School o cials, families adapt to school closures
EL CENTRO — The temporary closure of schools countywide has turned into something of a mixed blessing for 10-yearold El Centro twins Michelle and Francisco Gonzalez.
Aside from sharing a birthday, the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary fourth-graders also share a dislike for mathematics, and on Tuesday said they were glad to spend the day not having to worry about the subject matter.
Yet, they acknowledged that their school’s temporary closure, replicated by all public schools countywide and prompted by the threat of COVID-19, had left them with limited options for spending their free time.
“We can’t go outside because of the coronavirus,” they said, while visiting the campus Tuesday to pick up a bagged breakfast and lunch that the El Centro Elementary School District is providing its students every weekday during the hiatus.
Throughout the Valley, students, parents and school officials were doing their best to adapt to the new reality that has been imposed by the potential threat of exposure to COVID-19 and the measures taken to limit the public’s risk.
Some of those measures include the recent closure of Valley schools until April 17, the transition to online classroom activities to help keep students active, and the daily provision of meals for thousands of local students.
All told, some 15 sites have been set up by local school districts to provide daily meals to not just their respective students, but any child under 18 years of age in the same household as the students.
The sites allow for curbside service for the parents and children that either stop by on foot or in a vehicle. Some sites provide a meal for breakfast and lunch at separate times, while within the ECESD, both meals are provided at the same time.
The effort is one way that the districts are mitigating any additional problems that may arise from school closures in a region that already has a significant level of food insecurity, said ECESD Superintendent Jon LeDoux.
The district has five sites strategically selected for their geographic locations to provide the meals, which are also supplemented by the efforts of the Central Union High School District.
“Between both districts, we have the whole city covered,” LeDoux said.
On Tuesday, each of the district’s sites had 500 meals prepared to give away. Both the breakfast and lunch it provided were mostly made up of packaged items that had longer shelf lives than hot meals, so as to avoid any surplus food waste.
As the district determines the average number of meals that the sites are providing, it may start offering different menu options going forward, said Molly Diaz, ECESD Child Nutrition director.
“I’m anticipating next week we’ll probably have bigger numbers,” she said.
Though the district’s food service employees had the option of not working during the hiatus, all showed up to work Tuesday, the first day of the temporary closures.
“They stepped up to make this possible,” Diaz said.
The district is also counting on parents’ help. Students in grades K-2 have been provided with enrichment packets containing academic activities for their children, while those in grades 3-8 have been given the option
of taking home classroom Chromebooks that have been pre-loaded with instructional programming.
The district’s website has a resource center for parents and links to additional free academic resources.
“The parents are taking over for us so we’re giving them the resources they need,” LeDoux said.
Yet, it and other districts are stopping short of mandating traditional classroom instruction during the hiatus.
“These lessons are not required to include assignments that must be turned in or graded,” said Alejandra Limon, Calexico Unified School District public information officer.
On Tuesday, the Calexico district provided about 2,000 meals for both breakfast and lunch. Most were hot meals, but its food services employees had also prepared cold sandwiches so no one would be turned away without a meal.
The district is using a variety of online platforms to establish communication with its students, such as Google Classroom, Class Dojo, Remind or email.
It is directing parents to stay informed through its website, where a direct link will connect to the Remote Learning website to provide additional resources to the campus community during the closures.
“In addition, CUSD will be providing a device to students who do not have a device at home and will make every effort to provide connectivity to students who do not otherwise have access,” Limon said in an email.
The temporary countywide school closures, announced Monday, appear to be the first time such a significant step may have been taken in the Valley, said Imperial County Office of Education Todd Finnell.
There’s also a possibility that schools statewide may remain closed for the remainder of the school year, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“This is a very sobering thing to say,” Newsom said.
Last week, he signed an executive order assuring school districts that they will receive their funding if they close due to COVID-19.