Public schools expand plans for full-time classes

Dozens of Marin public schools are expanding reopening plans sooner than expected, clearing a path for all schools to resume fulltime, in-person instruction this spring.

“It's an invitation,” Dr. Matt Willis, the county's public health officer, said Tuesday during a countywide schools webinar before more than 500 participants. “We're removing the barriers and offering reassurance and support every step of the way.”

Willis pointed to progress such as Marin's move to the less-restrictive orange tier status on Wednesday, its rising vaccination rate to about half the adults countywide and the relaxation of distancing guidelines to 3 feet between students.

Marin has the highest vaccination rate in the state, he said.

“We think, at the current rate, that all Marin adults could be vaccinated by midMay,” Willis said.

If that happens, there's a chance that teens 16 to 18 years old could become eligible to be vaccinated by the summer, he said.

Tamalpais Union High School District, which earlier this month said it would wait until fall, announced on Tuesday that all district high schools will move to full-time learning on April 13.

“We have great collaboration with our labor partners,” Superintendent Tara Taupier said. “All staff will be vaccinated by April 13, which was a deciding factor.”

Some districts are not waiting for April 12, the end of spring break, to go full time. On Monday, Kentfield School District returned all students at Bacich Elementary and Kent Middle schools to full in-person instruction, five days per week, according to Superintendent Raquel Rose.

San Rafael City Schools elementary students will move to a modified, 4.5-hours-per-day in-person schedule five days per week on March 29, Superintendent Jim Hogeboom announced Tuesday in a letter to parents.

“While we should all be relieved that we are seeing a lower prevalence of COVID in our community, we need to continue to work together so Marin does not experience rising infections that lead to a ‘third wave,'” Hogeboom wrote.

The Ross, Larkspur-Corte Madera, Mill Valley, Reed Union, Sausalito Marin City, Novato Unified, Bolinas-Stinson, Nicasio, Shoreline Unified and Miller Creek districts have already committed their schools to four or five days per week of in-person schedules, according to a chart being compiled at Marin County Office of Education.

Mary Jane Burke, Marin superintendent of schools, said she is asking districts to update the chart with their scheduling plans by Friday. After that, it will be posted online at marinschools.org.

Burke also has a separate chart for dozens of Marin private, parochial and independent schools. Almost all of those are already providing full-time in-person instruction, according to the chart.

The guideline for 3-foot distancing between students came after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reduced its prior recommendation of 6 feet between students to 3 feet. The lesser distance still requires

masks be worn except when eating.

Marin is also still recommending 6 feet between students and teachers — and 6 feet between students if they are unmasked, such as at lunch.

“Proper-fitting face coverings are the key to enforcing the 3-feet requirement,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, the county’s deputy public health officer.

Students and their families who travel out of state for spring break April 5 to 9 need to quarantine for 10 days upon their return, Santora said. All family members should get a COVID-19 test after five days. If negative,

the students can return to school the following week.

“I know we all have a little bit of spring fever,” Santora said.

She added that the school sports safety guidelines are more detailed and will be following protocols set up by the state. Those include such restrictions as mask wearing at all times, only one competition per day and one sport per athlete.

The county is not recommending schools use plastic barriers in classrooms because they fear the shields could give a false sense of security and lead to reduced mask wearing or lax hand

washing.

The county is also recommending that visitors to school campuses, including substitute teachers, parent volunteers or contractors, be fully vaccinated.

“It’s not an order, but it’s a strong recommendation,” Santora said.

All 116 Marin schools are now open for at least 10% in-person instruction. Since September, when the county began tracking coronavirus cases at schools, there have been only 11 cases of schoolbased transmission, according to the public health database map. Of those, was a student-to-teacher transmission.