District wants to reopen classes Oct. 12; parents, teachers object

Hundreds sign a letter saying that too much uncertainty exists

Palo Alto Unified wants to begin reopening classrooms in a couple of weeks, but hundreds of parents and teachers say that’s too soon and dangerous with the coronavirus still spreading.

Almost 400 parents and teachers have signed a letter urging the school board not to approve the district’s plan to bring elementary school students back to campuses starting Oct. 12 with two grade levels phased in every week through Nov. 9. Middle and high school students would start returning on Jan. 7 in similarly staggered schedules.

The school board is scheduled to consider approving the plan at its meeting today.

Before schools reopen, parents of elementary school students would have to decide whether to keep their children at home for continued distance learning or send them to in-person classes. Under the plan, parents won’t be able to change their minds after making a choice.

Ben Patton, the letter’s author and parent of a first grade student at Escondido Elementary School, said in an email that most teachers oppose the plan. He noted parents “have had about one week to learn about the plan and make a year-long decision on hybrid vs. full remote learning for their children.”

The letter says school board members at a Sept. 22 meeting misrepresented parentteacher survey data conducted by the district while ignoring deep concerns about worsening quality of education, teacher safety and mental well-being as well as disruptions to the schedules of parents eager to return to work.

Heightening tension between district administrators and a unified group of parents and teachers reached at last week’s meeting when about 100 people, many of them staff and teachers, urged the board to slow down. More than 1,000 people tuned into that virtual meeting.

Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Don Austin said in an interview Monday he isn’t trying to convince anybody. He said the pulse survey the letter refers to was meant to gauge parents’ “gut reaction” to reopening classes. It did not provide any dates or plan for doing so.

Austin said parents and teachers concerned about safety should take into account the number of students who won’t be returning to school, which should make social distancing easier for those who do come back.

If people are still concerned for student safety, there’s an “equally acceptable” distance-learning option, Austin added.

“The district and district leadership does not have a plan to persuade people one way or another,” Austin said of the hybrid and distance- learning options. “We have said from the beginning that our intent was to provide two viable options.”

Austin said although the board will ultimately make the decision, his recommendation remains unchanged despite growing backlash from parents and teachers. He said he may still change aspects of the weekly schedule system, but not the staggered reopening approach or holding parents to the option they choose.

The school district has warned that without a commitment from parents there could be a “massive organizational challenge,” according to communications sent to staff members and parents on a weekly basis since the end of July.

“The reality is that we’re going to open on Oct. 12 with less than 40 students in each of our campuses. It could easily be in the 20s,” Austin said. “We have lost that in the planning stages. We have not effectively messaged the math realities of the low numbers of students we’re really talking about returning.”

Austin said the district is currently conducting another survey of parents through Wednesday. But parents and teachers say that survey is narrowly tailored and misses a lot of concerns and ideas.

“There is a lot we could do to make the reopening of schools safer, more effective educationally, and more sustainable for families,” Patton said. “We will help enable the school district to execute a well- considered, community- supported plan, but this is not it.”

Today’s Palo Alto Unified School District board meeting meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.