Despite COVID surge, Roseville school district will soon return to campus 5 days a week

The Roseville Joint Union High School District board voted early Tuesday morning to bring students back to campus five days a week starting Jan. 5.

After a long discussion that began at a Monday night board meeting, the 5-0 vote will allow 11,000 students to return to campus for 70 minutes per class for a total of 280 minutes a day.

At the end of January, board members will revisit the plan and consider increasing in-person instruction to 80 minutes per class and include an on-campus lunch.

Many students at the districts’ schools, including Granite Bay High, Roseville High, Woodcreek High and Sacramento County’s Antelope High, are currently attending classes in-person twice a week. Students who choose to continue distance learning are enrolled in Roseville Student Virtual Learning Academy.

Many parents wrote to the board and shared public comments calling for the district to return to a more traditional in-person schedule. Rebecca Skosky Brooks, a parent and health care worker, said with abundant PPE and months preparing for a return, she believes classrooms are safe for students to return to five days a week.

“COVID doesn’t decide to just show up if the class is longer than 60 minutes,” she said. “There have been many options for those who wish to stay home and they have been catered to, now let’s start catering to those who want to have kids back full time.”

Jonathan Zachreson, a Woodcreek High parent, founded the Reopen California Schools Facebook group where thousands of parents have rallied for the reopening of schools across the state.

“The online programs are leaving countless kids behind, including two of my three,” he said. “It can’t go on any longer.”

But not all parents are on board, particularly with the latest surge in coronavirus cases across the region.

Between Dec. 7 and Dec. 13, four staff members and 28 students tested positive across the 10 campuses in the district.

Several Roseville high school students shared their concerns that with COVID-19 cases on the rise, implementing a five-day schedule with more minutes on campus is not a safe decision.

Hosam Khalifeh, whose 16-year-old son is continuing his classes through the virtual academy, said he was open to returning on campus only under the condition that the number of cases decreased this winter. That hasn’t happened.

The district surveyed parents more than a month ago, but Khalifeh said that was before the new surge began in the region.

Khalifeh recognizes the strong push to return back to campus in his Roseville neighborhood, but said he doesn’t feel it’s responsible to return in early January amid an increase in cases.

“I don’t think it’s safe,” Khalifeh said. “They could wait a few more weeks. Why the rush?”

This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 4:28 PM.