Spring semester to open with am/pm schedule
Chico Unified will wait to monitor virus case numbers before opening at full capacity
CHICO » Students within the Chico Unified School District will return from winter break to an a.m./p.m. schedule, the Chico Unified School District Board of Trustees voted during a lengthy meeting Friday night at Pleasant Valley High’s Center for the Arts.
The Chico Unified School District Board of Trustees voted 3-2 to continue with the a.m./p.m. schedule to start the spring semester and will reassess and consider a full reopening during the Feb. 3 board meeting.
With Butte County falling under the stay-at-home order and cases continuing to increase in the community, the board decided to wait on reopening at full capacity to see how COVID-19 case numbers within the schools hold up over the holidays.
“Being in the a.m./p.m. schedule has been a lifesaver for the social- emotional well- being of students,” said trustee Eileen Robinson.
Robinson, who was chosen to be the new board president, also commended the district for keeping COVID-19 case numbers low. Trustee Kathleen Kaiser was chosen as the new vice president while Tom Lando was chosen as the new clerk.
“The district has been doing an amazing job at keeping students safe,” Robinson said.
The meeting surpassed five hours as board members deliberated and several public comments were heard.
Newly sworn-in board members Caitlin Dalby and Matt Tennis had differing views on schools reopening. Tennis had lobbied for a full reopening because cases within the schools have been low compared to the rest of the county.
Tennis said that the vast increase in F’s among students calls for a full reopening of schools.
“It’s very, very concerning,” Tennis said. “If there’s a fundamental problem, we need to step back and weigh
competing values and make wise decisions for the kids of Chico.”
However, Dalby said it should be a community effort to get schools back to a full reopening.
“Our district does not operate in isolation from the community. We’re part of the community,” Dalby said. “If we open fully we’re increasing daily contacts.”
Dalby also cited concerns about holes in the district’s contact tracing protocol. During the COVID-19 update portion of the meeting, district nurse Michelle Neves-Dean said students are getting tested but are still attending school while waiting on test results. Neves-Dean said she’s seen test results take up to five
days to come in.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Neves-Dean said.
However, Diane Olsen, the director of Student Support Services, said there has been only one possible student-to- student spread of COVID-19 and one possible adult-to-adult spread.
Whenever a positive case is identified, students that were within six feet of the positive case for more than 15 minutes are quarantined for 14 days. Dalby said that the quarantine process has been disruptive for students and that a full reopening could cause more students to be quarantined due to possible exposure.
Dalby and Lando both voted against adopting the a.m./p.m. schedule to start
the spring semester.
Chico Unified Superintendent Kelly Staley also addressed an issue that occurred during an Athlete Committed meeting held over Zoom for Chico High and Pleasant Valley High students.
Two unidentified individuals had taken over the Zoom chat and filled it with racist and homophobic slurs, said John Shepherd, the director of Secondary and Alternative education.
Shepherd said the actions “further cemented the need to address bias in schools.”
“We are embarrassed and apologize,” Shepherd said.
As a result, Shepherd said the district is partnering with Chico State and Humboldt State to help create equity alliance cohorts to address racism and bias within the student body.
Other business
• The board voted to prohibit in-person public attendance at future board meetings until the county moves out of the Purple
Tier. Board members will continue to meet in person. • The public comment portion of the meetings will be extended from 10 minutes to 30 minutes.