Sonora High board OKS plan to return students to school

Sonora High to begin hybrid in-person classes beginning Oct. 19,

The Sonora Union High School District Board of Trustees approved a phased plan to return students for partial in-person and on-campus learning beginning Oct. 19 during a special board meeting Thursday night.

“I think that the board expressed that they want to do what they can to bring students back on campus safely, and we can follow the guidelines of the medical professionals,” said Sonora Union High School District Superintendent Ed Pelfrey. “If we can do it successfully we can continue to grow the number of students we can have on campus gradually.”

The model approved by the district allows for 50 percent of students to be on campus at one time, with set social distancing and hygiene protocols in place.

In the first phase, students will do distance learning on Monday and Friday and 50 percent of students described as “cohort green” will be present Tuesday. The other 50 percent will be present Thursday as “cohort gold.”

The in-person schooling is described as synchronous, or when instruction is provided live by a teacher. Teachers identified in-person synchronous learning as the most effective, the plan noted, with synchronous distance-learning the next most effective.

On Wednesday, all students will do assignments or have instruction that does not come directly from a teacher.

Classes last from 8:05 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

The model lasts from Oct. 19 to Nov. 13.

If administration determines this phase was successful, then from Nov. 16 to Dec. 18 (the end of the fall semester) the distance learning days would be replaced on Monday with cohort gold and Friday with cohort green.

Teachers are working to “build effective practices” to teach students at home and in-person simultaneously, the plan said.

Dario Cassina High School will begin with the second phase model due to a smaller number of students and extensive use of online curriculum, it said.

Students can also choose distance-only learning.

Pelfrey said the hybrid plan was approved with a 4-1 vote. Trustee Kim Norton dissented.

The hybrid plan was the recommendation of administrative staff at the school who weighed the risk of the virus with the academic and social obligations of the district to provide for students.

“This plan meets the CDHP guidelines for opening our schools. We obviously want all of the students back as soon as they can. But we have priorities and that’s the safety of our students, our staff and families,” Pelfrey said.

The motion also includes an athletic conditioning plan for student-athletes to prepare for the return of high school sports.

There were over 50 letters of public comment which were read into the record during the meeting, Pelfrey said.

During the meeting, about 45 people, many of them parents of district students, demonstrated on the Sonora High School campus marquee to support a plan of reopening.

Jonathan Moberg, a parent of two students at the high school, said he was not present at the demonstration due to work, but said he advocated a full-reopening like many who were present.

“The kids need to be inperson learning. They need to be there. Teachers are essential workers. There are too many students who are struggling academically and socially, the whole gamut is just a mess,” Moberg said.

Moberg said he was not opposed to the hybrid model, but criticized it as too incremental.

“We are moving backward with this thing, we need to be moving forward,” he said, noting other schools were already proceeding with a full reopening

Based on guidance from the Tuolumne County Public Health Department, the district approved distance learning through the end of the first quarter of the school year, Oct. 16.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the district submitted a return to school plan to public health on Sept. 9. They said one requirement of their plan is the hybrid reopening. As of Oct. 6, public health is not requiring districts to submit plans for in-person instruction for approval.

Tuolumne County Public Health Director Michelle Jachetta confirmed in an email schools are not required to seek approval through the public health office, but said they have the option of using the office as a resource to review their plans.

According to a tiered state classification system for COVID-19 risk, Tuolumne County schools are allowed to be open at the discretion of the district.