Sacramento kids returned to school with no plan. What we can do to fix this now

More than 40,000 students in Sacramento City Unified School District kicked off the school year Thursday. They did so with very little live instruction from their teachers.

This is unacceptable. And we allowed it to happen.

We let our kids return to school without a road map. Without support from adults who know better. And we have a responsibility as members of this community to make it right.

How we got here

Earlier this summer, other districts in the county — from Elk Grove to San Juan to Natomas — agreed to terms that let teachers and students make a far less rocky return to distance learning amid COVID-19. But not SCUSD.

The Sacramento city teachers union and the administration still cannot agree on how many minutes of in-person instruction students should receive or how to measure students’ progress. There is no agreement on recording virtual sessions for replay later. And the two sides cannot agree on a single learning platform for instruction.

Because of this stalemate, thousands of students returned to school for about an hour of live instruction on Thursday and Friday.

While both sides insist their plans meet state education requirements, there is still no agreement on minimum minutes for in-person instruction or how we will assess progress toward standards specific to each grade level.

These educational standards, also known as Common Core, were adopted in 2010 after years of review. They “provide clear and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life.” The Sacramento City Teachers Association is proposing students be taught to state standards when possible during distance learning.

Here’s what this means in practice: A first-grader is expected, per Common Core, to quickly and accurately add and subtract with a sum of 10 or less. The SCTA prefers students do this when possible during distance learning. We agree teachers should have the flexibilty to pivot when needed and adjust as their classes move through the day.

But here’s the problem: Before the pandemic, we knew white students and students of color at SCUSD had unequal school careers. More than 60% of white students met or exceeded the standard in English, while less than 50% for Asian students did, less than 40% for Latinos did and less than 30% of Blacks did. There are also gaps in math.

Roughly 73% of pupils in SCUSD are children of color. This means tens of thousands of kids who started this year in distance learning — some have called it crisis learning — are already behind.

SCTA says we should “trust the teachers,” and we do love our teachers. But a loving relationship leaves room for honesty. The truth is that too many of our kids were already falling behind, love or no love. Now, these students are in danger of falling behind permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic.

We support a safe return to the classroom for our teachers. But while we’re distance learning, we need to embrace it.

“There are important milestones that students have to hit and if they don’t, it increases the likelihood that they will be at risk years later,” said SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar.

Dave Gordon, superintendent of the Sacramento County Office of Education, has taken pains not to take sides in the SCUSD stalemate, which predates distance learning by years. But when asked about the importance of understanding where students are at, he said: “Assessments are absolutely crucial to be able to plan and deliver and assess the results of instruction. They are essential.”

What you can do about it

As a community, we have wasted too much time framing our kids’ learning plan as a labor dispute.

The winners — and losers — are our children. We all must demand more from SCUSD and SCTA.

We’re asking you to help us hold Aguilar and the board accountable for accelerating the pace of improved student outcomes. We’re asking you to demand that SCTA stop reflexively rejecting every suggestion made by Aguilar and his staff.

“At the heart of all these disputes is the need for cooperation and collaboration,” Gordon said. “You need to serve your clients and customers well. One would hope that in these difficult times, the needs of kids would be amplified. But it seems the opposite is happening. It’s becoming a hardened oppositional relationship and that’s very sad.”

We need to be on the side of our children. We must be against those voices that seek division over the cooperation that Gordon says is the norm in every other school district in Sacramento County.

You can be our students’ best champions.

So if you are a parent or grandparent or community leader who cares about what happens in our neighborhood schools, let the adults who are making the decisions know.

Reach out. Share why remote learning that includes teaching to standards is important to your family and your community. Share this editorial.

Be heard: Here is contact information for local leadership

Sacramento City Teachers Association

• David Fisher, President of SCTA: dfisher@saccityta.com
• John Borsos, Executive Director of SCTA: jborsos@cta.org
• Message the Sacramento City Teachers Association on Facebook: facebook.com/SacTeachers.

Sacramento City Unified School District

• Jorge Aguilar, Superintendent: jaguilar@scusd.edu
• Jessie Ryan, President of SCUSD Board: jessie-ryan@scusd.edu
• Message Sacramento City Unified School District on Facebook: facebook.com/scusd

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 11:04 AM.