Chico school district holds Q&A
Recall of board members continues to move forward
CHICO >> Chico Unified School District officials fielded questions from frustrated parents during a question-and-answer session Tuesday morning inside the cafeteria at Shasta Elementary School.
CUSD superintendent Kelly Staley started the session by clarifying that the decision for the district to remain in the a.m./p.m. instructional model is made by the school board. Assistant Superintendent Jay Marchant, Director of Elementary Education Ted Sullivan and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jim Hanlon were also in attendance. Board trustee Matt Tennis was also present.
“Our board is elected by you. The community elects our board members. They set the vision and the direction of the district. I wanted to clarify that,” Staley said to the group. “Our job (as a district) is to listen.”
The school board voted 4-1 with Tennis voting against for CUSD
to remain in the a.m./p.m. model for the remainder of the school year during the March 3 meeting. The issue was thought to be put to rest until it popped up again on the April 7 meeting agenda. It was placed on the agenda since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its school reopening guidelines to have students placed at least three feet apart in the classroom.
However, in the last school board meeting, no vote took place to reconsider the instructional model for the rest of the school year. Since the board operates according to Rosenberg’s Rules of Order, only a trustee on the prevailing side of the Feb. 3 vote could make a motion to reconsider the previous vote. Tennis, since he voted against the a.m./p.m. model previously was not permitted to make a motion.
Staley said she does not believe the board will change its decision and allow a full, in-person reopening of schools for the final two months of the school year.
“I do not believe that we will be back full time this year. I do not believe the board will change that decision. That’s just me being honest,” Staley said. “I do believe, and I believe wholeheartedly, that we will be back in regular, full day in-person schedule when we come back (next school year) Aug. 16.”
Staley also mentioned that she has been putting together a plan to present at the April 21 board meeting about a potential full reopening in the fall.
“I want our kids back in school full time. I think that’s the right thing to do,” Staley said. “I absolutely believe that is what our society is built on.”
Originally, the district’s school reopening plans were tied to the county tiers of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening model. However, in the fall, that plan was suspended after the state allowed for school districts to reopen for in-person learning in the red tier. The state also said that if a school district reopens in the red, but the county is moved to the most restrictive purple tier, the schools would not have to close. That’s when the board approved the district to reopen for partial in-person learning and adopted the a.m./p.m. model.
Staley said the a.m./p.m. model was a “melding” of the online-only and in-person models. At the time, Staley said many parents wanted to stay online only so the a.m./p.m. model was a compromise.
The session was preceded by a rally held by the Chico Parents for InPerson Learning group. A group of about 30 people stood on the corner of The Esplanade and Nord Highway in front of Shasta Elementary.
The group made up of parents and children held signs in support of a full reopening of in-person instruction while many people in passing cars honked in support.
Kim Snyder, the co-chair of the group, said they had organized the rally to show support for the teachers who want to be back teaching fully in-person.
Snyder added that had the board approved a full reopening in March, that students would have gotten 228 hours of instructional time to finish out the year. Snyder said that from Oct. 19, 2020 to March 17, 2021, students have received 200 hours of instruction.
“If they would have opened up Monday, they would have had more schooling in the next two months than they would have the whole school year on Oct. 19,” Snyder said. “(That time) is huge for the learning loss that we’re seeing, the mental health of kids, the parents who have to work to put food on the table.”
Chuck Blomquist’s daughter is a first-grader at Shasta Elementary. Blomquist said he feels that a full reopening of school can be done safely and the a.m./p.m. model has been a burden on his family.
“It’s a burden on my family since both my wife and I work. Two hours a day is almost worse than no time at all,” Blomquist said. “Those final two months are invaluable. I’m very upset with the board.”
Vanessa Smith, a mother of four with two kids at Shasta Elementary, said she wanted to support those teachers who feel that a full reopening is safe.
“We want to come out here and show them the support that they can reopen their classroom,” Smith said. “It’s not even about COVID at this point. It’s about getting the kids back in school. All of those obstacles can easily be overcome.”
Recall update
Chico Parents for In-Person Learning launched a recall effort of four school board members on March 3.
Trustees Eileen Robinson, Caitlin Dalby, Tom Lando and Kathleen Kaiser were each served with a letter of intent to recall. Dalby, along with Tennis was elected to the board in the November 2020 election.
The notice of recall has also been submitted to the Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
The group must collect about 11,000 signatures for each trustee to be recalled. The window to collect the necessary signatures is 160 days, according to Keaton Denlay of the Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, which manages elections.
If the petition qualifies with enough verified signatures, the recall election would land between February and May 2022.
Denlay said the estimates of the cost of the recall for the school district would be “in excess of $475,000.”