Excited and confident. Modesto 7-12 schools to open Monday as county reaches red tier
The Modesto City Schools district has been spared having to make a decision about whether to bring students back to junior high and high school campuses based on a judge’s temporary restraining order against state public health guidance.
Stanislaus County on Tuesday finally moved from the purple tier in the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system to the less restrictive red tier. That gives school districts the green light to proceed with in-person instruction of seventh- through 12th-graders divided into alternating cohorts.
“It’s very exciting for the district, and the superintendent is excited,” Modesto City Schools spokeswoman Krista Noonan said about escaping the purple tier. “We’re confident because we do have the health and safety protocols in place to ensure that we’re having a safe learning and working environment for our staff and for the students. That’s really important to us.”
Last week, MCS Superintendent Sara Noguchi told district employees in an email that in anticipation of the county reaching red, “we are moving forward with our plan to reopen 7-12 schools on Monday, March 29.”
The district of nearly 30,000 students will open the classrooms at its four middle schools, seven high schools and Elliott Alternative Education Center. Up to this point, the schools have been open to only small learning hubs for the most at-risk students.
Under a safety plan approved by the MCS Board of Education, the secondary campuses will use a hybrid learning schedule that will have students on campus two days a week.
Critical to preventing outbreaks and keeping classrooms open, Noonan said, is the cooperation of students and their families to protocols including self-screening, staying home if sick and wearing a mask at school. Students who don’t want to wear masks will have to return to distance learning, she said.
A survey of grade 7-12 families conducted in October showed that about two-thirds wanted their children back in classrooms when it could be done safely. For those who wish to keep their children at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, 100% distance learning will continue to be offered.
The returning students will be divided into two cohorts, determined by grade level, alphabetical order and keeping children in the same cohorts if they live in the same homes.
Group A will be at school Mondays and Tuesdays for in-person learning with teachers. Thursdays and Fridays, those students will do concurrent distance learning from home.
Group B will have the opposite schedule, and all students will be online on Wednesdays. That day, teachers will conduct small-group instruction virtually or in person and will provide feedback on digital learning.
So, what has to happen between now and Monday?
The district’s maintenance and operations staff has been busy configuring 7-12 classrooms to ensure physical distancing and getting safety components like Plexiglas barriers in place, Noonan said.
“There could be some finishing touches that are being done this week, but I would not say there’s a mad scramble or anything because we’ve already been preparing for this day to come,” she said. “The 7-12 sites, many of them have already had learning hubs in full operation since the fall, so they’ve had these safety measures in place.”
The last day of the academic calendar is May 27. Unless the district increases at some point the number of days cohorts are on campuses, the current A-B plan gives a student about 18 days of in-person instruction.
While the reopening is welcome news to families that desperately have wanted their students back in classrooms, many wish it had happened earlier.
Brenna McDonnell McNamara, parent of Downey High freshman Grace McNamara, said her daughter wants the on-campus experience “so badly” but had nearly given up hope on it happening this school year. “When I tell her that the teachers are preparing the classrooms and they intend to hold class soon, she shakes her head and says, ‘It won’t happen,’ ” McNamara said Tuesday before the tier announcement.
“These kids need school to open. I have seen huge personality changes in kids I know. Many are despondent and have stopped trying.”
Modesto’s Sylvan Union district, whose middle schools feed into Modesto City high schools, shares a March 22-26 spring break with the larger district. Using a hybrid learning model, Sylvan returned sixth-graders to its middle schools starting March 15 and will bring back seventh-and eighth-graders starting Monday.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 2:31 PM.
