Nearly 20 schools in Sacramento County get approval to reopen classroom instruction

Sacramento County Public Health officials approved waivers this week for several private schools to reopen for in-person instruction.

Approvals, only eligible for K-6 classrooms according to the guidelines, were given to: Sacramento Country Day, Sacramento Waldorf School, Franklin Park Private School and the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. In all, 19 schools will open for in-person classes soon.

Criteria for Sacramento schools to re-open are outlined in the county’s application, and asks schools to explain how they will keep students physically distanced, in masks, and how campuses will switch back to distance learning if necessary.

Sacramento County received 28 applications from a total of 44 schools. Sixteen were in one application: The Catholic Diocese, which includes Holy Spirit School, Sacred Heart School, and St. John Notre Dame School.

County health officials asked 19 applicants to revise their applications, which amounted to 20 schools. Those applications were returned to school officials to revise reopening plans. Sacramento County Public Health officials are providing technical assistance with applications, according to county officials.

Five applications are currently pending.

Students in Catholic schools in the Diocese are mostly returning to campuses on Sept. 14. Lincoln Snyder, executive director and superintendent of Catholic Schools, received the news Thursday.

“This was a very rigorous process,” Snyder said. “It was a lot of planning and execution, but we did have to spend money too. In some cases we put in some plexiglass barriers. We took a very thorough review of each facility, going classroom by classroom. We imagined what it was like from the moment they were dropped off to the moment they were picked up.”

Many of the Catholic schools are decades old and were originally built to fit more than 50 students per classroom, Snyder said. That allowed the Diocese to bring students back on campus without using a hybrid, morning/afternoon schedule. In some cases, K-6 classes were moved to libraries and gymnasiums, or to middle school classrooms that are unable to be occupied by older students under the waiver guidelines.

The 16 schools approved for reopening are all K-8 schools, but students in grades 7 and 8 will continue learning virtually, in accordance with county guidelines.

School officials wanted to provide full-day programs - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. - to parents who wanted that option. The schools are still providing distance learning options at each campus, where students will be watching the in-person class as live instruction through a laptop and camera.

The Catholic Diocese serves 13,500 students. About 3,000 students will be able to return under the waiver guidelines. But Snyder estimates between 10 and 20 percent of Sacramento students will continue to learn virtually.

Schools that open with county waivers must follow state and county guidelines, including physical distancing, masks, and the hybrid models in which their school applied to reopen with. For example, some schools may return to campus with morning and afternoon cohorts. Schools will not return to campus in a traditional manner.

More than 420 schools have applied for waivers in the state, and the vast majority have been approved.

Most of the schools reopening in person have been private schools, but there have been exceptions.

Gov. Gavin 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.

Dry Creek Joint Unified, which serves students and families in both Placer and Sacramento counties announced they will reopen their Placer County campuses for small cohorts on Monday. The district is submitting a waiver for all schools that are within Sacramento County’s boundaries. If approved, students in grades TK-6 may return as early as Sept.21.

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.

School districts across the state will continue to factor in whether their coronavirus cases will increase after campuses reopen, how accessible testing will be in their areas and if they are concerned about re-opening and potentially closing campuses.

The 19 schools that received approval from Sacramento County to reopen TK-6 classrooms for in-person instruction are: Sacramento Country Day; Sacramento Waldorf School; Franklin Park Private School; Our Lady of the Assumption School; St. John the Evangelist School; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School; St. Mel School; St. John Notre Dame School; St. John Vianney School; Holy Spirit School; Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary School; Sacred Heart School; St. Charles Borromeo School; St. Francis of Assisi School; St. Ignatius School; St. Mary School; St. Patrick Succeed Academy; St. Philomene School; and St. Robert School.

Sacramento Country Day received approval only for grades K-5, and is working to obtain a waiver for its sixth grade students. Students will return to campus between Sept. 22 and 29.

Four schools in Yolo County also had waivers approved: Davis Waldorf School, Grace Valley Christian Academy, Peregrine School and Woodland Christian School.

Four Placer County schools were given waivers in late August. Those are Granite Bay Montessori, Legacy Christian School, St. Joseph Catholic School, and Pine Hills Adventist School.

This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 5:25 PM.