LUSD pursues COVID safety for next school year

The first day of the 2020-21 Lodi Unified School District academic year is Aug. 3, and the board of education is considering a number of options to ‘reopen’ school in a manner that keeps students and employees safe from COVID-19.

District staff presented two models for instruction to the board at a May 28 study session, both of which were the result of task force meetings, and include having students return to campus in some capacity.

The AM/PM model would allow 50% of students to attend classes at all district campuses in the mornings, and the other 50% of students to attend in the afternoon.

Class sizes would be anywhere from 14 to 20 students in a room, and all students would visit their campuses twice a week.

Students would participate in distance learning on Fridays, which staff said would also be the day teachers could be able to prepare for the next week’s lessons.

A 25% model would have a quarter of a school’s students return to campus once a week and have one day reserved for distance learning. On days where students are on campus, they would be divided into four different groups for instruction.

Staff said the task forces were unsure how to create an instruction model for elementary schools, as concerns were raised that students in grades kindergarten through second need in-person contact with their teachers.

One option would be to implement the AM/PM model at the elementary level in order to give younger students in-person contact, staff said.

In addition, staff said many teachers in the younger grades have expressed concern that distance learning is unsuitable for their students.

In all models, social distancing measures and consistent cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces would be employed to ensure campuses are free of COVID-19.

Board members on Thursday said they had all received numerous phone calls and emails from parents about going back to school. Some parents said they would like their students to return to class full-time, but some preferred distance learning as a way to keep their children safe from a possible second wave of COVID19.

“I have a very social third grader, and he can’t stand to be away from his friends right now,” parent Sabrina Hill said. “How is social distancing going to be enforced when students are allowed back on campus? What disciplinary measures are going to be in place to ensure these health and safety standards are being followed?”

Jessica Kempker, a parent and teacher for the district, said because many of her colleagues were teaching remotely for the first time, they were unclear as to how and what they needed to provide their students during the spring semester.

Kempker said as a parent, her son worked faster on the material he was learning, but missed the interaction and support he received inside the classroom.

“There was a disparity in the way instruction was offered to different students at different levels in different classes at different school sites,” she said. “I would hope moving forward there would be a framework offered of what the expectations are for distance learning to make sure each student is getting an equitable opportunity to materials they have from not being in class.”

Board members said while they would like to have all students return to campus in some form, they understood concern from parents worried about the potential spread of COVID-19. To that end, the board expressed interest in offering a full distance learning model for parents who want their children to remain home during the pandemic.

“Human contact instruction, to me, is paramount,” board member Ron Heberle said. “I have no problem with distance learning. Whatever we do, there needs to be a distance learning element to it. I think we’re on the beginning edge of that, and we definitely should pursue those two models, whether they’re teacher generated or independent.”

Guidelines for schools to reopen are expected to be released by the California Department of Education in early June, board chair Joe Nava said. Once those are released, he said Lodi Unified should have a clearer picture as to which model would be best for reopening in the fall.

In the meantime, the Sacramento County Office of Education on Tuesday released its guidelines for opening schools without direction from the state.

Chelsea Vongehr, spokeswoman for LUSD, on Tuesday said the board and staff will be waiting on direction from the state and San Joaquin County Office of Education before choosing a model to reopen.

“To me, and to all of us, the best model is to go back to normal,” Nava said last Thursday. “But I know 50% of our parents want to go back to normal, and the other 50% don’t. These are trying times.”

The board received another report about reopening at its regular June 2 meeting, but no action was taken and no new information was provided.