How will Stanislaus County schools reopen? With soap and sick rooms, guidelines say
Students can expect staggered schedules and prepackaged meals when they return to Stanislaus County schools this fall, according to new guidelines.
The Stanislaus County Office of Education released a reopening guide Tuesday, Superintendent Scott Kuykendall said, to explain coronavirus precautions specific to the Modesto area.
Like the state guidelines announced Monday, Kuykendall said the guide is intended to help educators safely resume in-person instruction, not mandate uniform measures across the county’s 25 school districts.
“You have a wide range of district enrollments throughout Stanislaus County, so those decisions are going to be made at the local level: if there are hybrid versions of attending schools, if it’s a block schedule or if it’s alternating days,” Kuykendall said.
Schools consider staggered schedules, sick rooms for COVID-19
County public health officials may require schools to adopt alternative schedules to reduce contact between students, according to the guide, such as by creating half-days where some students attend class in the morning and others meet in the afternoon. Schools also have the option of dividing classes into groups that rotate daily, as well as staggering lunch periods, recess and start and end times.
Other safety measures include spacing desks farther apart, asking parents to take their children’s temperatures daily, providing hand washing stations in classrooms and recommending face coverings for both staff and students. If students come to class feeling unwell, the county suggests bringing them to designated “sick rooms” while they wait for family to take them home.
District superintendents provided input on the guidelines over the past week, but Phillip Alfano, superintendent for Patterson Joint Unified School District, said school officials have already identified office spaces that can be repurposed as sick rooms. Prepackaged school meals and outdoor seating are also in the works. He praised the flexibility of both county and state guidelines, noting distance learning is difficult for working class families that can’t stay at home with children and supervise them academically.
“We shouldn’t be closing schools unless it is absolutely critical to do so,” Alfano said. “I think these guidelines provide us with reasonable accommodations to meet the health and safety needs of students and staff without denying children that opportunity to attend schools in person.”
Still, Patterson Unified will have to budget for ongoing coronavirus precautions, such as additional custodial staff to disinfect surfaces and hand sanitizer, Alfano said. Federal funding may help cover one-time equipment costs, such as medical supplies for sick rooms, but schools are facing major state budget cuts.
Parent requests may be accommodated
While Modesto City Schools currently plans to return to in-person instruction five days a week, Superintendent Sara Noguchi said district staff are responding to a parent survey on preferred schooling methods. About 37% of nearly 3,000 respondents said they were not comfortable sending their students back to Modesto schools.
“We’re working to plan distance learning for those parents who want to continue that at home,” Noguchi said. “It will decrease significantly the number of kids who will be at the brick and mortar, which allows for us to be able to do the social distancing that’s outlined in the guidelines.”
For now, the district doesn’t anticipate needing to buy more school buses, Noguchi said. Staff will ask students to wear face coverings as suggested by guidelines, she said, but will make exceptions for students who cannot, such as those with medical conditions.
As county public health officials continue to advise against holding dances, rallies, assemblies and field trips, Noguchi said staff and students will likely brainstorm creative alternatives, similar to how they organized virtual graduations.
Stanislaus County Public Health will oversee reopenings
Ultimately, the County Office of Education will not conduct inspections based on the guidelines, Kuykendall said, because they are health issues.
“It’s really the job of our public health officer to be working with our local districts and making sure our schools are safe to reopen,” Kuykendall said.
Public Health Officer Dr. Julie Vaishampayan worked with the office to put out the guide, which includes a question and answer section. Musical activities and sports are among the topics. For now, county public health recommends no in-persons practices for choir and wind and horn instruments, but sports such as golf, cross country and cheer could resume with social distancing.
Guidance on school sports may change as the upcoming year approaches, the guide says. The office posted both an English and a Spanish version on its website.
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
