Explaining details of reopening plan
Students to start returning to classrooms in hybrid model April 8
The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s hybrid learning model will see students returning to their classroom for about two hours a day for two days a week starting next month.
Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh said the limitations of the state’s social distancing mandate of 6 feet between desks limited the district’s options to a hybrid model of some in-person and some distance learning.
“The question becomes what’s the best model for your district for the last seven or eight weeks of school,” he said. “So we really prioritized students staying with their current teacher, students staying with their current class, minimal disruption to families that have made tremendous sacrifices to make distance learning work — we wanted to minimize that disruption — and we wanted to ensure that we were looking at equity across the district, meaning that we were caring about our students coming back for in-person learning but not forgetting about the many students in our district that were going to stay in distance learning.”
Last month, the district asked families to fill out a survey indicating their preference for a hybrid inperson or full-time distance learning structure for the rest of the school year. After releasing the specific plans for a hybrid model last week, the district again asked families for their preference. Diffenbaugh said the district would choose a different hybrid learning model if students were going back at the start of the school year but that the model selected makes the most sense in the current context.
Other districts have decided to have some teachers focus solely on distance learning and other teachers on in-person learning, mixing up the students and reassigning them to new teachers. Diffenbaugh said while that model would give students more time on campus, they would have only a few weeks to get to know their new teacher and classmates before the end of the school year. The last day of school in the district is June 4.
“Putting a student who’s been through a traumatic experience with a brand new teacher for the last seven weeks of school did not seem like something that would be beneficial,” he said.
The district also considered a model where the teacher teaches students who are there in the classroom with them as well as students watching via live stream simultaneously.
“What we’ve heard from other districts who have tried this is that it really is difficult for a teacher to implement well,” Diffenbaugh said. “So usually what happens is the students who remain in distance learning suffer disproportionately because they aren’t able to understand what’s going on in the classroom and the teacher isn’t able to give them the personalized concern and attention that they deserve.”
Students in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade will be in synchronous distance learning from 8 a.m. to noon on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Students in the hybrid model would then go to school in person from 12:30 to 2:40 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday if they are in Group A or on Thursday and Friday if they are in Group B. On Wednesdays, all students would be in synchronous distance learning from 8 to 10 a.m. and in asynchronous distance learning the rest of the day.
Hybrid learning will begin in elementary schools on April 8. Families will not be able to pick which days students will be going to school but siblings will be paired together and go on the same days.
“At this point, we can’t guarantee a day,” Diffenbaugh said. “Certainly, you can put a preference in and we can try to meet the preferences. I want to be clear, siblings will be on the same day.”
Students in middle or high school will see similar schedules, only the inperson sessions would run from 12:40 to 2:30 p.m. Students in sixth, ninth and 10th grades will return to campus April 12 while students in seventh, eighth, 11th and 12th grades will return April 19.
“Similarly, we felt that it was important for (middle schoolers and high schoolers) to keep their current teachers and current classes — particularly because for high schoolers their grades go on their permanent transcript,” Diffenbaugh said.
High school students who return to school in stable cohorts will have a mix of options such as in-person help in a class in which they’re struggling, an extension of a current class such as a chemistry lab session as well as some new options teachers are coming up with to provide students.
“We’re saying to our high schoolers that this is kind of like a college experience where you can choose your courses based on your interests, based on your needs, and come in and get that experience,” Diffenbaugh said.
Since students moved to distance learning nearly a year ago, Diffenbaugh said the district has learned how many older siblings are tasked with assisting their younger siblings with school work and technological help.
“The thought of having elementary at a different time than high school really would make that difficult to continue,” he said. “We wanted to provide as much stability as possible but add to that a level of excitement for kids to get back on the campus, to see their friends, to see their teachers, to get extra support whether that’s academic or social/emotional. We feel like we’re going to be able to accomplish this. But I do know that some parents are frustrated and upset, and I totally empathize with it. I think they have every right to be frustrated with where we are in California with our educational system. I think the only thing I would say is that while they are primarily, rightfully so, concerned with two or three of their kids, we’re concerned with 10,000 kids and when you spread your perspective out that far, you’re forced to make very difficult tradeoffs in the best interest of all students.”