When and how will public schools reopen in Sacramento County? An update on district plans
As Sacramento County approaches the pivotal two-week mark of remaining in the red tier of the state’s COVID-19 reopening guidelines, public school district officials are beginning to discuss how and when they plan to reopen campuses for in-person instruction.
Sacramento County must remain in the red tier, or tier 2, for at least 14 consecutive days before reopening schools. This would be the first time most Sacramento County students in grades TK through 12 would return to campus since the pandemic began spreading in March.
The earliest school campuses can open is Tuesday. But here’s the bad news, parents: none of the 13 school districts in Sacramento County have made plans to reopen that soon.
Some schools are far more ahead than others. While it largely remains unclear when most of the county’s 250,000 public school children will return to classrooms, every district will continue to provide distance learning options for students who choose to stay home.
On June 2, the Sacramento County Office of Education 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. Guidance was formulated to implement physical distancing in classrooms, face covering requirements, and new drop-off and pick-up procedures.
SCOE officials said that each district will decide independently on when they will reopen classrooms. Here is where those plans stand today for seven of the largest districts in the county (some smaller districts did not respond to requests from The Sacramento Bee for information about their reopening plans):
Folsom Cordova Unified School District
Folsom Cordova Unified will open for small cohorts of students who identify as special needs on Oct. 19.
Following the school board approval at its Thursday night meeting, parents will receive an enrollment form asking if students will continue distance learning or choose to begin a hybrid model of some in-person instruction.
If approved, that hybrid model will allow elementary students to return Nov. 9, middle school students to return Nov. 30, and high school students to return Jan. 4.
Elk Grove Unified School District
Elk Grove Unified has not announced a reopening date.
The district opened for in-person assessments for students with special needs, and is looking to reopen for small cohorts. On Oct. 14, the district will review its progress and discuss future reopening plans. While the board considers its next steps, the district has placed COVID-19 signage at all of its 67 campuses, created isolation rooms, installed plexiglass barriers in offices, installed disinfectant technology to be used by custodians, and more.
The district is working to reconfigure classrooms to ensure there is six feet between staff and students, installing hospital grade air filters and preparing support services for small cohorts.
Sacramento City Unified School District
Sacramento City Unified has not set reopening dates for its schools. It’s currently in Phase 2 of its reopening plan, where officials are assessing school sites and continuing to focus on a distance learning plan that continues to be inconsistent.
“We continue to work closely with Sacramento County Public Health and Sacramento County Office of Education to determine when it would be safe to bring students back to campus,” district officials said.
In preparation for students’ return, an architect looked at school sites for COVID-19 readiness, including replacing HVAC filters and installing touch-free hydration stations.
The district opened learning hubs of small groups of students this week, which will be supported by community-based organizations and the city of Sacramento.
The hubs are prioritizing students with special needs, foster youth, students experiencing homelessness and children of essential workers. Students will be returning to six sites, with 40 students at each site.
Natomas Unified School District
Natomas Unified will set up in-person supplemental cohorts, but has not set a date for reopening all classrooms.
The district is monitoring COVID-19 cases in Sacramento County and analyzing survey responses from hundreds of parents and staff members. More than 60% of parents who responded to district surveys said they will definitely or are likely to send their children back to in-person learning under Sacramento County’s new reopening guidelines.
Trustees will make the final decision about how to conduct a transitional return back to school.
Twin Rivers Unified School District
Twin Rivers Unified has not set an official reopening date.
Superintendent Steve Martinez said there’s an added complexity to opening Twin Rivers schools: some are located in zip codes hardest hit by COVID-19 in Sacramento County.
“We have parents, teachers and students who definitely want to return,” Martinez said. “And then you have a number of staff, parents and students who for other reasons do not want to return.”
More than 5,700 parents responded to a district survey on how to structure the return to in-person learning. The options include cohorts returning two days in a row, with all students home on Wednesday as the district deep cleans, or cohorts alternating a return to campus in-person one week at a time.
The school board will hold a workshop and will continue to ask for parent and staff input, and will outline a timeline to return to in-person instruction in the coming weeks. The school board’s next meeting is Oct. 27.
The district is still working with labor partners on identifying when at-risk students can return to campuses in their own cohorts.
San Juan Unified
San Juan Unified has not set an official return date. District officials want to ensure it’s safe to return, and that schools do not endanger the connections students and teachers have made this far into the school year.
The district plans to survey families in the next two weeks to determine how many wish to return to in-person instruction and how many plan to continue distance learning.
San Juan Unified officials acknowledged there were concerns for disruption if students in distance learning were moved to a new online classroom as their peers returned to in-person instruction. Staff could also potentially be reassigned, as some teachers may choose not to return to teaching in-person.
“As we’ve observed other schools that have already opened implement their efforts, the disruption caused by this shift in classrooms and teachers has been called out as a concern that we’re currently looking to address, so our model may change from what was presented in July,” said spokesman Trent Allen.
The school board plans to hear an update on reopening Tuesday.
Dry Creek Joint Unified School District
About half of Dry Creek students have already returned to campus. That’s because the district is uniquely located in two counties: Placer and Sacramento.
Placer County campuses reopened on Sept. 21 for hybrid learning when the county was moved into tier 2 of the state’s risk ranking. Just under 3,000 of the district’s 6,400 students are at Sacramento schools, including Olive Grove, Antelope Meadows and Barrett Ranch elementary schools.
The Sacramento elementary sites will reopen Monday with a state granted waiver. The district anticipates they will reopen Antelope Crossing Middle School on Oct. 19.
About 700 students are continuing their education online through Dry Creek Connections Academy. Students who choose to continue distance learning as their school returns to campus will need to transfer into the academy and will be assigned a new principal. Students can return to their home school at any time.
“In anticipation of reopening, our schools prepared campuses over the summer,” said district spokeswoman Gina Nielsen. “It’s been seven months since schools closed. To see kids on campus, and to see activity on school sites, is really emotional. We have parents reporting how much happier their children are.”
Robla School District
The Robla School District distributed a parent and staff survey to help “the district decide when schools should reopen.” The deadline is Friday.
Superintendent Ruben Reyes said the decision will be made with caution as the district is located in a zip code with one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the county. The five elementary schools are located between Rio Linda and Del Paso Heights.
“We have developed a transition model, and we will collaborate with classified unions and certificated unions on how procedures and schedules will work,” Reyes said. “We should be landing on a date before too long.”
Arcohe Union School District
The district of roughly 370 students in southern Sacramento County will open its one campus, a TK-8 school, on Nov. 9.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 9:49 AM.