Modesto’s Sylvan Union district board OKs middle school reopening plan
It all depends on the COVID-19 case rate in Stanislaus County, but a plan for the return to in-person learning would have Sylvan Union School District sixth-graders back on campus starting March 15. Seventh- and eighth-graders would return to the middle school campuses at the end of the month.
The district’s board of trustees approved the plan at a special meeting Tuesday night after hearing a presentation from Superintendent Eric Fredrickson and members of his cabinet.
District leadership is working with the teachers union to finalize a memorandum of understanding, and parents will receive information regarding the schedule for the hybrid learning model that alternates cohorts of students between in-person instruction and concurrent at-home learning.
Parents of sixth-graders are being sent a “family learning option form” this week, Fredrickson said. “That gives you as a family your choice of the hybrid model in person, or remaining on distance learning. We’ll provide you with enough details that you can make an informed decision, and then families will be notified regarding their individual students’ schedules.”
Seventh- and eighth-grade families will get their learning option forms the week of March 11. Those students would return to campuses starting March 29, the Monday after spring break.
“The intended dates are right in line with the trend of the current COVID daily case rates in the county,” the superintendent told the board.
Schedule consistency ‘a big deal for kids’
Trustees were presented the specific schedule for grades six through eight. A key consideration, Fredrickson said, was maintaining the integrity of the master schedule, which includes honors classes and electives.
“That is a big deal for kids, especially when basically they haven’t been in school in person for about two-thirds of the school year,” he said. “These children have been in these courses, they’ve been following that master schedule. And it was important that we at least finished our year out with them having that consistency, rather than trying to create separate self-contained classrooms at the middle school level.”
Assistant Superintendent Laura Granger laid out for the board the middle school reopening schedule, which has three block classes per day, per cohort. That reduces the number of students in a stable cohort and means less possible exposure during passing periods.
Students in Cohort A will be on campus Mondays and Tuesdays, and Cohort B on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays are distance learning for all.
The schedule is basically an augmented version of the Sylvan SeLECT distance-learning schedule that’s been in place all school year, Granger said.
“We’ve been operating under a block schedule, and it’s made the transition to in person a little more feasible because our students are already used to attending a block schedule, three periods a day,” she said. “We have expanded those period times to include a 75 minute block,” except zero period, which remains 30 minutes.
Long blocks give teachers flexibility
The 75-minute block of time affords teachers flexibility and discretion in how they provide instruction, Granger told trustees, depending on the standards being taught, the skills being taught and the needs of the students.
A teacher could simultaneously instruct in-person and at-home students, she said, or “choose to divide up that 75-minute block, do some of that instruction with the in-person students and then pivot to provide direct instruction to some of the distance-learning students.”
Fredrickson added that if a teacher chooses to divide his or her time, students would be working independently for part of the period.
The majority of the daily 240 instructional minutes are before in-person students are dismissed at 12:40 p.m. and may grab lunch to go.
Until 1:40, teachers have a lunch and prep period. Then at 1:40 on each day but Wednesday, all students log in from home for a live advisory period until 2 p.m.
“It was really important for teachers to continue the work that they’ve done with that advisory period — or as a parent described, homeroom — because that is where the social-emotional lessons are taught, that’s where there is opportunities to connect between teachers and students, students to students,” Granger said. “It’s another way to build those connections that we all know are so important to school.”
The reopening schedule for grades six through eight is embedded in the board agenda at bit.ly/3qcAWG7. Video recording of Tuesday night’s special meeting can be viewed on YouTube.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
