In-person instruction comes back to Vallejo

Some students in grades 7-12 return after a year of distance learning

Vallejo High School biology teacher Vivet Beckford-Nelson knows a ton about living organisms divided into many specialized fields. On Monday she was glad to see a lot of organisms back in just one place — on campus in her classroom.

“One year, one month and one week,” Beckford-Nelson said, with a laugh on Monday. “That’s how long I’ve been waiting to see my students again in person.”

Vallejo students were back in the classrooms on Monday, enjoying in-person instruction for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit last March. Kindergarten through sixth grade students returned to in-person instruction last week for the first time in the Vallejo City Unified School District, while this week it was students in the grades 7-12 returning to their campuses.

Vallejo High School Principal Jarrod Bordi said approximately 480 students returned. Since some students opted to remain at home, VCUSD is also continuing with distance learning.

“I loved seeing my teachers again and fellow students again,” Vallejo High senior and Associated Student Body President Gabe Dambrosio said. “I love being able to speak to them again and have that oneon-one interaction I’ve been missing.”

Dambrosio had three classes on Monday — business, physiology and English. In the business class there was only two other students present — not much a chance to hide if one didn’t know an answer or failed to do homework.

“In my English class I didn’t have too many people in the classroom as well, so I made sure to be more active in participation and speak up more,” Dambrosio said. “I tried to ask more questions.”

Sophomore student Bryan Ceja also had missed the one-on-participation and the teachers’ guidance in person.

“I’ve been used to being at home and sometimes being a little lazy,” Ceja said. “With the teachers there today, they really push you to not fall behind. I like that.”

Although Beckford-Nelson has been teaching her classes all year long, Monday was the first time she had seen some of her students’ actual faces.

“Some of the students don’t show their face during the Zoom classes — they’ll use another face (an avatar) instead,” Beckford-Nelson said. “So I came up to a couple of students and I’d recognize their voice, but I hadn’t seen their face before.

“In terms of being in the same room with the students, one of the things you benefit from is being able to read the students’ body language,” Beckford-Nelson continued. “Some of the students won’t get something and you can just tell by the way they move and behave. You can’t necessarily do that with distance learning. Also you can do some in-person activities that maybe you wouldn’t be able to do if still distance learning. Today we were talking about chromosomes, so having a student in here today that is a twin, we decided to cater to her a little bit with the lesson.”

Beckford-Nelson, who was recently named the district’s teacher of the year, said she is trying to reward those students that have decided to take a chance and come to class in person.

“I want to make it worthwhile for them,” the biology teacher said. “I asked a few of them why they came in and they would say, ‘To be with you!” And I would just tell them that’s the same way I felt.”

Beckford-Nelson said she’s still not having the students do group work in person.

The hybrid learning schedule began on Monday at 8:30 a.m. with a collaboration time between teachers. At 9 a.m. the first of three in-person instruction classes began, with the other two classes starting at 9:50 and 10:40 a.m., while 11:20 a.m. to about noon was a period left for in-school support time, or basically some time for students who felt they were still behind and needed some more help.

At 9 a.m. teachers and administrators gathered in front of the school to welcome back the students.

“We had music going and teachers offering greetings,” Bordi said. “It was all positive and it seemed as if everyone was was pretty excited. There were some students who were a little nervous as they were trying to find out where their classes were, but I feel everything ran pretty smoothly.”

From 12:35 to 2:55 p.m. the day continued with three classes for students still learning via their homes. The Monday schedule will remain the same on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, while Wednesday’s are slated for only distancelearning instruction.

Bordi said it’s been a tough year having the students away for so long. The principal said he isn’t sure yet what route the high school will take next fall. He also wasn’t sure what the school’s graduation ceremony will look like. Last year the seniors were honored in a drive-thru celebration.

While Vallejo and Jesse Bethel high schools came back on Monday, St. Patrick-St. Vincent High and all of the Napa Unified School District schools (including American Canyon High) have had some classroom instruction since October.

“It’s been hard the past year and the uncertainty and longer hours for teachers in front of a screen and setting up a system has been difficult,” Bordi said. “But I think that’s a huge testament to our teachers and staff that we’ve made it work. Over spring break we had eight teachers volunteer to help 92 kids receive credits and remediate some classes. Those classes could be the make or break point of whether they graduate or not.”