Patterson, Stanislaus school districts latest, largest to file applications to reopen
Update Sept. 24, 6:30 a.m.
Past print deadline for this story, two more Stanislaus County public school districts submitted waiver applications Wednesday. They are Riverbank Unified, seeking to reopen three schools, and Hughson Unified, to reopen five.
Patterson Joint Unified and Modesto’s Stanislaus Union are the most recent and largest school districts in Stanislaus County to submit applications for limited reopening of in-person education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For counties on the state’s monitoring list (Stanislaus remains in the lowest tier), the California Department of Public Health allows school districts to to apply for a waiver from the local health officer to open an elementary school for in-person instruction. This waiver is applicable only for students in transitional kindergarten through grade six.
The Patterson district on Tuesday submitted its application to reopen its five schools that serve TK through fifth-grade students, who number nearly 3,100. The district proposes reopening no earlier than Oct. 19.
Stanislaus Union also is seeking to reopen its five elementary schools, which have a combined enrollment of nearly 2,700 students in TK through sixth grade. It would reopen no earlier than Oct. 9.
Both waivers are awaiting state approval, as are those of eight other public school districts in the county. The largest of those others seeking to reopen is Oakdale Unified, with 2,550 TK-6 students in four schools.
Just one public district in the county, the one-school Knights Ferry Elementary, with 142 students, has been OK’d. It plans to reopen Sept. 29.
Nine private Christian schools in the county have had their waivers approved and already brought students back. One more, Hughson Christian, is awaiting the green light.
‘We’re not in any big rush’
Patterson Joint Unified is looking at initially having half the students on campus at one time and the other half at home doing asynchronous learning, and the groups would alternate, spokesman Juan Padilla said Wednesday morning. “We’re also exploring the possibility of having half-day classes for TK through first grade,” he said, “and we will be meeting with our teachers association next week to discuss a blended model for all age groups.”
Well before the current school year began Sept. 8, the district sent to all parents a contract for at-home independent study that offered two options, Superintendent Philip Alfano said Wednesday. The first option was to do independent study immediately for the fall semester, regardless of whether the district had the go-ahead to bring students onto campuses. Families had a month to submit the contract, and 210 chose this option.
The second option was that if the district returned to in-person instruction during the first semester, a student could then go into IS. That route was chosen by 142 families, Alfano said. “I think all parents understood, and it’s not like they had to make a split decision.”
“All of these contracts have been honored,” the superintendent later told The Bee in an email. “We pulled teachers working on special assignments to handle this additional caseload.”
Those who did not submit a contract, but are now wanting independent study, have been placed on a waiting list.
Since then, a few more families have decided they want to do IS, he said, and because staffing for IS already has been assigned, those families were told they could go on a wait list.
“We’re not in any big rush to go back to in-person instruction,” Alfano said, noting that approval of the waiver application does not commit PJUSD to a reopening time line. “We’re taking it very slowly,” but the administration’s recommendation to the school board was to get the request in to see what the county and state have to say.
Though independent study will be the only distance-learning option once students are back in schools, Alfano said, “We are looking at the possibility of live-streaming instruction in a classroom (at times) for those students who may not be able to attend. If we are able to reopen, we still may have a student who has to quarantine because of an infection of a member of their household.”
Situations like that are details beyond what’s included in the application, the superintendent said, and will be discussed with employee groups next week.
Custodial staff, outdoor seating added
Patterson Joint Unified’s plan for cleaning and disinfecting includes the hiring of nine additional custodians. It says an electrostatic disinfection device and disinfecting solution will be used daily in all classrooms.
Restrooms will be wiped down twice daily and cleaned and disinfected at the end of each day. More than 400 touch-free hand sanitizer dispensers have been put in classrooms and common areas.
Children will stay in fixed-member cohorts of seven to 14 students. The application says they will receive in-person instruction on alternate days and/or times in order to meet the state social-distancing guideline of keeping 6 feet among students and teachers.
Lunch periods will be staggered, and students will receive prepackaged “grab-and-go” meals. An additional 220 outdoor picnic tables and 100 benches have been purchased and installed.
Among other protective measures, students in third grade and up will be required to wear face coverings, as will all staff. In TK-2 classrooms, where students are considered too young to be expected to wear masks, there will be Plexiglass desk shields.
Kits with a digital thermometer, hand sanitizer and reusable face coverings will be sent to the homes of all students. Daily temperature checks of staff and students are to be done at home each day before going to school, but a thermal imaging scanner will be in the front office of each school, and touchless thermometers also will be available at all sites.
The application also addresses periodic staff testing to detect asymptomatic infection and the testing of students and staff who show symptoms of COVID-19.
If a classroom has a positive case, students and teacher will quarantine for 14 days and revert to distance learning. If outbreaks close more than 25% of the schools in the district, the entire district will quarantine.
Stanislaus Union would phase in students
The Modesto district’s proposal is to initially reopen TK-2 classrooms on a rotating schedule, with half the students receiving two half-days of in-person instruction each week. The rest of their learning would be remote.
After three weeks, third- and fourth-graders would return the same way. Depending on how things are going, fifth-and sixth-graders could return in that second phase, or could be scheduled to return three weeks later.
The district then would work to increase minutes per day and days per week for all those grades. Families would have the option to remain with distance learning.
The plan calls for frequently touched surfaces such as door and sink handles, tables, desks and chairs to be disinfected three times a day.
Among other measures are upgraded air filters throughout the district, electrostatic sprayers to disinfect all rooms daily, and sanitizer dispensers in all classrooms and common areas.
As in every waiver application, the plan is for students to stay in small cohorts for all activities to minimize contact with other children and adults.
Students in third grade and up will be required to wear face coverings, and they re “strongly encouraged” for younger students.
All Stanislaus Union employees are required to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms each day before reporting for work. Parents will be responsible for completing with their children a daily health checklist screening provided by the district.
The waiver application says Stanislaus Union is awaiting further direction from county and state health officials on how to fulfill the requirement of employee testing.
Regarding confirmed cases of infection, it says a class “may be” quarantined for 14 days and move back to distance learning for that period. It also states, “If 5% of the total school/district population is positive, or if there a multiple cases in multiple cohorts, the entire school could be closed for in person learning for 14 days.”
All waiver applications for public school districts in Stanislaus County can be viewed at www.stancoe.org/division/administrative-services/school-waivers-public-schools.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
