Stanislaus County education chief talks about how schools are contending with coronavirus
Even in normal times, schools have a priority higher than educating children, and that’s keeping them safe. During this COVID-19 pandemic, that priority is joined by a couple of others, Stanislaus County Superintendent of Schools Scott Kuykendall said Monday.
Schools across California are closed to protect students and their families by preventing the spread of the coronavirus, he said by phone after an online meeting with the county’s school district superintendents or their representatives.
“After that, it’s still about making sure students are getting meals, and still ensuring our teachers and staffs are getting paid as we’re transitioning to distance learning and making sure students continue to learn in a new environment,” he said.
In Stanislaus County, schools are expected to remain closed through at least May 3. The superintendent asked for patience from families in this unprecedented time as the county’s 25 school districts work to roll out different opportunities for home studies.
“Teachers are really being asked to basically pivot at the drop of a hat to an entirely new way of delivering curriculum and teaching children,” Kuykendall said.
In a letter to Modesto City Schools families last week, that district’s superintendent, Sara Noguchi, said teachers and principals will participate in professional learning on how to support our students through distance learning. That district has just come back from its spring break.
MCS has rolled out distance learning in phases. The first was originally scheduled to go through April 3. Printed packets and online resources for students have multiple weeks’ worth of review materials, district spokeswoman Becky Fortuna said.
The extension of the school closures until the first week of May now has the district entering Phase 2. As part of that, “we are in the process of distributing nearly 15,000 devices to students in grades K-6, as well as students at Elliott (Alternative Education Center) and those enrolled in alternative education. We are also trying to provide devices to our TK students, if possible.”
Noguchi noted the distribution to K-6 students in her letter, saying, “due to the large quantities of devices, this process may take a few weeks to complete.”
Modesto City Schools to launch new learning
Fortuna said teachers will begin connecting with students online as the kids receive their devices and teachers gain knowledge and training in how to use the learning management system Schoology. “New distance learning for our students across all grade levels will officially begin online the week of April 13,” she said.
What shape distance learning takes will be up to districts, and to some extent up to teachers. In the Ceres Unified School District, for instance, students right now are receiving review material and, perhaps from some teachers, new material, spokeswoman Beth Jimenez said Monday. After the district’s spring break, April 13-17, there may be a shift to primarily teaching new material, she said.
Riverbank Unified School District Superintendent Christine Facella said students through Grade 6 have been given lesson packets, while seventh- through 12th-graders are using Google Classroom “as they have technology that has been assigned to them.”
The county office recognizes that not all school districts have the same capacity to deliver online instruction, Kuykendall said. As an example, he said Roberts Ferry School District Superintendent/Principal Bob Loretelli noted that 30 percent of his students don’t have Internet access because they live in a rural area. That means teachers must provide paper copies of lessons.
In an update Thursday on its website, Turlock Unified School District assured parents that staff is working “to ensure all students have learning materials and understand expectations for completion as we transition to distance-learning. Most importantly, we are working to ensure students have the required skills and knowledge for success in the next grade or course.”
Riverbank Superintendent Facella similarly said, “While these are not ideal situations for learning and certainly not a substitute for learning with your teacher, we expect that the shutdown will not prevent students from advancing to the next grade.”
The general message counties are getting from the California Department of Education is that districts should not worry about getting funded, about students having the ability to advance, about seniors meeting the A-G requirements for graduation, Kuykendall said. The word is that “no student should be penalized in any shape or form for the school closures, nothing that would be adding to anxiety” in this stressful time, he said.
Extended school year unlikely in Stanislaus County
There’s no expectation that the school year will have to be extended to make up for days missed, the superintendent said. “The conversations are really about how do we adjust or modify current practice or board policy regarding to grading and graduation requirements.”
Those are among the “tons of different issues” the state is working on with counties, also including funding and special education, Kuykendall said. The solutions rarely are straightforward, he said, and some might come from executive orders or district boards having to adopt new policies.
On the likelihood of Stanislaus County’s public schools reopening May 4, he said, “It’s really up to our public health officer and when it’s deemed safe and appropriate to return to schools. We’re educators, not medical professionals, and we’re depending on them for those answers.”
In San Joaquin County, the Manteca Unified School District sent out a news release Monday that its Board of Trustees voted to transition to distance learning for all students through May 15 and resume resume classroom instruction beginning May 18.
Here in Stanislaus, officials are trying to be clear that a return to schools would be May 4 “at the earliest,” Kuykendall said. “And it’s an ever-changing scenario. ...
“The message I really want to promote is it’s really about student safety first, and then the distance learning and other education pieces will follow.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 12:48 PM.
