Schools officials discuss reopening campuses via virtual town hall

Tuolumne County schools are on track for reopening in late August, though some will have shortened weeks with a mix of distance learning, groups of students attending on alternating days, and all students and staff must wear masks while on campus.

Superintendents for the county's 12 school districts participated in a virtual town hall Thursday night to discuss the changes and what parents can expect, with the goal being a return to normalcy as soon as possible.

“Our hope is that this is not going to be a long term thing,” said Wynette Hilton, superintendent and principal of the Big Oak Flat-groveland Unified School District. “That as

soon as possible we're going to be coming back and doing everything we used to do.”

The interest in the topic was clear from the more than 580 participants who watched the town hall on the online platform Zoom, in addition to the more than 200 questions that officials received.

Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Cathy Parker discussed challenges that schools will face to enact the virusrelated policies with limited funding and resources, as well as how plans could change if the county has to shut down again due to rising case numbers.

“As the community health goes, so does the ability to reopen schools for in-person instruction,” she said. “If community transmission continues to increase, positivity rates increase, the public health department has to divert its limited resources to contact tracing, or if we have to step backwards in our ability to open businesses and services, it will have an impact on our ability to reopen schools for staff and students.”

School campuses were closed on March 16 as the pandemic emerged, forcing educators to scramble and create plans for distance learning. Parents also had to juggle their already busy daily lives while watching their kids and making sure they stayed on track with schoolwork.

County Supervisor Ryan Campbell, who hosted the town hall, said he has three school-age children of his own and understands the challenges that working parents have faced with schools being shut down.

“The school schedule is the clock that every parent in Tuolumne County goes by and so if there's uncertainty with the school schedule, that sends ripples through many aspects of their lives,” he said.

Campbell said he also worries about his own kids falling behind in their education without the structure that physically being at school provides.

“There's only so much working parents can do to maintain their children's education without trained teachers and the whole school system in place,” he said. “It's hard to make sure your kids are getting educated properly.”

Students and staff will be required to wear face coverings throughout the day when on campus for in-person learning. Districts are procuring supplies of cloth face coverings and disposable masks for the various districts, Parker said.

There will be some exemptions for children with medical issues that prevent them from wearing a face covering all day, including plastic face shields, County Health Officer Dr. Liza Ortiz said such instances are rare and addressed misinformation about face coverings.

“Properly worn cloth face coverings can safely be worn by the overwhelming majority of people for many hours,” she said. “It's safe to breathe through a properly worn face covering, even for most people with asthma and many other medical conditions.”

Ortiz said those who struggle to breathe in a face covering should consult their medical providers. If that medical provider deems it necessary, she said a face shield with a drape below would be an acceptable alternative.

Parker said schools are not going to take a punitive approach with enforcing the masking requirements.

“We're taking an educational point of view on this and moving forward the best we can in this very difficult situation,” she said.

Parker also said she's received many questions from school staff who are concerned about getting sick and are among the populations most vulnerable to complications from the virus, but she said those questions should be answered by the various districts through employee bargaining groups.

Several districts also talked about plans for “cohorting” students into groups and alternating the days that each are on campus in order to reduce class sizes, which Ortiz said would also help in containing an outbreak if one were to occur.

Michael Merrill, superintendent of the Summerville Union High School District, said they are looking at potentially having half of all students on campus on Monday and Tuesday, having everyone do distance learning on Wednesday, and then having the other half on campus Thursday and Friday.

Merrill also said they are working on sports schedules and plans for modifying how athletes condition and practice should they be allowed to move forward in the fall. The California Interscholastic Federation is expected to determine that on July 20.

The entire town hall can be viewed on-demand at www.accesstuolumne.org.