest hurdles, said Mark Campbell, superintendent of 2,800-student Calaveras Unified in the Sierra foothills. It’s been offering distance learning since Aug. 14, even though, under the state’s new color-coded designation system, it can offer in-person instruction.
“If today were Judgment Day, we would not be able to pull it off,” he said. “The district could reopen schools, but teachers could decide to take leaves of absence and leave the schools understaffed.”
What the data says
According to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, 33 counties are in Tier 1, meaning the coronavirus is “widespread.” A designation of Tier 1, which is color-coded purple, prohibits schools from opening for in-person instruction without a waiver.
School districts in counties designated Tier 1 can apply for a waiver from their county health officer to open K-6 classrooms.
Statewide, 112 public schools have been granted waivers to reopen, as well as approximately 200 private schools, religious schools, tutoring centers and other non-public schools.
