Large suburban Sacramento school district approves reopening date. Some think it’s too soon

The Folsom Cordova Unified school board approved a reopening plan for its schools Thursday night that will allow more than 20,000 students back on campus for the first time since schools closed in March

The school board voted 4-1 to reopen schools in a hybrid model where students will return between two and four days a week for a few hours depending on their grade level.

Schools are able to reopen in Sacramento County starting next week, as the county entered the red tier of the state’s COVID-19 reopening guidelines. Folsom Cordova Unified is the largest school district in the county to announce reopening.

Students in grades TK to fifth and at charter schools will return to campuses on Nov. 9 in morning and afternoon sessions from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Each session will be about two and a half hours. The one hour between cohorts will allow for cleaning and teacher breaks. All students will do distance learning on Mondays.

Students in grades six to eight return on Nov. 30, and high school students return Jan. 4. One group of students will return on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and another set of students will return Wednesdays and Thursdays. Mondays are reserved for professional development.

Students who choose to continue distance learning during the pandemic will join the district’s virtual academy.

Students can also home school or do independent study.

School board President Chris Clark was the lone vote against school reopening, saying he was “terrified” about students contracting the virus. Clark said he was concerned with cold and flu season approaching, a second wave of COVID-19 imminent and people of color being disproportionately infected by the disease.

“My concern is getting the kids in when it’s safe,” Clark said during the public board meeting streamed online. “I think about the holidays coming up and children who want to spend the holidays with their families – their grandmothers and grandfathers.”

Board member JoAnne Reinking agreed, saying schools were reopening earlier than they should. Reinking voted to reopen campuses but said she had strong reservations about opening middle schools on Nov. 30, saying it does not coincide with a grading period and middle school students can wait a few more weeks to return.

Assistant Superintendent Curtis Wilson said returning to school was important to create a connection between teachers and students.

“We do lose a little bit by staring at one-by-two-inch squares on a computer,” Wilson said.

Anthony Ruiz, a teacher at Vista del Lago High School, said he was cautiously optimistic about returning, but is worried.

“What I heard tonight was a lot of maybes,” he said during the board meeting. “There is no way you can maintain six feet of distancing and have 20 kids in a classroom.”

The district said it will install plexiglass in classrooms.

“That’s not how it works,” said Ruiz. “Six feet distancing is six feet distancing. Not ‘six feet if we can.’”

Several parents called in with similar concerns, and many called in to support the reopening.

”The best thing we can do is make the best choice possible for our own children, and if you’re a teacher, for your own families,” said one parent who identified herself as Jessica, who was in support of schools reopening. “I would encourage everyone to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

The district, like others in the region, laid out a checklist of tasks to do before reopening schools, including establishing an isolation room for students who fall ill, closing communal areas including libraries and multipurpose rooms, closing water fountains, and implementing protocol on checking symptoms and displaying social distancing signs.

The district established an MOU with the Folsom Cordova Education Association to provide face coverings and neck drapes, operating HVAC systems on a mode that delivers fresh air every hour, and installing air filters.

Wilson said conditions will be unique to individual school sites. Some school sites will have a large number of students returning to campus, and other schools may not have the majority of students return. While visiting other neighboring districts, Curtis found about 50 students out of 450 students continued distance learning.

This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 2:19 PM.