Photo: Kiana Liu
Photo: Kiana LiuMost California schools are preparing for a new reality of entirely remote classes this fall, after Gov. Gavin Newsom last week announced that schools cannot offer in-person instruction if they are in counties the state is closely monitoring for coronavirus spread.
That means it is back to the drawing board for the many districts that were previously planning on offering a variety of options to students and parents, ranging from in-person classes and online instruction to hybrid approaches that involve a blend of both.
Distance learning “is a challenge in any experience,” Newsom said in his daily briefing on Wednesday.
In-person instruction would be far preferable, he said. “Our number one desire is to get our schools back open, in person, with high quality social emotional learning, not just academic learning, that is essential to the development of our children.”
But keeping schools closed for in-person instruction in counties on the state’s Covid-19 monitoring list is necessary to reduce infection rates in California, he said.
District officials interviewed by EdSource said they felt relieved to now have a clearer set of expectations from the state about when and how to bring students back to campus. At the same time, they said the future is still uncertain, and they are trying to be prepared for to make further pivots should they be necessary.
And despite the greater certainty Newsom has introduced into the school fall landscape, cases of Covid-19 are now increasing in California, and teachers and administrators are also preparing for more changes that could come at any point, depending on the course of the pandemic in the coming weeks and months.
Distance learning was unsuccessful for many students in the rapid pivot to distance learning last spring, and now state education officials are looking into ways to help districts make remote learning more effective this fall. On Thursday, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced in a webinar that districts can now apply for $5.3 billion in available funds to assist with improving distance learning and mitigating learning loss.
For now, planning blueprints for hybrid and in-person instruction models that districts have been working on intensively for weeks or months are on hold as school officials in the more than 30 counties on the state’s monitoring list refocus their sights on distance learning.
That is the case in Sanger Unified in Fresno County, one of the counties being monitored by the state.
“In-person, face-to-face instruction we believe is the best for our students, and we thought we could pull it off, especially in elementary with social distancing,” said Tim Lopez, associate superintendent of educational services in Sanger Unified. “But we know it’s important to limit the community spread, so we want to be a part of that.”
Last month, in response to the clear need to offer improved distance learning after its rushed rollout in the spring, California legislators in June passed the state’s 2020-21 budget bill with detailed requirements regarding remote learning. School districts have to implement the provisions of the bill in order to receive funding from the state.
As a result of Gov. Newsom’s order last week, the requirements are getting closer scrutiny. Among others, school officials have to confirm that students have access to the necessary technology to participate in online classes, take attendance, monitor weekly progress and ensure teachers interact daily with students.
Until last week, parents in Sanger Unified had the opportunity to choose between four different options for returning to school: completely in-person instruction, a fully online curriculum, a hybrid schedule, or a homeschooling option where students work with their parents and also receive support from teachers via a district-run charter school.
But now, all students will start the year off with distance learning. That will include daily live online lessons with teachers, Lopez said, as well as offering regular office hours when students can reach teachers for additional support. “Especially at the lower grades, teachers found we need to have timely and constant feedback from students,” Lopez said.
He said all the work the district has done in drawing up other instructional models will not be wasted. Having a list of options already on hand could help the district pivot to in-person or online with short notice, Lopez said. The district’s original fully online option will now be extended to all students. When health conditions improve, the plan is to give parents the option to have students return to school part-time or remain with full distance learning.
Some researchers worry that districts that were focused on offering hybrid instruction — with some classes offered in person, and others remotely — they may not have put in the necessary time to set up a high quality distance learning program.
“We are pretty concerned that this move to virtual doesn’t have an equal amount of planning behind it,” Robin Lake, director of the Center of Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, said during an Education Writers Association panel discussion on Thursday.
In fact, some districts, like Corona-Norco Unified in Riverside County, were hoping all their students would return for in-person instruction in August. Earlier this summer, the district crafted a detailed plan for how students and staff could practice social distancing on campus and implement guidelines for masks and sanitation requirements when schools reopened.
But as the number of coronavirus cases climbed in Riverside County, which is on the state’s monitoring list, Superintendent Michael Lin said it became clear that a full return would not be possible. Now the district is now planning to start the school year off on Aug. 11 with all students learning remotely,
“We figured back in June that we would have time by August to implement safety measures to bring students back,” said Lin. “The key is to return as safely as possible, it’s not about returning as quickly as possible.”
Despite the changes his district has had to make, Lin said he was relieved by the governor’s order on Friday because it sets clear standards and expectations across the state. “For me, that’s the right decision. We all want to return, but we can’t do it if it’s not safe,” Lin said. “If teachers don’t feel safe, what kind of teaching will we have?”
Distance learning proved to be ineffective for many students last spring when schools closed suddenly for in-person instruction, and now some districts are seeking to come up with creative solutions to ensure greater success for students in an only-online environment.
San Francisco Unified, for example, is planning to open up 40 in-person “learning hubs,” or spaces where students can go in-person to access digital coursework and receive help. The program will prioritize low-income families, foster children and other students in a difficult situation for remote learning, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday.
Many districts are now re-creating plans while recognizing that health conditions and state and local requirements and guidelines could change any day.
San Ramon Valley Unified near Walnut Creek in the East Bay voted to approve a hybrid learning model on June 14. But less than 36 hours later, the district received notice about the upcoming announcement from Newsom about school closures and began to re-evaluate its plans. The school district is located in Contra Costa County, which is on the state’s monitoring list.
At the same time, the district heard from its local public health authority that contact tracing of the spread of the disease in the district would be a challenge, according to Chris George, the district’s director of communications. By June 16, just two days after deciding upon a hybrid model, and even before Newsom formally made his announcement, the board reversed its earlier decision and voted to begin the school year with distance learning.
