Schools start to reopen Oct. 12

‘ We think this staggered, slow approach is the way to go,’ superintendent says

Palo Alto Unified will be one of the first public school districts in the Bay Area to reopen classroom doors at all its campuses, an option that worried teachers and parents say is too dangerous with the coronavirus still spreading.

The Palo Alto school board unanimously voted late Tuesday night to begin a phased reopening of its elementary schools on Oct. 12 followed by middle and high schools on Jan. 7.

The district will let parents decide whether their children should continue to do all their learning online from home or let them return to physical classrooms.

Although some districts already are planning to open elementary schools after receiving county waivers, most are still drawing up blueprints. Other school districts, such as San Jose Unified and Cupertino Union, had considered bringing students back to campus this fall but backed off.

Superintendent Don Austin said in an interview Wednesday that Palo Alto schools have the most “comprehensive written reopening plans that are publicly available” and praised the board’s decision. Austin said he looked to school districts such as Irvine Unified in Southern California — which offered a hybrid approach of distance and in-person learning in August — to come up with Palo Alto’s guidelines.

“What I’ve seen so far with the launching of special education programs is very encouraging,” Austin said. “I’ve seen staff embracing students and a lot of happy kids right now. We think this staggered, slow approach is the way to go. We’re optimistic.”

The decision comes just days after nearly 400 parents and teachers signed a letter urging the school board not to approve the district’s plan, citing concerns about safety. Dozens of people tuned into Tuesday’s virtual deliberations and condemned what they say is a plan that ig

nored teacher and parent input.

“We don’t feel that educators and students’ lives are expendable or worth the risk the school board is trying to take,” Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin said in an interview Wednesday.

Baldwin said she’s disappointed and frustrated with the board’s decision.

“We have teachers who are worried about themselves, who take care of elderly parents or who have loved ones with medical

conditions,” Baldwin said. “They want to keep everyone safe.”

Over the past week district administrators and the teachers union fought over details of the reopening plan in bargaining sessions that Baldwin described as a “tough give and take.”

Baldwin said she’s encourag ing teachers to make sure safety guidelines are being followed.

“T he d istr ic t wa nt s to punish little children whose families choose to not take part in this experiment,” a woman who identified herself as Shilpi D, a parent at Juana Briones Elementary School, told the school board.

According to its plan, the district will 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.

All parents are being asked to make a commitment to one of the district’s two options: a hybrid online and in-person education complete with teacher interactions or a continuation of full distance learning from home.

Pa rent s had until Wednesday evening to make a decision they won’t be allowed to change.

That left those like Ben Patton in a bind as they weighed options that can fundament a lly cha n ge their pandemic schedules, routines and habits of the past six months.

Patton, father of a first grader at Escondido Elementary School in Stanford, said during an interview Wednesday he has coordinated with another family for child care and a switch now would blow everything up.

“It’s not just our family that has to make a decision that could last the rest of the school year. I just felt like the board had already made up their minds. They had a plan put in place a long time ago. They un

derstood that and moved it forward.”

T he hybrid program “isn’t necessarily bad” but is “a huge disruption right now when it’s not the best idea,” Patton said.

“Our kid is in first grade Spanish immersion so he’s doing fine with remote learning, but he’d also benefit from the in-person teaching,” Patton said. “It’s just that committing to remote learning for the rest of the school year is hard to do.”

Many other parents who spoke during Tuesday’s board meeting were deeply concerned that the two choices will split classes up and divide students in a way that will dispropor

tionately affect distance-learners. Parents urged district leaders to allow them to assess and change their decision at a future point in the school year, a notion that district leaders contested but some board members considered.

Austin said any families who did not make a decision by Wednesday evening will be placed on a distance-learning path by default for the rest of the year.

“We don’t have a preference,” Austin said. “We’re not lobbying for one or another. These are family decisions. Make the decision that best fits your family’s needs. That’s why we have two options.”