Classrooms without masks or online learning: California school reopening plans vary greatly
Students in Los Angeles Unified School District will learn entirely online this fall. In neighboring Orange County, the Board of Education has pushed for a full return to the classroom, sans masks or social distancing.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has issued several guidelines for school reopening. But those guidelines — unlike the strict orders that govern other industries and aspects of public life — fall short of mandates. For example, it remains unclear whether students and staff will have to wear masks on campus.
“There are different counties with local health guidelines and officials working in partnerships with their superintendent of public schools based on conditions on the ground,” Newsom said in a Monday press conference.
With local education administrators left largely to their own devices, California’s students will have vastly different instructional experiences this fall.
Here’s a look at how school reopening varies across the state.
Fully online, for now
Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Long Beach: Some of California’s largest school districts plan to start fall 2020 remotely. In their respective announcements, local administrators cited spikes in coronavirus infections that put in-person learning at odds with public health.
“One fact is clear: those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available,” Los Angeles and San Diego unified school districts said in a joint statement. “California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control.”
Officials say they intend to bring students back to the classroom when it is safe to do so, but their timelines vary. Regardless of when that transition occurs, parents uncomfortable with in-person learning can elect for extended remote education.
Some districts are setting a shorter timeline for remote learning. In Oakland, for instance, fully remote learning for all students is expected to last for a maximum of four weeks as officials plan for a safe return to the classroom. Parents can elect to continue with online education after that date.
Each district’s plans include regular assignments and daily, live interaction with teachers. Los Angeles hopes to provide one-on-one tutoring after school and on Saturday mornings to accelerate student progress, Superintendent Austin Beutner said on Monday.
Hybrid model with modified schedule
Some school districts will give all students the option to return to campus in August — part time.
Capistrano Unified School District will allow families to choose between fully online instruction or spending half their time in a classroom.
For elementary school students, that means in-person instruction every day with the option of spending remaining time in a supervised school environment or at home. Middle and high school students can come to campus two and a half days each week and spend the rest of their time in “online study or home supplementary activities.”
Pasadena Unified School District has developed hybrid plans that aim to split students into cohorts such that half of students are on campus on any given day. Schools plan to offer childcare services on days that students are not receiving in-person education.
As for masks, the jury’s still out. Pasadena administrators, echoing confusion felt across the state, are unsure whether they will require face coverings on campus given that they “might not be exempt” from statewide mask requirements.
Five days a week, with safety measures in place
Several school districts are preparing for a full, 5-day school week and developing contingency plans in the form of hybrid and fully online models.
Corona-Norco Unified School District will require masks, social distancing and other safety precautions for students who choose a traditional classroom model, which will include a remote component should public health conditions require classrooms to close entirely. Students can also elect to learn online for the entire year.
Officials in Sacramento County’s San Juan Unified School District want to implement a 5-day format “as soon as possible and when safe to do so with reasonable safety precautions.” If the public health situation makes that vision impossible come August, students will learn on campus two days a week and online the rest of the time.
In San Diego County, administrators in Vista Unified School District are set to choose between daily on campus learning with “robust” health and safety measures and a fully virtual model.
School’s open, no changes
Even though California now records over ten times as many new cases per day as it did in March, when schools across the state sent students home indefinitely, one school board wants coronavirus-era classrooms to look like their pre-pandemic counterparts.
The Orange County Board of Education — echoing sentiments expressed by dozens of vocal parents — opposes masks in the classroom. Four of five board members this week voted for recommendations that encourage regular temperature checks but no other public health precautions.
“Requiring children to wear masks during school is not only difficult – if not impossible to implement – but not based on science. It may even be harmful and is therefore not recommended,” the recommendations read. The board also said social distancing is unnecessary because children are the “lowest-risk cohort.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that masks and social distancing help reduce the spread of the virus, and Newsom has mandated face coverings in virtually all public settings.
Orange County Department of Education Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares clarified that the Board of Education’s recommendations are “not binding” and that his department remains “100 percent committed” to following public health guidelines and helping Orange County’s 27 school districts develop reopening plans consistent with state and local protocols.
Editor’s note: This story updated at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15 to reflect the latest school opening guidance from Vista Unified School District.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Classrooms without masks or online learning: California school reopening plans vary greatly."