Kids in masks? Lunch in classrooms? Sacramento schools close to setting 2020-21 plans

Sacramento-area school officials are nearing a decision on when campuses will reopen in the fall, along with a detailed list of safety measures that will be taken to keep children separated and classrooms clean.

But as parents grow anxious about the start of the 2020-21 school year, some are telling school leaders they may continue to educate their children at home or enroll them in independent study, charter or private schools.

While state education officials said earlier this week they could be weeks from providing guidance on the start of the next school year, the Sacramento County Office of Education said it will release its reopening guidelines on June 1.

“It will serve to give parents an idea of what schools will look like,” said SCOE Superintendent David Gordon said. “It will look different than what schools looked like in March.”

Gordon said the guidelines, which are being put together by a task force made up of representatives from the county’s 13 school districts, will provide options for how districts can plan for the school year and give parents a glimpse into what the classroom experience will look like. The guidelines are being developed under the watch of Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye, a key member of the county task force.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state schools chief Tony Thurmond have already shared some of those changes in previous weeks. Some schools may recommend masks, or cancel recess and physical education. Other schools may stagger class schedules, limit how many students are in one classroom at a time and hold morning and afternoon sessions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week released a set of recommendations of measures schools should take when reopening. They include encouraging meals to be served in classrooms to avoid packed cafeterias, facing classroom desks in the same direction and canceling field trips.

In a virtual conference led by Thurmond on Thursday, school officials said some schools could limit how many days a week certain grade levels physically attend school. But Orange Unified School District principal Lorena Rubio, who is on a state task force, said that plan could lead to more inequity.

“The truth of the matter is in order to close the achievement gap, students need to be at school five days a week,” Rubio said. “On the social and emotional front of all of this, our students need to be at school.”

Distance learning here to stay

Gordon said SCOE is hearing from parents who are uncomfortable with the idea of sending their children back to school and would appreciate the option to continue distance learning. SCOE cannot mandate that all 13 of its school districts implement continued distance learning programs, but it seems likely that most – if not all – will have it available in the fall.

“Common sense tells us that there will be a need to work on, improve and perfect distance learning” Gordon said. “There could be a resurgence of the disease, and schools will have to shut down in a day or two notice. We would certainly want to be prepared.”

School districts in Placer and El Dorado counties are also developing reopening plans.

The Roseville City School District is working with the Department of Education and Placer County health officials to make its official decision on how to reopen its schools. But the district says the decision will include a full-time distance learning model for those who wish to continue learning at home.

“We all wonder what school looks like on August 6, 2020,” Superintendent Derk Garcia said in a statement. “The real answer is: I don’t know yet.”

El Dorado Union High School District officials said they are waiting to hear back from the El Dorado County Health Department to inform them how to create school schedules, define how many students will be allowed in classrooms and how many days students can be at school.

In the meantime, El Dorado Union is offering families the option of enrolling in online Independent Study for the 2020-21 school year.

Online class or packed campus

Overall, the options generally break into categories: full distance learning; phasing in a small number of students on campus based on social distancing standards; implementing a hybrid model with students physically in class and online; or returning to schools in a traditional manner. Public and private schools in Sacramento will likely be held to the same reopening standards based on county and state health guidelines.

Folsom Cordova Unified Assistant Superintendent Curtis Wilson said the options could change by the week, as the virus could potentially spread over the summer.

But Folsom Cordova Superintendent Sarah Koligian said the district has every intention to physically reopen on the first day of school.

“We are not reinventing the wheel,” she said. “We are looking at how other schools and countries who have reopened have grappled with challenges. Yes, we have to have different scenarios and options and feedback from parents.”

A dozen Elk Grove Unified schools will start on July 16, based on the current year-round school calendar. The district is considering implementing a hybrid model with students and families physically in class and online.

Some countries have already implemented physical distancing in classrooms, something many parents and teachers find to be unfeasible in small, overcrowded American classrooms filled with young children who don’t understand that they cannot be near one another.

Sacramento City Unified officials have begun mapping plans for the fall by discussing employee safety, nutrition services for students and how to engage with students who may continue distance learning, according to Chief Academic Officer Christine Baeta, who is a part of SCOE’s workgroup.

In an email to community members, Natomas Unified School District Superintendent Chris Evans said the district won’t go rogue.

“Our local plan will follow state and county guidelines,” Evans said.

Gordon noted many decisions are subject to collective bargaining.

Natomas Unified ratified its memorandum of understanding with the Natomas Teachers Association to agree on a plan to re-enter classroom-based instruction for the 2020-21 school year as long as the Sacramento County Public Health Department allows it.

Some school districts, such as San Juan Unified and Folsom Cordova Unified, are distributing staff and parent surveys to collect ideas for next year.

“We need to ask our families in our district if they are considering homeschooling or private school or pulling their students out of the district if we cannot go back to the classroom,” Folsom Cordova Unified board member Joshua Hoover said in a Thursday night board meeting with more than 180 community members in virtual attendance. “We need to know that number because it will help inform our process and priorities as we discuss. We need to be held accountable to our families and our district.”

Some parents want answers sooner rather than later.

“I cannot say on a survey whether or not I will be staying with the district if I don’t know what the plans are,” Amy Kowlaski said during a Folsom Cordova Unified board meeting. “Parents need to know what the plans are going to be before they can be surveyed on their plans for next year.”

What if schools close again?

With no vaccine, there is still concern that the coronavirus will return in the fall or winter.

Gordon said school districts need to be prepared for mass school closure again, while being able to shift to distance learning quickly. Many public school districts took one month to reopen with virtual instruction after SCOE announced all Sacramento County schools would close on March 13. However, some private schools launched distance learning curricula far quicker.

Kimberly Adair, a parent of a first grade student and an incoming kindergartner, said there needs to be better options than distance learning for the fall.

“This does not meet my kids’ needs, but we are surviving,” she said. “If we are doing it the way we are doing it right now, we will be homeschooling. We will find any other options, because this is not a good fit. I know we did the best we could, but I feel like we set a lot of kids back.”

If a spike in coronavirus occurs in a neighborhood or in a school, it’s unclear whether that entire district would shut down. And if there is a resurgence of infections over the summer, districts may not be able to open campuses at all in the fall.

“I wish I had all the answers today,” Koligian said at the Folsom Cordova Unified meeting. “Schools will look different. Until a vaccine is created for this virus, large gatherings will look different.”

Grades and school room cleanliness

School officials from several districts said they will need to address grading in the upcoming year. This year, many schools provided leniency with grading as the digital divide became more apparent. Those concerns won’t disappear in the fall, but some schools might move to grade high school students to prepare them for college admissions.

School districts will need to navigate how to better support working and single parents who cannot physically teach or observe their children’s classwork at home.

“I really feel for families with single parents,” Folsom Cordova board member Hoover said. “These families rely on schools to care for their children. Education does not happen on the same level for parents that work.”

Campus sanitation is also an issue. Many schools employ few custodians due to proposed budget cuts that will only worsen in coming months.

Ben Valdepena, president of the California School Employees Association, said he doesn’t believe two custodians at a school can keep up with cleaning a campus everyday.

This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.