Despite statements by some officials, there are still a lot of unknowns
In a lengthy letter to the community, Windsor Unified School District (WUSD) Superintendent Jeremy Decker discussed changes to the state’s school opening guidelines, vaccination of school personnel and how these things effect Windsor’s own plans to bring students back in person.
The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) vaccination clinic at Rancho Cotate High School started Feb. 8. Currently, those approved to be vaccinated fall into the following categories:
- Educators who currently have regular, direct contact with students, including licensed daycare workers and childcare providers
- All educators 70+ years old (whether they have student contact or not).
- Any school site personnel where students are present (ex. school site custodial support, food service workers, clerical support, etc.).
According to Decker, once all of these individuals are vaccinated, it is likely that next in line will be personnel who interface with students in grades K-6. While there is no exact timeline for this next round, educators are hopeful it will happen in the next few weeks, dependent on the number of vaccines received by the county and SCOE.
Of course, what parents are most interested in is when students will be back in school, as we approach the one year-mark of distance learning.
“Over the past 11 months, the school district has received changing guidance from national, state and county leadership. On Jan. 14 a new framework was released that increased the case rate threshold that allowed K-6 schools to reopen from seven to 25 per 100,000,” Decker wrote. “In the framework, it references the ‘Harvard Global Health Institute’ as the catalyst for the changing of the benchmark from seven to 25. After reading the briefing, it is not as straightforward as is being made by the state. Please see the following language that accompanies the 25 per 100,000 rationale in the briefing, ‘… it is important that this metric be triangulated with others for full confidence in its reasonableness as a guide.’The rationale is hard to trust as it seems like many decisions in Sacramento are being made due to politics versus sound science. Therefore, we have continued to utilize the case rate seven per 100,000 instead of 25 per 100,000 until the rationale for making the change is clearly articulated.”
Decker then goes on to state that WUSD has created “two paths” to return to in-person learning, one based on vaccination of staff and one based on the county entering the red tier, which would require hitting that benchmark of seven cases per 100,000.
The first path requires that two weeks have passed after the second dose of the vaccine has been offered to all district employees, and that for TK-6 grades, the case rate is no more than 25 per 100,000 and for 7-12 grades, the county is in the red tier. Decker points out that in no current set of guidelines, including the new ones from the state, are grades 7-12 allowed to return to campus, regardless of vaccination, until the county enters into the red tier.
The second pathway is based on the district’s existing plan, which states that upon entrance into the red tier, whether or not staff have been vaccinated, the district will begin bringing students back for in-person instruction in the following order: Students with Special Needs (NCC, SDC, ED), then English Learners, then foster, homeless and other high needs students in (TK-12), then kindergarten, then grades 1-2, then grades 3-6 and finally grades 7-12.
“The district has been hard at work planning for the day that we are able to bring back students for in-person instruction. Our primary focus has been centered around planning for special needs and elementary-aged students as they will be the first to return, but we are also exploring creative ideas to try to get secondary students back on campus for instruction as soon as possible as well,” Decker wrote.
He goes on to point out that even an eventual return to in-person learning will likely not be a return to full normalcy or the school experience that students have experienced previously.
“We are bound by the state and county directive that requires us to maintain stable groups at all times. This is defined as ‘a group with fixed membership that stays together without mixing with any other groups for any activities,’” he wrote. “Additionally, we are also only allowed to have a maximum of 16 people in a classroom. Therefore, we have no mechanism available for us to utilize that currently allows us to bring back students full time. Be that as it may, we are working to develop an instructional model that will meet the needs of those who would be receiving instruction in person, as well as the other half of the class who would be at home during their instruction, and those students who will be continuing full time with distance learning. Not an easy task, but I know we are up for it, and have been preparing for as many possibilities as we can.”
Decker then goes on to discuss a COVID Safety Plan (CSP), a requirement of opening in the purple tier under the state’s new guidelines. These guidelines require a CSP be approved by the county health department five days before a school or district will be allowed to reopen.
WUSD’s lack of submitting a CSP on the first day of availability was the source of some criticism on social media, and Decker addressed that at length in his letter.
“I am aware that there are a lot of concerns and opinions being expressed on social media regarding our CSPs. As I understand things, the main reason for the recent expressions of frustration and speculation is because County Supervisor David Rabbitt posted which districts have submitted their CSPs to the county health department, and we were not one of those districts,” he wrote. “This is accurate, but there is a reason of course. The county health department has been promising to send a template and rubric to us so we would know exactly what they are looking for, but has yet to do so. We were choosing to wait for these documents so we would know exactly what to submit, but because they are taking so long to send them we have developed a plan to submit our CSP’s without them in hand. In fact, the entire morning today was spent with site administrators orienting them to the CSP template, so they can complete them for their school sooner rather than later.”
In fact, in an interview with another district, Superintendent Betha MacClain in Decker’s former district of Cloverdale, stated that some districts who submitted immediately expect to have their first drafts rejected, which Decker noted is what has happened.
Decker said that WUSD had given itself a date of Feb. 19 to submit their CSP to the county.
“This is a massive undertaking, as the CSPs are between 20-30 pages, and require a lot of planning with multiple departments. Those districts who have already submitted their CSPs did so without any of the promised guidance from the county health department, and none have been approved excepting a small 79-student private/charter school in Petaluma. Please note that the CSP is required before reopening, but it only has to be approved by the county health department if we are attempting to open for in-person instruction in the purple tier. If we entered into the red tier, their approval would not be required.”
The letter concludes with Decker re-affirming the district’s desire to have students return to the classroom and clarifying the district’s position on reopening, along with defense of teachers.
“We are not being more conservative than everyone else in the county with regard to our planning. We are planning to begin phasing in students for in-person instruction when we enter the red tier without vaccinations, or will be bringing back K-6 students in the purple tier with vaccinations. This is consistent with what is occurring elsewhere in the county,” he wrote, adding, “Contrary to some opinions being expressed, our unions have been great partners throughout this process, and have not been trying to hold up a return to in-person instruction in any way. As far as I am aware, we are one of the few districts who already have agreements in place with both of our unions for a return to school with or without vaccines. I understand that elsewhere there seem to be issues between unions and district, but in Windsor that simply isn’t the case. To this point, when it is time to return to in-person instruction we will be doing so as partners versus combatants.”
