Sacramento-area district cancels plans to lengthen school day following state directive
Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District announced to families that it won’t transition to a longer school day now that the state has issued new health and safety guidelines for schools.
Students in the district are currently in a hybrid model, coming to campus five days a week for two-and-a-half hours in morning and afternoon cohorts. The district had planned to bring students back for more instructional minutes each day starting Jan. 19, but postponed the start date to Feb. 1 as district officials expected increased COVID-19 infection rates after winter break.
The district’s plans were stalled again when California Department of Public Health issued new guidelines on Jan. 14 that district officials said are too difficult to meet.
Originally the state recommended that desks be spaced six feet apart but to do so “when practicable.” While the state still calls for six feet between students, and proper ventilation in the classrooms, the new guidance states “under no circumstances should distance between student chairs be less than 4 feet.”
The new state guidance applies to both public and private schools throughout the state.
Dry Creek Joint Elementary, which serves students in both Placer and Sacramento counties, said the new guidance is problematic for the classrooms throughout all of its K-8 campuses.
“After thoroughly analyzing class sizes and floor plans, we currently cannot meet this new requirement in many classrooms across the district,” read a statement from district Superintendent Brad Tooker. “It is disheartening and frustrating that despite Dry Creek schools operating safely in-person since September, we cannot currently expand our services to students and families.”
School districts that have reopened for in-person instruction are concerned that the mandatory 4-foot guidance will force their campuses to close.
In December, several Placer County school districts voted to modify in-person instructional minutes and bring students back to campuses five days a week. In eliminating the morning and afternoon cohorts, some classrooms were ultimately holding more than 30 students at once time. Districts like Roseville Joint Union High School District were not required to implement a six-foot distance between students, despite objections from several parents and teachers.
It’s unclear how the state will enforce new guidance on schools that are already open like Woodcreek High and Oakmont High. Roseville high schools have quarantined hundreds of students after a handful of students tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
“As of now, there is nothing that indicates CDPH will update guidance anytime soon,” Tooker said in his statement. “However, if anything changes, and we can expand in-person instruction, we will notify families immediately. Until then, we will continue working diligently toward a full reopening of our schools and delivering high-quality, in-person education to our students via our hybrid format.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 9:02 AM.