Lodi students headed back to campus
District aims to reopen schools by end of the month
Lodi Unified School District students will be returning to campus for in-person instruction later this month, more than a year after sites were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Cathy Nichols-Washer, the district’s superintendent, released a statement Friday morning announcing that students will report to school on March 29 in a hybrid capacity. The district closed campuses March 13 last year.
“We look forward to bringing our students back to campus as we know this is the best learning experience,” she said in the statement. “We will communicate additional information next week.”
Nichols-Washer said that if San Joaquin County is promoted to the state’s red tier in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy by March 29, students in all grades will return to campus.
Students will be on campus two days a week, and will be divided into two groups. One group will attend school on Mondays and Thursdays, the other group on Tuesdays and Fridays. All students will engage in remote learning on Wednesdays and the days their group is not on campus.
If the county remains in the purple tier by March 29, only students in kindergarten through sixth grades will return to campus, along with priority group students such as those with special needs, foster and homeless youth, and children without digital access.
Students again will be split into two groups and attend school two days a week. Those who have registered for all-distance learning for the 2020-21 school year will remain at home for instruction, the district said.
There will be four minimum days next week — March 9-12 — so teachers can prepare for the return to campus, the district said.
Parents who commented on the district’s Facebook post about returning to campus said it was a step in the right direction.
“I am thankful my kids will be back with their teachers and peers for some time, while still keeping everyone safe since this pandemic is not over,” Emily Epperson posted. “I also look forward to being back with my students, even though
my workload will increase with this schedule. Baby steps.”
Kelli Sanchez commented that several teachers texted her expressing how happy they were to be returning to the classroom with students.
She said those in the community who aren’t happy about going back to school should be happy they were able to get a COVID-19 vaccine, which not everyone has been able to do at this point of the pandemic.
“It’s going to be very hard for us working parents to make this schedule work but we’ve been dealing with these issues this entire last year so we will have to figure it out again,” she said. “It’s been rough on everyone but together we can get through it. Students should be the priority and they deserve to be on campus before their school year is up.”
The district’s announcement comes a day after state lawmakers approved AB 86, which provides $2 billion in grants to schools that open transitional kindergarten through second grade by the end of the month, and bring back at-risk students at every grade level.
It also allocated $4.6 billion for all school districts, even if they did not meet a Feb. 15 or March 15 timetable Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed in his Safe Schools For All plan.
In addition, the plan allows school districts in counties still in the purple tier to reopen and changed new COVID-19 case rate requirements from less than 7 per 100,000 residents to less than 10 per 100,000 residents, once some 2 million vaccines are delivered to the state’s hardest-hit communities.
As of a March 2 tier assignment, San Joaquin County’s new case rate was 11.6 per 100,000 residents.
In addition, its test positvity rate was 5% and its health equity rate was 6.8%, both of which qualify for the red tier as they are less than 8%.
As of Thursday, the state had delivered 1.6 million doses of vaccine to underserved communities.
Michelle Orgon, president of the Lodi Education Association, said the teachers union was disappointed the district pushed for a change in starting dates during a Thursday evening bargaining session, but did not want to re-negotiate the remainder of the memorandum of understanding that was agreed upon in November.
That MOU dictated that the district would return to campuses if the county was promoted to the red tier and remained there for two weeks. If the county was demoted to the purple tier, the district would return to all-distance learning.
“We won’t know until Tuesday what our tier level will be,” Orgon said. “So the district hasn’t broken that MOU, but they’ve basically put it out there that they intend to break it.”
She added that the four half-days scheduled for next week were a big concern for the union, as those were previously scheduled for final exams, and the following two weeks make up spring break. In addition, teachers at Joe Serna School were scheduled to conduct conferences with parents, and now they will have to be canceled.
“We did not feel that what the district was proposing made sense for the students,” Orgon said. “Give students time to finish their exams.”
In a media statement issued Thursday, California Teachers Association President Toby Boyd said while the governor’s $4.6 billion for districts was much needed for student learning and emotional support, his organization was disappointed the legislature had moved the community case rate goalposts a second time in eight weeks.
“Educators are painfully aware of the impact these eleventh-hour changes have on our school communities – whether it’s the waivers, inconsistent safety standards or shifting guidance earlier in the pandemic,” Boyd said. “Changing guidance directly tied to this legislation will impact districts already working on their plans and will likely trigger confusion, fear and anxiety when our communities are already worried about the safety of their families.”
Boyd added the CTA was concerned the legislation did not include regular, ongoing asymptomatic testing outside the purple tier as recommended by California Department of Public Health.
The CTA was also concerned with the $2 billion to support safety measures for schools that are opening and have already opened.
“The incentive plan penalizes schools in communities with higher transmission rates that can’t open immediately and school districts that have announced plans to open after April 1,” he said. “Implementation and enforcement of these regulations and safety guidelines at the local level and statewide will be the next step and all of our responsibilities.”
Galt Joint Union Elementary School District also announced reopening plans Friday, with superintendent Karen Schauer stating in-person instruction will be a blended morning/afternoon model.
The first week of in-person instruction will be March 22 for grades K-6, while a start date for grades 7-8 will be dependent on pandemic conditions and Sacramento County metrics.
More information can be found online at gjuesdca.schoolloop.com.
As of March 2, San Joaquin County was one of 40 counties still in the purple tier, along with Sacramento, Stanislaus, Calaveras and Amador counties.
Sierra and Alpine counties are the only two in the orange tier, while 16 counties are in the red tier. There are no counties in the yellow, least restrictive tier.
According to San Joaquin County Public Health Services, there have been 67,213 COVID-19 cases and 1,177 deaths since the pandemic began last year. There are still 1,371 active cases in the county.
There have been 4,576 cases and 131 deaths in Lodi’s 95240 ZIP Code, and 1,897 cases and 32 deaths in its 95242 ZIP Code.
A total of 146,994 vaccine doses have been administered in the county, of which 14,200 were given in Lodi, according to county public health.