Quarantines and teacher shortages a double whammy

Quarantines and teacher shortages are threatening to overwhelm school districts already struggling to provide independent study for tens of thousands of students who have chosen it or could be forced into it because of Covid infections and exposure. Many districts are confused over how to educate students in quarantine — what’s required, what’s allowed and what’s funded.

At this point, independent study, even for eight to 14 days due to a quarantine, is the only education option that the state is willing to fund other than inperson instruction. The Legislature let the one-year law setting the rules for distance learning expire at the end of June.

For decades, many school districts have offered independent

study for students whose needs couldn’t be met by traditional schools: child actors, aspiring Olympians, bullied children or brilliant students who thrive on their own.

In retooling the law to accommodate families still fearful of returning to the classroom during Covid, the Legislature requires all families to sign contracts spelling out the terms of independent study. Lawmakers strengthened reporting requirements to verify that students were doing assignments and set minimal live instruction requirements for students in early grades.

But superintendents complain that the new rules are cumbersome and unclear and say they’re worried the system will break down if outbreak sofc ovid force large numbers of individual students, classrooms and entire schools into independent study programs on short notice.

“This has become hyperpoliticized, but a lack of direction and clarity from the state really has been having an impact on us,” said Brett Mcfadden, superintendent of the Nevada Union High School District in Grass Valley.

Call for changes to the law

Some superintendents and lobbyists for districts are calling for the Legislature to change the independent study language in Assembly Bill 130, the “trailer bill” that details the state budget. The bill, passed in July, lays out the enrollment procedures, accountability obligations and minimum instruction requirements for independent study (see sections 53 to 55 and 66 to 74). They want the Legislature to ease the paperwork burden and regulations so that students can learn from home, using Zoom, during a quarantine.

An extensive 79-question FAQ document that the California Department of Education published on Aug. 23 didn’t include guidance on quarantines. And so far, legislative leaders have given no sign they’re willing to significantly change AB 130’s sections on independent study before they adjourn Sept. 10.

“The delta variant is exposing the limitations of independent study as a virtual model, and with no distance learning option, this is problematic,” Kindra Britt, director of communications and strategy for the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, said in a statement. “Community-transmission Covid outbreaks occurring in the first few days of instruction, as well as staffing shortages that already existed, make it nearly impossible for schools to meet the need and demand for independent study” while complying with the law, she said.

Were it not for the delta variant and the specter of widespread quarantines, most districts might be better positioned to handle independent study. Although some districts did not widely publicize the option and others discouraged parents from signing up, most students want to be back in school anyway. Actual state attendance data won’t be out until the end of the month, but county officials report that on average 2% to 5% of students are enrolling in independent study. Exceptions include 6.4% either enrolled or on a waitlist in San Bernardino City Unified and up to 10% in a few other districts.

Los Angeles County Office of Education Deputy Superintendent Arturo Valdez said the county had anticipated expanding its high school independent study program to serve students in all grades from other districts as inter-district transfers, but so far there have been no requests. “It’s been a big surprise,” he said.

That’s not to say everything has gone smoothly. Most districts had less than six weeks to plan for independent study, reach out to parents and set it in place. The best positioned were those that had already planned to open virtual academies, like Irvine Unified and Pleasanton Unified, and those that negotiated with teachers either to fill independent study positions or spend part of their day working with independent study students. In other districts, there have been long waitlists, slow responses and complaints, particularly by parents of students with disabilities who have been denied remote services.

Carmel Levitan’s two children normally attend Eagle Rock Elementary school in Los Angeles Unified, where school started Aug. 16, but concerns over Covid-19 transmission rates led her to enroll both in City of Angels, the district’s independent study program. Her first grader’s teacher normally teaches middle school, but he’s “doing a great job,” Levitan said.

Her fifth grader, however, was initially assigned a teacher who informed Levitan that he’s not actually teaching through the district’s independent study program. Nearly two weeks of instruction passed before Levitan’s child was assigned a new classroom, which students will begin attending Aug. 27.

“I’m willing to roll with that. It’s just they need to figure out the demand,” Levitan said. “Several of my fifth grader’s friends are currently in quarantine due to a close contact at school, so compared to that stress, I’ll still take the uncertainty of City of Angels.”