Kids are at Big Valley Christian, but Modesto private school’s offering just a ‘day camp’
The sign outside Big Valley Grace Community Church and Christian School on Tully Road in Modesto reads, “Now meeting in-person & online.”
It doesn’t say “In-person instruction,” and that is key.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said all public and private K-12 schools in counties on the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list must stay closed. Those counties, including Stanislaus, need to stay off the list for 14 consecutive days before they are eligible to reopen campuses.
The Modesto private school at the corner of Pelandale Avenue and Tully Road is offering what it calls a distance-learning camp for its enrolled students from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade.
“Pods” of about 12 campers each are in classrooms, doing their schoolwork online, with no teacher present, according to Michelle Mott, superintendent and junior high/high school principal.
“We are not providing on-campus instruction,” she said by email. “All instruction is being done virtually via Zoom and other digital tools. We have provided a day camp where students, if they choose, can complete their distance learning in the same room as a small group of students under the supervision of a day camp supervisor.”
The teachers are not in the classrooms, and the camp supervisors — most hired for this purpose — “are providing child care and are not tutors,” according to the school’s day camp handbook. The handbook also notes that attendance is not mandatory and campers can come on some or all days.
The California Department of Education does not oversee, assess or inspect private schools, a spokesman said. And Stanislaus County Office of Emergency Services spokesman Royjindar Singh said the school appears to be in compliance with health orders and restrictions on in-person instruction.
Remote teacher means it’s not ‘in person’
It’s the case even though an Aug. 10 statement from county public health officer Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, titled “Guidance for School Distance Learning and Educational Day Camps,” says, “The State Framework for Reopening In-Person Learning states that if the local health jurisdiction has been on the monitoring list within the last 14 days, the school must conduct distance learning only. Schools may not, therefore, open as a day camp and provide in-person learning.”
Singh said, “By the school emphasizing there are not teachers running the camps, and the kids don’t have to do learning, it’s not an on-site distance-learning classroom.”
Mott said county and state health and safety guidelines for day camps are being followed, including social distancing and masks.
The handbook says third- through 12th-graders must arrive at their pods with face coverings. It also says each camper goes through a health check upon arrival, which takes place in the car line drop-off.
Designated staff will regularly clean and disinfect surfaces including doorknobs, light switches, sink handles and counter tops, the handbook says. Additionally, use of shared items will be minimized.
Among the precautions being taken to avoid contact among students, campers will eat lunch outside or in their rooms as a pod, rather than mixing in the cafeteria.
On Thursday, the second day of offering the camp, the superintendent said, “It will take a couple of weeks to get a true feel for how many students are coming to camp, including average number of days each and average hours per day. We are fortunate to have the facilities to accommodate all of our campers in small groups of around 12.”
What’s happening at other private schools?
As recently as July 31, Modesto Christian School said on social media that it would be “returning to classroom learning starting August 13th.” When The Bee visited the school on opening day, though, interim Superintendent and high school principal Cynthia Jewell said the decision had been made to start the year with distance learning.
MC board member Wendy Warwick told The Bee on Thursday, “We are planning to go back to in-person learning as soon as Stanislaus County is off the monitoring list. We will also actively pursue the waiver for K-6 in the interim.”
The state says closed elementary schools in counties on the monitoring list within the prior 14 days may not open for in-person instruction until they have received approval of a waiver submitted to the local health officer. Singh said Tuesday that Stanislaus County has approved no waivers.
Ripon Christian Schools had been working toward an Aug. 19 opening day for in-person learning, but early this month announced that instead, it would reopen Sept. 8. Ripon Christian said on its website that it remains committed to in-person instruction but that opening this week “would have potentially exposed school board members, staff, and the school to civil and/or criminal liability.”
Teachers in rooms in Sacramento
In Sacramento, Capital Christian High School has taken the day camp provision much further than Big Valley, offering teacher-supervised classroom space to students. Its head of schools, Tim Wong, told The Sacramento Bee that it’s helping students and families not be camped at home all day in front of a computer screen.
The Sacramento Bee article says, “Capital Christian has what it calls 20 high school ‘life groups’ on campus. No room has more than 14 students, and most have 10 or fewer. Students stay in the same room with the same instructor for the day, changing subject matters to be in alignment with students doing their classroom sessions remotely.”
Sacramento County’s public health chief, Dr. Peter Beilenson, said in the Bee story that the county allows day care for young students and it is improper to say teen students are in day care if they are in school classrooms in learning situations. He said if he determines Capital Christian is violating state and county COVID-19 rules, its camp will be shut down.
The Fresno Bee has reported that a private, faith-based K-12 school in Reedley where students returned to classrooms Thursday has been ordered by the Fresno County Department of Public Health to end in-person instruction.
And in Tulare County, where an elementary school reopened for in-person learning, a county health spokeswoman told the Fresno paper that her department is “in communications with state authorities and actively reaching out to school officials.” The article, published Friday and updated Sunday, said the school district and county superintendent of education had not responded to Fresno Bee requests for comment.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 1:53 PM.
