California issues new guidance to reopen schools. What does this mean for your child?
Momentum is growing to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic in Sacramento and around the state, but in a limited way that Gov. Gavin Newsom and health officials say will be safe and controllable.
Newsom relaxed state rules on how schools can bring back some students to campus by grouping them into cohorts or small groups, and by prioritizing the return of students with disabilities, at-risk kids and others that could benefit from the in-class structure.
That move, part of a larger reopening plan by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is complicated and is requiring school officials and parents to sort out what it means.
But some educators and parents say the new rules to reopen campuses sound promising, and appear to be a notable, if incremental, step inching students closer to full instruction on campus.
Sacramento County Public Health official Dr. Peter Beilenson said he is comfortable with the new guidance, and recognizes the need for many working parents to get their kids back to school in-person.
It comes at what may be another pivotal moment in the state’s up-and-down fight against the coronavirus. After months of new cases, the state and Sacramento COVID-19 infection numbers and hospitalization numbers are trending downward. That trend gives health officials cautious optimism about their chances of reopening more of society in the coming weeks and months.
But the daily case numbers are still high, much higher than they were in March, when schools first closed.
Because of those still-high numbers, the state’s guidance says schools can only bring back 25 percent of students or building capacity. And with the added responsibility of prioritizing students in need, and limiting instruction, reopening public schools may not be easy.
Some private schools have already started to make plans for partial reopenings, including for high schoolers.
But a Bee review of public schools — many of which are large and less nimble — suggests it will more difficult for many of them to reopen on a limited basis under the current guidelines.
What does this mean for public schools?
Large public school districts, like Folsom Cordova Unified, have expressed concerns about effectively serving students with special needs and English language learners on a virtual platform.
For one, there is the question of which students would be considered at-risk or with special needs under the governor’s concept.
Joshua Hoover, a Folsom Cordova Unified school board member, said he didn’t believe this new guidance was meant to be broadly applied.
“If you’re not in one of those groups (which the state recommended schools to prioritize), I don’t think this guidance is what you have been waiting for,” he said.
Public schools can apply for school waivers to reopen campuses for elementary age students. Schools and school districts can apply with the county’s public health department, explaining in detail how they will adhere to guidelines to safely reopen.
Sacramento County plans to grant waivers to reopen schools in mid-September. But the 10 waiver applications already submitted are mostly for private schools, said Sacramento County public health official Dr. Olivia Kasirye.
School districts need to submit evidence of consultation with workers, parent and community organizations, and show the results of those consultations, according to the county waiver. Of the 113 schools that applied for waivers across the state, only a handful have been public schools.
Because of consultations like labor negotiations, it will likely be harder for public schools — not private schools — to transition using a waiver.
“There is a lot more hesitation from public school districts to apply,” Hoover said. “To me that’s concerning, because I think there are other factors. Politics for sure.”
Some teachers unions, like Folsom Cordova Education Association, surveyed their members and found most of them wanted to return to campus.
“Our educators want desperately to return to their classrooms and their students doing the work they love, but there is too much at stake to ignore safety,” said FCEA President Angelica Miklos. “The waiver guidance expands the footnote that was in the previous guidance, however, we cannot ignore the science-based directives that have put counties on the watch list. We believe that we must take all precautions and preventative action to protect students, educators and our communities. If a waiver is to be considered, per the guidance, the decision must be made with parents and educators.”
In a statement on its website, the California Teachers Association said that any recommendations provided by the state will provide guidance for unions to negotiate with school districts “to ensure the needs of their local students and communities are met.”
Capital Christian plans to reopen
Private schools, which can be more nimble than public schools, have already been adapting. Capital Christian School announced classes on campus will resume for middle and high school students Monday.
The campus initially opened its K-12 school under a daycare license, and it was shut down by the county public health officials.
After one week of closure, elementary-age students were allowed back on campus under the governor’s Tuesday guidelines, because daycare licensing allows for schools and centers to serve younger students in cohorts.
Capital Christian officials said they worked out the details with county health officials this week.
Under the new guidance, schools can bring students in grades 7-12 on campus in cohorts with very limited class instruction.
