It’s official: Sacramento County public schools won’t reopen this fall
Public school campuses in Sacramento County will remain closed when instruction resumes in the fall, leaving tens of thousands of families and teachers to begin planning for an extension of distance-learning programs.
The Sacramento County Office of Education, which oversees districts serving more than 250,000 students from kindergarten through high school, announced that its 13 districts will continue distance learning programs they implemented in the spring. The decision to close campuses was made by school officials.
“Conditions are not safe enough for students, staff and families to allow school to open up in person at this time,” said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dave Gordon.
The decision affects the following districts: Elk Grove Unified, Folsom Cordova Unified, Sacramento City Unified, Twin Rivers Unified, Natomas Unified, San Juan Unified, Arcohe Union, Center Joint Unified, Elverta Joint, River Delta Unified, Robla, Galt Joint Union Elementary and High School districts.
Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson and county health officials, who have been in close, daily consultation with school officials, say they believe the schools’ decision is the right one given the recent surge in coronavirus cases.
“It is a reasonable decision given the large increase in cases we’ve experienced, particularly among young people under 49, the kids and their parent’s ages,” Beilenson said. “We laid out the story for them of what was going on in the county now.”
Many schools are scheduled to open for instruction in mid-August; Sacramento City Unified is scheduled to begin on Sept. 3.
Other districts and counties in California have already announced plans to implement distance learning-only programs for the fall. The San Joaquin County Office of Education announced on Monday it recommended that its schools start fall classes online. Other districts in the state including the two largest — Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified — are also going online when classes resume.
Nearly 700 people under the age of 19 have tested positive in Sacramento County since the virus began to spread through the region.
The decision to keep Sacramento campuses closed came a day after some SCOE trustees shared concerns about physically reopening schools during a Tuesday night board meeting.
Trustee Harold Fong said he was uncomfortable with the office’s plan to reopen classrooms.
“I am very uncomfortable with your decision to open up our community schools and other ones that we have control over either in a split format and then doing distance learning,” Fong told Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dave Gordon. “I would prefer you look at the recommendations of the California Teachers Association and the National Teachers and some of the medical people that we do distance learning as much as possible.”
Teacher safety amid coronavirus
Concerns about reopening schools were not only focused on student safety. As teachers unions polled their staff, teachers overwhelmingly voted to continue distance learning through the fall as a safety precaution.
“It is clear that communities and school districts have not come close to meeting the threshold for a safe return to in-person learning, even under a hybrid model,” read statement from the California Teachers Association.
Reopening plans are subject to negotiations, and many teachers in various districts objected to some of the scheduling options officials were offering. The Natomas Teachers Association shared its concerns about Natomas Unified’s decision to offer some students in-person instruction five days week.
“From the outset, we have been unequivocal that schools must be safe before in-person classes resume, even in hybrid form,” said Sacramento City Teachers Association Vice President Nikki Milevsky. “Now that this decision has been made, it’s time to focus on creating the best distance learning program possible, significantly improving the program SCUSD implemented in the spring.”
Schools in Sacramento were closed on March 13 in a massive public school closure announcement as officials tried to slow the spread of the virus. At the time, Sacramento County had 17 cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.
As of Wednesday, 6,174 people in Sacramento have been infected by coronavirus and 92 have died.
But school officials initially had hopes that the summer months would bring calm.
Beilenson said the recent surge, which has occurred over the past five weeks since the county opened the economy, includes more cases, higher infection rates, more hospitalizations, and in recent weeks, more deaths.
The county is finding that most of those infected now are in the 18-to-49 age range, which would include many parents, teachers, school officials and employees. On Monday, Beilenson said there wouldn’t be adequate testing capability — at least not to the level that parents and faculty might want.
Beilenson said he told school officials that the recent reclosure of many businesses locally and the governor’s order for people to wear masks in public places is expected to have help slow and hopefully reverse the surge. But, he said, that is going to take some time.
“It would be unlikely it would turn around in the next four or five weeks,” he said, when many local schools would have reopened their doors. “The hope obviously is that we turn the corner and open the schools as soon as possible.”
Sacramento school safety, reopening plans
On June 2, SCOE released guidance for the county’s 13 school districts to implement as they made plans to reopen. Districts began carving out detailed plans to create hybrid models, scheduling students to return back to campus in morning and afternoon cohorts, or allowing them to continue distance learning if they choose. Guidance was formulated to implement physically distancing in classrooms, face coverings, and new drop-off and pick-up procedures.
Exceptions for special education, English language learners, or other small and vulnerable cohorts will depend on the advice of public health officials. Gordon said the county will be careful in considering exceptions.
Private schools across the region submitted reopening plans. Beilenson said while he has not been asked to give guidance to private schools, he would give the same guidance he gave public schools.
Some districts were still finalizing their reopening plans this week in an effort to ensure they could reopen safely. Natomas Unified pushed their first day of school back two weeks to hire extra staff, finalize their educational options, and monitor the situation in the county.
Folsom Cordova Unified School District voted 4-1 to start the school year with a distance learning program in a special school board meeting on Tuesday night. The school district also approved a virtual academy option.
“We have to lean on the advice of our medical professionals and what the data tells us,” said Folsom Cordova Unified Superintendent Sarah Koligian.
Last week, Elk Grove Unified said it would offer what’s become known as a so-called hybrid model of education — a mix of limited in-school instruction and distance learning at home. Both parents and teachers who were surveyed favored that approach, according to school officials. As the number of positive cases climbed in recent days, the survey results began to change.
As of July 6, the majority of parents — about 45 percent — who responded to a survey favored the hybrid approach. That number later increased to as high as 50 percent. But only 63 percent of the school district’s students were accounted for in the July results.
“Last week, prior to the spikes in numbers it was lower on the distance learning and higher on transitional,” Elk Grove Unified spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton said. “Now, every day as the numbers are going up, (the number of parents favoring) distance learning is starting to climb.”
Schools have struggled with the uncertainty of reopening for months.
After the first county-wide public and private school closures in mid-March, schools planned to reopen after one month. However, it became clear that schools would be unable to reopen by the end of the school year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom shocked families when he said in March that families should expect schools to remain closed through summer break.
In April, Sacramento and Placer counties announced that the closures would be extended until the end of the school year.
“I respect and commend any school district that is making the tough call now to plan for a school year they believe is in the best interests of their students’ and educators’ safety,” State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said on Wednesday. “There is no playbook for the times we’re in. At the CDE, we remain committed to helping schools get the clarity and guidance they need to make these difficult decisions.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:32 PM.