Our re-opening approach focuses on equity, safety

As the landscape around handling the pandemic constantly shifts, the last thing we want is our kids being “left in the dust.” What we do want is to be able to provide support, encouragement, and equity for all our students. That means we want to ensure the needs of all our students are being met while simultaneously providing targeted support to students who need it most.

We are seeing trends moving in a direction that is conducive to welcoming families back in person. However, transitioning from the virtual model requires enormous coordination and consideration at all levels. Our status, until just the past few days, has been a “deep purple.” High schools are not allowed to open until in the “red” tier for in-person hybrid instruction.

Therefore, we’re simply not at the rates we need to be at to re-open just yet. This does not mean we do not have a plan for re-opening this school year. On the contrary: What this means is in the meantime, we must keep our focus on servicing the students doing remote learning. As soon as the guidelines for our district say so, we will implement our re-opening plan.

One of the biggest concerns around the subject of re-opening has been the status of athletics. Many have advocated for student-athletes to return before this “red” tier since it is not classroom instruction.

We may restart athletics ahead of that, but when and how needs to be carefully considered. Reopening athletics specifically needs to be done in the context of how we reopen schools to other student groups. All students should be afforded the same opportunity when it comes to reintegrating back into a school setting. There is a comprehensive plan in the works for safe, sustainable, and responsible return to conditioning, practice, and play. The implementation of this plan is being fully fleshed out with each school’s athletic director before we move forward. That plan will be soon shared with the Board of Trustees at an upcoming meeting.

Ultimately, when it comes to re-opening our schools, the health and wellbeing of each and every student is top priority. We must do everything we can to continue to support the mental health of our students, families, and staff and to make our current remote model equitable, accessible, and sustainable during a transition to inperson. It is critical that we continue to approach this decision cautiously and carefully. As a community, we must continue to work together for the benefit of our children.

— William Spalding/

Superintendent, Vallejo City

Unified School District