When Capital Christian first opened, their cohorts were a 12-to-1 ratio, two students fewer than the state guidance is now.
“We did it for a week ... we have feedback from the county and the students,” said Tim Wong, Capital Christian’s schooling head. “We let the county know how impactful and effective it was.”
Wong was submitting the Sacramento County Public Health waiver Friday, which will allow their K-6 students to return to school with live, more traditional instruction — different than the monitored cohorts they are in now.
About two-thirds of middle and high school students are returning with limited instruction on campus, and are not allowed to move from classroom to classroom like normal school settings. The rest of the students are still taking classes remotely.
“This is a critical development phase both socially and emotionally for these students,” Wong said. “We are concerned about the mental health of our students. To them, everyday feels like a week, and every week is like a month.”
Beilenson, the county health official, toured the campus last week and said he felt like the school was trying to create a safe environment, but he had one criticism: He saw some older students not wearing masks.
He says he supports the governor’s new guidance, saying it should be able to allow for a safe environment, and help struggling parents and families by getting their children out of the house and into a productive but ostensibly safe environment.
“Honestly, it is a reasonable thing,” said Beilenson. “From the point of view of parents needing daycare for their kids, whatever their age. But that is assuming a few things happen: that there are less than 25% present for the entire school, that they have to wear masks and be socially distanced. It is crucial that they do so.”
Plans for when schools reopen
This week’s action by the governor is coupled with one he took last month to help some schools open up carefully in counties that still have higher COVID-19 rates.
That earlier action allows county health officials to give waivers to schools to reopen kindergarten through sixth grade, if those schools propose a plan to handle the return safely.
So far, California health officials have granted more than 100 waivers to elementary schools, mostly in Southern California counties like Orange County, and largely for private schools.
Two Placer County schools, St. Joseph Catholic School and Pine Hills Adventist Academy, submitted their applications Tuesday and had their waivers approved.
Sacramento County has not yet granted waivers, but earlier this week began accepting waiver applications from schools. It received 10 by midweek.
The county plans to hold off on any approvals for another few weeks while it sets up a special health team to work with schools on how to reopen and what to should the virus hit.
The county plans to enlist one or two people from each school to take contact tracing training. The contact tracer, who could be a staffer like a school nurse, would work with the county if a COVID-19 case popped up to determine the best course of action. The county would enlist that person to make the calls to families of students in the cohort where someone tested positive. The person can relay quarantine rules to those families, and relay back to the county any special needs some of those families might have, such as financial, food, emotional support services.
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, the county health officer, said the county’s intention is to catch positive cases quickly, and limit the isolation protocols only to that student, teacher, or family cohort, allowing other cohorts at the school to continue coming to school if none of them has been in contact with the affected cohort.
Similar situations have already occurred in some schools.
Capital Christian reported one student contracted COVID-19, and the student and their sibling were isolated. The cohort did not close down because the student did not come to campus since contracting the virus.
In El Dorado County, where schools opened because they were not on the state watchlist, one student contracted the virus. Lakeview Elementary School temporarily closed the class of 11 students and the rest of the school and Rescue Union School District continued in-person instruction.
Newsom’s colorful new terminology
As part of his overall goal of trying to incrementally reopen society, the governor on Friday announced his administration would now start grouping counties under a new four-tiered system tracking coronavirus, with counties ranked on a color scale: purple, red, orange and yellow.
The new system does not appear to dramatically change school opening timelines, however.
Sacramento, along with 37 other counties, that have until now been listed on the governor’s watchlist, thus not allowed to automatically reopen classes, now fall fall under the purple tier, meaning COVID-19 is still widespread in that county.
That means schools can still receive a waiver from their local health department to fully open their TK-6 grades, but cannot open without that waiver.
Newsom called it a “dynamic” situation., and said that every few weeks, a county may move from one tier to the next. If Sacramento moves to the red tier, and stays there for two weeks, then TK-6 grades at all schools can open immediately, without a waiver.
Those possible options speak to the complexity of Newsom’s system and why it has school officials struggling to figure out next steps. With a 21-day mandatory wait time between moving counties within tiers, Sacramento schools could likely receive a waiver from their county well before they are able to open under Friday’s new guidelines.