Turlock High school goes from ‘eerie’ to cheery as excited students return to campus
A campus without students? It’s been “eerie,” said Turlock High Principal Gabe Ontiveros, who bade farewell to that feeling Monday morning as he welcomed back about 25% of his school’s 2,500 student population.
When news spread last week of a lawsuit ruling that allows California junior high and high school students to return to campuses in cohorts, Turlock Unified School District seized on the opportunity and quickly announced that it would bring back kids this week.
A survey found that a little fewer than half of Turlock High families wanted their students back in classrooms as Stanislaus County still is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. And those returning have been divided into A and B cohorts, getting two full days of in-person instruction (Wednesdays remain distance learning for all), so foot traffic at THS was pretty light Monday morning, Ontiveros said.
“I think as far as trying to maintain the social distancing, this is really going to work,” he said as he and staff and student leaders greeted teens.
Tours were offered to freshmen on Sunday, the principal said. But for some at least, Monday resembled the first day of school and they had to stop to ask directions to classrooms.
There are nine access points to the 40-acre campus, and safety protocols have them all staffed to ensure kids show up masked and aren’t visibly unwell.
At the front entrance on Canal Drive, teacher and yearbook adviser Virginia Barr was capturing the big day in photos and video. “We are so excited to have everybody back,” she said. “THS isn’t the same without them, and having them back is just the greatest gift.
“We’re going to play safe, be extraordinarily vigilant and hopefully will be able to remain open and go back to regular schedules as soon as possible.”
For their part, students said being away from campus obviously hasn’t been the same high school experience, either. Doing well in classes via Zoom was challenging, junior Jillian Laney said, but not being around classmates also was a dramatic change. “It feels good to finally be able to see friends,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to school and back to games.”
Fellow junior Genesis Ellis said she learned she needs to be in a classroom environment to thrive in school. Her sophomore brother, Keagan, agreed that distance learning was hard and said he’s also looking forward to being with friends. “We don’t necessarily have to be close to each other but we at least see each other again.”
Senior Maya Parreira and junior Lola Moitoso were hanging welcome signs for their classmates. “Our students needed this,” Parreira said of being back on campus. “Energy was low and it’s great that a lot of us are able to be here in person and just kind of get that vibe back that we had.”
Moitoso said she’s excited to be back and hopeful that by her senior year, things will pretty much have returned to normal. “I missed my campus so much,” she added. “It was definitely a struggle at first, getting used to being online and doing things from home and focusing myself ... but I’m in the swing of things now.”
Beyond the masking and the greatly reduced number of students on campus, Monday looked a lot like a typical day of students arriving at a high school, including a number of them toting musical instrument cases. Yes, band students may play, Ontiveros said, as long as they’re outside, spaced 10 feet apart and have masks on the bells of their instruments.
Similarly, students can do PE classes, but they won’t dress out and activities will be limited, he said. Only members of athletic teams will use the locker rooms, and they’ll be scheduled to limit the number inside at once.
Career technical education courses have more freedom, too, district spokeswoman Marie Russell said. “One of the nice things about the most recent (state and national) guidance is that there’s a lot less focus on disinfection and more emphasis on hand hygiene,” she said. “In a class where they’re using tools, as long as the kids are washing their hands before and after, you can do disinfection of things less frequently. So kids can absolutely share equipment in those types of classes.”
Reopening plans in the works for weeks
Last week, before the news of a San Diego Superior Court judge issuing a temporary restraining order against the Jan. 14 California Department of Public Health guidelines on in-person secondary school instruction, Turlock Unified trustees heard a reopening report from Assistant Superintendent Heidi Lawler.
Regarding junior high and high schools, she said clarification from Stanislaus County public health on the use of seating chart contact tracing gives the district greater flexibility. That contact tracing may avoid closing entire classrooms by focusing on classmates who have more direct contact with students who test positive for COVID-19.
As a result, students who choose to return to campuses in the alternating cohorts are getting two full days (rather than the earlier planned half days) of in-person instruction.
After spring break, the plan is to add alternating Wednesdays to the schedule, so that every other week, seventh- through 12th-graders would have three days at school, Lawler said at the board meeting.
Because surveys show that just about 50% of families want their children back on campuses in the blending learning model, with the rest opting for full distance learning, trustee Jeffrey Cortinas urged the district not to miss an opportunity.
With A and B cohorts, only about 25% of students are on campus as once, he said. “I would encourage the district to do more, maybe after Easter break, to bring them back to at least four days a week, and then maybe slowly work into that fifth day. Remember, we’re down to our last 40 days.”
Russell said Monday that TUSD, while making sure it’s aligned with the latest CDPH and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidance, is exploring additional days of in-person learning.
Accommodating more students on campuses got “a lot easier” with the CDC and CDPH guidance on safe social distancing in classrooms going from 4 feet of space to 3, she said.
“Moving to 3 feet between chairs certainly not only opens it up for merging the cohorts, but there might be kids who are distance learning who choose to come back if they hear that they can go five days a week.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 3:06 PM.
