Waiver process to reopen classrooms released
About 80 elementary schools have inquired, but none has been approved
After months of being the Bay Area’s most cautious county on reopening, Santa Clara County is leading the pack as one of the first to offer waivers to allow elementary schools to bring students back to the classroom.
The county’s Public Health Department unveiled its process late last week, giving kindergartengrade 6 schools a road map welcoming back students after Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated schools must get special permission to teach in person in counties on the state’s coronavirus watchlist. Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties all have said they won’t offer waivers until transmission of the COVID-19 virus quiets down. Marin and Sonoma counties also issued their guidelines late last week, and San Mateo County still is developing its application process.
But Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sara Cody said Wednesday the county is trying to ensure schools that are eager to reopen classrooms do so safely, without bending the rules. “The more structured the environment, the more oversight, the more successful that will be,” she said.
“There are COVID risks in bringing children together, but there are also risks that children will be getting together in informal pods where there’s less oversight and less structure,” Cody said. “And we also know that there are harms of kids remaining at home and not coming back for in-person. As with everything in this pandemic, it’s an extraordinarily difficult balancing act.”
Most of Santa Clara County’s public school districts are opening the new school year this week with online instruction, but about 80 schools have inquired about waivers. A county spokesperson didn’t provide specifics on which schools are applying, but most of them are private schools. Both middle and high schools are ineligible for waivers.
The county’s application hews closely to the guidance released by the state earlier this month. School districts or individual private or charter schools need to submit — and publish online — reopening plans that address everything from cleaning protocols to class configurations to schedules to test employees for the virus. They also need to confirm that they’ve consulted with the school’s labor, parent and community organizations.
No schools have yet been approved.
The release of the waiver process comes too late for most schools hoping to start the school year in person.
Jody Miller, principal of the Esther B. Clark schools — special education institutions in San Jose and Palo Alto — found out about the county’s announcement Saturday. She had submitted her school’s reopen
ing plan back in late July, as soon as Newsom announced that there would be a waiver process. But she is now revising her application to ensure it meets county requirements for “rapid” testing after a COVID-19 case or exposure.
“The actual application is pretty straightforward,” she said.
Originally, she had hoped to bring students back to school Monday but opened online instead. Now she’s hoping that the Esther B. Clark schools will be able to return to in-person learning by Labor Day.
Schools have to submit their applications at least two weeks ahead of their proposed reopening date. And submitting the application is “just the first step,” Cody said. The county will meet with the school district’s superintendent or the head of the charter or private school to evaluate both the school’s plan and the current health conditions to make a decision on the application.
“There is a back and forth,” Cody said. “We want to make sure that the school feels ready and that the school is comfortable and has the resources in place for enabling distancing and cohorting and all of the other pieces.”