‘VERY CONFUSING’
Parents, teachers navigate fog of plans for new term
Marin parents and teachers, bewildered by what they say are changing guidelines and conflicting information, are demanding more clout about how schools will reopen safely next month amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a big experiment,” said Tim Lentini, a math teacher at Kent Middle School in Kentfield. “Do the benefits outweigh the risks — even if the risks are not yet known? That is the biggest question that we have here tonight.”
Lentini was one of dozens of speakers Wednesday in an online public forum for northern and central Marin residents to air concerns and ask questions. The event, hosted by the teachers’ group, Marin Educators for Safe Schools, drew about 400 people on connected devices. Two more meetings were held Thursday and Friday for communities in Southern and West Marin.
Some parents said that
Inside: The Trump administration continues its push to reopen schools.
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until the schools are able to minimize risk to an acceptable level, they would prefer 100% distance learning if their home situations allow it.
“If they are going to reopen schools, they need to do it in the safest way possible,” said Kentfield School District parent Adrienne Brown. “Right now, I don’t have the confidence that that’s going to happen.”
The comments follow the release of guidelines by county officials on June 18 that recommend a return to full in-person classroom learning five days a week. Officials in Marin, the state and the nation — including President Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — have been swept into debate on the reopening issue.
Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke, who issued the June 18 recommendations along with
Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, said the guidelines were not mandates.
“The guidelines that were developed with public health were designed to give local districts the safety precautions, resources and tools necessary to reopen for inperson instruction if they chose to do so,” Burke said Thursday. “The guidelines do not require districts to reopen to in-person instruction five days per week.”
She said she “did not have the authority to reopen — or close — schools in our districts. That is completely up to the local district leaders.” Most Marin County schools are set to open the week of Aug. 17, or in about six weeks.
Burke added that she and the Marin County Office of Education staff started on March 9 — even before the local coronavirus emergency — to schedule meetings, webinars, training sessions