What’s next for Merced County schools, after Newsom’s decision to halt in-person classes?
Following weeks of surging coronavirus cases in Merced County and statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered that local schools will not be allowed to hold in-person classes — at least until the county meets certain criteria set by the state.
Merced County’s not alone, as more than 30 of California’s 58 counties are on a state watch list because their coronavirus numbers have soared beyond benchmarks set by the state.
“Some of the counties are on the monitoring list for a good reason, others are not for an equally good reason,” Newsom said. “But even those that are currently on the monitoring list, we hope and expect, as we mitigate the spread of this disease, they will fall off the monitoring list.”
All 20 school districts in Merced County are impacted by Newsom’s decision. For now, those districts will have to hold their classes online.
But what specifically will it take for Merced County to be removed from the watch list, and for in-person classes to resume locally?
Merced County and others on the monitoring list will need a 14-day stabilization period with declining number of COVID-19 cases before they can consider reopening classroom for in-person education.
Local leaders say it’s time for the community to work together, to get the county back on track.
“The bottom line is everyone has to wear masks,” said Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel. “That’s the simplest and easiest way to do it. It’s become a political stance it seems, but we’ve seen the consistent testing. It’s going to take everyone abiding by the rules that have been put in place.”
On Friday, superintendents with the county’s numerous school districts met and discussed their plans for moving forward.
“It’s unlikely we’ll be off the watch list by Aug. 12th when schools open, but we could possibly be off the list by Labor Day,” said Merced Union High School Superintendent Alan Peterson. “Some districts may look to move their calendar back, some may not.”
Peterson said at least there is greater clarity moving forward for the the school districts.
“I understand why the governor did this,” Peterson said. “Our numbers are alarming. It’s good that there is now clarity whether you like it or not. We understand now what the game plan is. Hopefully we can see that 14-day decline in numbers so we can get off the list. We’re all about choice. We want to let our families choose what is best for them.”
“Our job is to provide the best education possible under the circumstances in the safest environment,” he added.
Merced County school districts will continue providing free meals to all students when the school year begins.
What districts were planning
Prior to Newsom’s Friday announcement, districts like Merced City School District and the Merced Union High School District, were preparing to move forward with options for students that included in-person classes in their reopening plans, for when schools begin Aug. 12.
Merced City School District, which oversees 18 elementary and middle schools, had also given parents the option of sending their kids to school for traditional, in-person classes, five-days-a-week or distance learning online, according to district spokesperson Joey Horta.
Parents and students were going to be able to change their decision at the end of the quarter, according to Horta. Parents had until July 24th to submit their decision for their children.
Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) was giving parents the option of sending their kids to school for a combination of in-person classes on campus and online learning or strictly online distance learning.
The plan called for all students who chose to attend in-person classes, to have school each week with certain days scheduled on campus and certain days scheduled at home.
Students would have been given an “A/B Schedule” that called for each grade level to be separated into two groups, allowing half of the student body on campus at a time to enable the district to follow social distancing guidelines more easily.
On a positive note, MUHSD — which includes Merced, Golden Valley, El Capitan, Atwater, Buhach Colony and Livingston high schools — is better equipped for distance online learning than previously. The district recently purchased 10,000 mobile wi-fi hotspots, “piggybacking” broadband services, at a discounted rate from an existing contract between Verizon and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The purchase will allow every student in MUHSD to participate in live class sessions. “The lack of internet access was the main limiting factor to being able to provide quality instruction last spring,” according to Peterson.
“All our students and staff will have full access,” Peterson said. “There won’t be any excuses to prevent us from doing face-to-face instructions on a daily basis. That’s a huge equity piece we needed.”
The total purchase price for the district for devices is $789,000 and a monthly cost of the devices will be $115,000, according to Peterson.
On the west side of the county, Los Banos Unified School District had already planned to begin the year with distance learning with the hope of transitioning to a hybrid model, similar to the Merced Union High School District plan, as COVID-19 conditions improve, according to Sean Richey, who is the LBUSD Chief Academic Officer.
Richey said the district was working with its employee associations to adjust the academic year to start after Labor Day instead of the original Aug. 12 start date.
”We have learned some lessons from our experiences in the spring and plan to adjust our instruction and support for students to engage them in distance learning,” Richey said in an email to the Sun-Star.
“When conditions improve and we return to some form of in-person instruction in a hybrid model, elementary students will have recess and lunches separated by grades so as to minimize the risk of potential virus spread.”
Richey added that high school and junior high students would attend classes in a block schedule as opposed to a traditional six-period day for the same reason.
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
