San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Reopening team lead under scrutiny
Last week, the state denied three North County school districts the chance to reopen their middle and high schools for regular in-person instruction, angering some parents and school officials.
School district leaders said they were confused and pointed out that county health officials had given their blessing to their reopening plans and said they were safe.
State officials said they set higher safety standards for these districts because they were asking for a special exemption to reopen while they’re technically not allowed to.
The state’s rejection of the reopening plans soon may not matter. Once San Diego County reaches the less-restrictive red tier, which could happen as soon as this week, middle and high schools can reopen without the state’s permission.
But some community members, upset at the decision, started investigating the leader of the state team that rejected these districts’ attempts to reopen — Dr. Naomi Bardach, an associate professor of pediatrics at UC San Francisco.
Parents discovered, after digging up a relatively obscure tweet from last August, that Bardach is married to Jonathan Katzman, chief product officer of an online learning company, Minerva Project. The San Francisco-based company designs custom online and hybrid learning programs for high schools, colleges and workplaces.
On social media some parents said it looks like a potential conflict of interest and suggested that Bardach and her husband could stand to benefit if the state keeps high schools closed, either by denying their applications to reopen or by imposing rules on high schools that make it logistically difficult for them to completely abandon online learning — such as the rule that schools must place students at least 4 feet apart from each other. Reopen California Schools, a parent-led statewide group, is fighting that rule, said group founder Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville parent.
“We were disturbed by this potential conflict of interest and feel it should be investigated more,” Zachreson said.
State officials and Katzman’s company deny that Bardach, her husband or the company are benefiting from her role.
Minerva focuses on higher education and professional learning and just started offering its “revamped” high school curriculum last fall to two pilot schools, neither of which are in California, said Minerva spokeswoman Diana El-azar in an email.
Also the company does not start working with high schools in the middle of a school year, and it only signs high schools to 10-year contracts — well past the effect of the pandemic, El-azar said.
“So not only does Jonathan have no conflict with Naomi’s work but Minerva writ large has no way in which we can benefit from it,” El-azar said.
In a statement, California Health and Human Services spokeswoman Kate Folmar said Bardach is a nationally recognized pediatrician and expert on school safety who joined the agency “with a personal commitment to re-open schools in a manner that is safe for students, educators, families and the community during this unprecedented pandemic.”
“It is both false and offensive to suggest that Dr. Bardach is motivated by anything other than a desire to safely reopen schools,” Folmar said. “In addition, Dr. Bardach is one member of a cross-agency team that reviews school reopening plans; she is not a sole decision maker.”
The assurances from Minerva and the state did not satisfy Zachreson; he said they make him more worried.