School starts in 2 days — and this Sacramento district still hasn’t finalized its learning plan
Just two days before the school year is scheduled to begin, the Sacramento City Unified School District and its teachers union have reached an impasse and will need a state mediator to help reach an agreement on how to proceed with their district learning plan.
The district accepted the teachers’ proposal to provide two paid days of professional learning, and use Thursday and Friday as a “phase-in” to fall into a distance learning routine. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade will receive one hour of instruction, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., on Thursday and Friday. Grades seven through 12 will have classes from 10:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m., followed by “asynchronous work to meet minimum minutes,” according to an email sent to district parents late Monday.
A full schedule will not be implemented until next week.
The deadlock comes after more than 20 bargaining sessions between the district and the Sacramento City Teachers Association.
The main dispute between the district and the teachers union revolves around the amount of instruction given to students each day, how to provide instruction for students who have special needs or vulnerable populations who cannot join live instruction regularly.
SCTA President David Fisher said in a press release that the district was focusing too much on screen time.
Both the district and teachers union distance learning plans meet the legal requirement to provide a minimum number of minutes for each grade level. They disagree on how to split those minutes between live instruction and screen time, and independent work.
“SCUSD administrators have been unwilling to respect the input of hundreds of educators who work with students every day and who have spent thousands of hours developing a distance learning plan that will meet the needs of Sacramento’s diverse students,” Fisher said in a statement.
But district officials say students thrive more on direct instruction, and that independent work can also mean screen time, with students logging into different platforms to work on assignments. And too much independent work will place a greater burden on working parents and guardians who would need to sit with children to help navigate various online platforms.
“While SCTA can continue to frame our differences as ‘Quality vs Quantity’ we have to call into question their definition of quality,” said Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. “Our district compromised on the number of instructional minutes that would be provided to our students, but we cannot compromise on the quality of instruction and education for our students. SCTA’s proposal fails to provide adequate time for students to learn from their teacher.”
District officials said more than 20,000 responses from parents over the summer revealed that they wanted the district to prioritize live instruction.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 9:57 AM.