More Sacramento County schools receive waivers to return to campus instruction

Sacramento County public health officials approved waivers for six more schools to reopen for in-person instruction.

The waivers, which appeared on the state website on Monday are for: Orangevale Adventist School, St. Peter’s Lutheran School, Galt Adventist School, St. Michael’s Episcopal Day School, Folsom Preparatory School and Bradshaw Christian School.

The schools can reopen after Sacramento County began approving waivers for schools last week. Already, 19 schools have been approved — 16 of them from the Catholic Dioecese.

Linda Castro, who works at Folsom Preparatory in Folsom, said the staff was excited to hear on Monday that the school received a waiver. Instruction for the K-5 school will begin Wednesday.

The school was already open, operating as a daycare for working parents, but was still conducting distance learning.

“We have already had a whole system set up, desks apart and masks,” Castro said.

Bradshaw Christian plans to open Monday, with more than 450 students planning to return.

With a waiver, the teachers can return and will now hold instruction for the returning students.

More waivers are expected in the county. County health officials asked several applicants to revise their applications. 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. It’s unclear if those pending applications are all private schools.

More than 500 schools have applied for waivers in the state, and the vast majority have been approved. They have been overwhelmingly private schools, most of them Christian and Catholic schools.

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 employees, and 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.

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 4:32 PM.