“We all share the goal of getting kids back into the classroom as soon as it’s safe,” George said. “As we’ve seen since the beginning of March, this means we must all prepare for change.”
Newsom echoed similar feelings of frustration — along with acceptance of the new remote learning reality that it appears most districts across the state will have to embrace this fall. “Clearly we have a lot of work to do for more rigorous distance learning,” he said. “Students, staff and parents all prefer in-classroom instruction, but only if it can be done safely.”
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Comments (6)
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Linda Flores 2 years ago2 years ago
Do you have room for a first grader?
Nicole 2 years ago2 years ago
Thanks for this important article. I’m finding that distance learning requires new tools to succeed with my kids and the normal methods aren’t working as well online as they do in person. My daughter’s favorite teacher has started using a tool called Genially to make her presentations interactive, and it’s helping. She loves clicking around to discover hidden info. Thank God for dedicated teachers!
Peggy 3 years ago3 years ago
This is a difficult time for everyone. One of the creative solutions for working families has been pods to support distance learning. We’ve seen learning pods being formed at after-school centers, in family homes, and even outdoor pods on https://www.activityhero.com/activities/learning-pods
Will 3 years ago3 years ago
Newsom should rely on science and data before making such a decision.
Meg 3 years ago3 years ago
I gladly chose virtual learning for both my kids even though it was a narrowed down decision. Home schooling will not work and I will not send my kids back until meetings about my kids going back can be held in person. My major concern is with my youngest. He will be a first grader and cannot read very well yet. He does not know how to navigate a computer and Google meets were very … Read More
I gladly chose virtual learning for both my kids even though it was a narrowed down decision. Home schooling will not work and I will not send my kids back until meetings about my kids going back can be held in person.
My major concern is with my youngest. He will be a first grader and cannot read very well yet. He does not know how to navigate a computer and Google meets were very chaotic in the spring. I know that everyone is doing their best but I think the requirements for distance learning should be on a grade level basis since a classroom of kids in k-3 have much different attention spans and technical abilities than that of other grades.
Victoria Canote 3 years ago3 years ago
Dear Ed Source, At first, I was relieved to receive the news that San Jose Unified had finally settled on a “distance learning” model for the fall. However, after reading further about the proposal, I realized that their version of distance learning still requires teachers to live stream from their classrooms, which raises many concerns about privacy issues for teachers and parents. More importantly, the proposed plan still puts teachers and other staff at health and … Read More
Dear Ed Source,
At first, I was relieved to receive the news that San Jose Unified had finally settled on a “distance learning” model for the fall. However, after reading further about the proposal, I realized that their version of distance learning still requires teachers to live stream from their classrooms, which raises many concerns about privacy issues for teachers and parents. More importantly, the proposed plan still puts teachers and other staff at health and safety risks when the coronavirus is at an all time high. Most districts in California are having teachers do distance learning from their homes to protect them from infection and death.
The district’s new plan would require teachers to live stream from their classrooms many hours a day. Ed Code 51512 “prohibits recording without prior consent of both teacher and principal.” San Jose teachers have not been asked if they agree to being recorded all day in the classroom. Furthermore, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 USC { 1232g }) (34 C.F.R. of student records parent permission/ opt out) protects parents, and allows them to “opt out” of their child being a part of a livestream. To my knowledge, SJUSD has not asked parents for permission to livestream their children. Other districts have included language in their memorandums of understanding that has protected parents, students, and teachers from live streaming all day. Therefore, they are conducting distance learning from home, as it should be. Daily live interaction does not mean that it has to be livestreamed six hours a day. Other districts are fulfilling the requirement of daily interaction with students with prerecorded lessons, and some synchronous lessons. Why can’t SJUSD do this?
Most importantly, requiring teachers to return to the classroom for six hours a day is a risk to our health! It is still unsafe to return to an institutionalized setting of any kind. Current research has proven that the coronavirus lingers in the air and recirculates through filtration systems. With janitors, technology people, principals, and resource people all coming through classrooms and no testing in sight, teachers and other staff will be exposed to recirculated air that is potentially contaminated with the virus. Someone will get sick! Please see “Coronavirus in the Air – How to Clean Coronavirus from the Air,” by Mooney, Stein, and Steckleberg.
You are forcing teachers to use communal bathrooms which could be infected with the virus. Many teachers have their own children at home. What will they do? If they have the option to bring them to their classrooms, you are allowing more opportunities for spread of this disease, and defeating the idea od stopping the spread that distance learning is meant to fix. Over the summer, teachers had to sign up to be on campus with a mask, six feet apart from others, with a maximum capacity of twelve to fifteen teachers on campus at a time for a limit of one to two hours. Now, the district is going to require hundreds of people on campus at one time for six to eight hours a day, even though positivity rates are at an all time high. (around 4%)
In his address to the public on Friday, Governor Newsom mandated that educators must be tested, and it is the employers’ responsibility to test. The district is reopening a public institution, regardless if students are returning. How will the district fulfill the governor’s mandate for testing?
In closing, the district’s revised plan is still unsafe and unacceptable. The plan puts teachers and staff at risk for contracting the virus. The plan also raises legal concerns about privacy for students, parents, and teachers. Private industries as well as Federal Government employees continue to work from home because of the shelter in place mandate from the state. Teachers from other districts are conducting class from the safety of their homes. I believe teachers can be more effective from home with prerecorded lessons and live interaction over Google classroom or Canvas. Please persuade the district to revise the current plan to allow teachers to run virtual classrooms at home, for the safety of all of the SJUSD employees!!
Sincerely,
Victoria A. Canote
Third Grade Teacher
Trace Elementary School