Some Marin schools set for in-class teaching

For thefirst time since the coronavirus shelter-in-place order in March, Marin public school children in four districts will step backMonday into their real school classrooms and see their teachers in the flesh, face to face.

“It’s very exciting,” Marin Superintendent of SchoolsMary Jane Burke said Friday of next week’s firstwave of in-classroomlearning at Larkspur-Corte Madera, Miller Creek, Kentfield and Reed Union school districts. “The conversation has been going on in Marin County formanymonthsas tohow to get our children back to in-person schooling.”

Brett Geithman, LarkspurCorte Madera School District superintendent, saidhe andhis staff and parent community are so excited that theywilldecorate all the schools’ entryways with welcoming signs and balloons, play music and offer friendly greetings as students show up for class Monday morning.

“Wewanted tomake it welcoming, comfortable and fun — as school should be,” Geithman said. “That’s our goal — and also for them to see how much we missed them.”

All three Larkspur- Corte Madera sites — Cove and Neil Cummins elementary schools and Hall Middle School — will be reopening in a modified hybrid mode. Witheachschool population divided into twocohorts— AandB

— only cohort A will attend in-person on Monday and Tuesday, while cohort Bwill continue distance learning on those days. Wednesdays will be all-remote for everyone. Then, on Thursday and Friday, the cohortswill trade places.

Starting the following week, the cohorts will also rotate, but on a daily basis — between mornings and afternoons — five days a week. The split into cohorts allows class sizes to be limited to 15 students.

In addition, each student desk in every classroom will have its own plexiglass shield. The shield can be used by that student when speaking with a teacher or when talking to other students.

“We ordered the plexiglass months ago, but we just received it,” Geithman said. “Staff have been working around the clock to peel the paper off the plexiglass andget that and everything

else ready.”

Reed Union School District will run a similar hybrid plan— but will stretch it out in longer phases, said Superintendent Nancy Lynch.

“Our regular instructional program follows our ‘phases of reintroduction' that are grounded and approved by Marin public health,” Lynch said in a newsletter to parents.

“This programwill enter Phase 2 on Oct. 5 and will have students returning to school in a split cohort hybrid model, attending two days per week in person,” she said. “Then, itwill move intoPhase 3 onNov. 9, with a full cohort hybrid model having students return to school five days per week.”

Miller Creek School District is doing a “slow, measured reopening taking place in 14- day intervals,” Interim Superintendent Becky Rosales said in an email to parents earlier this week.

“The first wave of students will return Oct. 5, with a maximum of 36 elementary students and 57

middle school students on campus at any given time,” she said. “The second wave of students will return to the classroom on Oct. 26, after engaging in a transition week starting Oct. 19.”

At Kentfield School District, the reopening will be more of a test run than a full-out launch.

“In Kentfield, we are opening with a pilot of nine classes operating across the two district sites,” Superintendent Raquel Rose said in an email. “Our pilot will allow us the opportunity to implement our hybrid design and examine how it is working for our students as we phase into in-person instruction.”

With some exceptions, most students in Marin public schools have been in distance learning or on summer break for the last six months. About two dozen Marin private elementary schools were able to open lastmonth because they qualified for a state waiver of coronavirus restrictions.

A few other Marin public schools have also opened

earlier. Ross School District held some kindergarten, first grade and second grade classes earlier thisweek. The district, which has set up numerous outdoor classrooms, will phase in the rest of the grades next week.

Sausalito Marin City School District opened Sept. 14 forK-6 grades with a state waiver, adding seventh and eighth grades a day later. A number of Marin County Office of Education special education classes and alternative programs also have been operating — some as pilot programs to test coronavirus safeguards.

Burke said she expected to see second and third waves of reopenings later this month and into November.

“There were some who thought it was impossible,” Burke said of the notion of ever returning to classrooms.

“We owe a debt of thanks to school officials, the health department and our families who have insisted on safety protocols that have led to what's possible.”