WCUHSD school board will reevaluate current health and safety conditions around Sept. 8
Students in the West County Union High School District (WCUHSD) will begin the school year in distance learning, at least until Sept. 8, when the school board will reevaluate the current health and safety conditions and determine if and when it is safe to have students back on campus in a hybrid model.
“The board was clear that they would like to offer a hybrid option to students and families as soon as public health and safety guidelines allow us to do so,” said WCUHSD Superintendent Toni Beal. “The board will be reviewing the public health guidelines in the first three weeks of school and make a determination by Sept. 8 as to whether we can safely offer a hybrid model of instruction at that time.”
At their meeting on July 29, the board approved the draft plan for reopening schools, which includes a distance learning schedule handbook for students and families.
On Mondays and Thursdays students will distance learn with their second, fourth, sixth and eighth period classes from 7:30 a.m. to 2:25 p.m.
Distance learning will be divided between synchronous (with a teacher) learning and off-screen task time for individual assignments.
It will also include an array of video and live interactive resources, as described in the district draft plan, “Distance learning may include video and/or audio instruction in which the primary mode of communication between the student and instructor is on-line interaction, video, tele-courses, or other instruction that relies on communications technology. This may also include the use of print materials incorporating assignments that are subject to written or oral feedback.”
Students will get two short breaks from 9:40 to 10 a.m. and from 11:10 to 11:30 a.m. and the lunch period will be from 12:40 to 1:15 p.m. From 1:15 to 3 p.m., teachers will have office hours where students can meet virtually — by appointment — with their teacher.
Wednesday will be distance learning as well, and on Tuesdays and Fridays students will distance learn with their first, third, fifth and seventh period classes and follow the same schedule.
“Unlike the crisis mode we existed in the spring, when students were ‘held harmless’ for grades, this fall, students will be responsible for completing all assignments and participating in class work as part of their grades,” Beal said.
For special education instruction during distance learning, the school’s distance learning schedule will continue and Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings will take place virtually. Other services such as case management, specialized academic instruction and counselling services will remain in place regardless of the delivery method, according to the district’s draft plan.
The above schedule for distance learning will serve as the same schedule for when students can return to campus, however, the student population will be divided into stable cohorts. On Mondays and Tuesdays “Group A” will attend school while the other cohort, “Group B,” will distance learn with Google Classroom and virtual teacher check-ins.
On Thursdays and Fridays Group B will attend school while A participates in distance learning and both groups will distance learn every Wednesday.
In terms of emotional and mental support, Beal said they will continue to offer all of their mental health counseling services, including a student and parent wellness line.
“We realize that our entire community has experienced trauma. Including the Public Safety Power Shutoff, fires, and pandemic, our school community spent more than 75 days outside of a normal school setting from October 2017 to June 2020,” the district’s draft plan states.
The district will use a multi-tiered system of support for social and emotional wellness with tier one including universal support and tier two and three including early and targeted interventions for students and staff.
While several district parents expressed a desire to return to some form of in-person learning for the 2020-21 school year at the last school board meeting, guidance from Gov. Gavin Newsom mandates that schools — both public, private and charter — must start the year in distance learning if the county they reside in is on the state health department’s coronavirus watchlist.
Sonoma County was placed on the state watchlist on July 13 and schools must remain in distance learning until the county has been off of the list for 14 consecutive days.
In an instructional model survey to WCUHSD parents, 255 out of the 1,067 responses said they would want to stay in distance learning, “if we were able to move to offer a hybrid model of instruction,” according to Beal. A larger number — 704 — said they would choose a hybrid model and 108 said they would like access to the district’s independent study program.
“We are planning to reopen our survey to allow for the rest of our 1800 families to respond,” Beal said.
To read the district’s draft plan for reopening, visit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cnbVyYHsKH9wjEI3fH5g-Z6XrYZY-SlRE_TvNnwD1Es/edit#.
