Fresno’s Central schools delay return to classrooms due to COVID-19. There’s a new plan
The third-largest school district in Fresno County will wait until COVID-19 cases start to significantly decline before sending students back to campuses for in-person learning.
Elementary students won’t return to campuses part-time until the county reaches the red Tier 2 in the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” of coronavirus safety measures and restrictions.
Many elementary students at Fresno’s Central Unified School District were scheduled to begin returning to campuses in early January, but school board members voted 4-3 at Tuesday night’s regular meeting to change their plans. Trustees Yesenia Carrillo, Phillip Cervantes, and Naindeep Singh Chann voted against the new plan.
The trustees didn’t specifically address why they voted against the new plan, but several questioned whether it was realistic. The earliest possible date for students to return under the new plan would be Jan. 19, but several officials at the meeting acknowledged it was unlikely Fresno County could make it to the red tier by that date.
Central Unified Superintendent Andrew Alvarado speculated that it could be February or March or longer before Fresno reaches a less restrictive tier.
Trustees Richard Solis and Jason Paul supported the new plan, along with the newly-elected Shawn Brooks and Jeremy Mehling, who cast the first votes of their new terms after being sworn-in Tuesday evening.
Fresno County slid back to the purple tier, the state’s most restrictive tier, on Nov. 16 and is currently under a stay-at-home order due to a shortage of Intensive Care Unit beds in the central San Joaquin Valley.
California allows schools to reopen in counties that have remained in the red tier for at least two weeks. However, schools also can reopen if they obtained a health department waiver for elementary schools.
Fresno County was in the red tier for almost two months until it slid back to the purple zone. The schools that reopened during that time were not forced to close again.
The superintendent said the district is not going back on its position: “If we’re in the purple category, we’re not going to bring kids and staff on our school sites.”
Central Unified has applied for an elementary school waiver but had not been approved by the state as of Tuesday night. The county and state health departments must approve waivers. Hundreds of schools in the San Joaquin Valley, like Fresno, Clovis, and Sanger school districts, have been approved.
“I do pay attention to what’s going on in other school districts,” Trustee Richard Solis said. “We’re not following other school districts. A lot of school districts, they’re following us, and sometimes when we make the decision because we’re leading the way, we get some flack for it.”
According to state guidelines, there is a “substantial” risk of coronavirus spread under the red tier, and Fresno County’s positive case rate would need to be between 4 and 7 daily cases per 100,000.
Under the district’s new reopening plan, middle and high school students will return when Fresno County is in the orange tier, representing “moderate” risk levels for spreading COVID-19. Coronavirus cases would need to dip between 1 and 3.9 daily cases per 100,000 for the county to move into the orange tier.
Alvarado said social-distancing requirements make it logistically impossible to allow junior high and high school students to return to classrooms full time, even if Fresno County graduates to the state’s red tier.
The district would do its “best” to make sure students can stay with their current teachers, but it is “probable” there will be teacher changes, officials said. However, teacher changes would only go into effect once in-person learning begins, and families will be notified before reopening if it happens.
The county’s largest district, the Fresno Unified School District, will not reopen for in-person instruction until the county is in the orange tier. Some community members asked Central Unified board members to consider doing the same.
“We’ve taken a very scientific approach to that decision making,” Alvarado said. “Those that are considering us to wait until we get into orange, ‘What are the protocols when we get back into orange? We don’t know what those are. They (the state) haven’t even released that to us.”
Once counties start to inch toward the orange tier, social distancing guidelines could change, Alvarado said, “and I’m not sure where the scientific facts are coming into play regarding the orange position.”
“So I’m not sure where the orange motivation is coming from. I think it’s because Fresno Unified came out of the shoot and said, ‘We’re not bringing anybody back until we’re in orange and Fresno Unified went that direction because they, Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, San Francisco (Unified), and a couple of other large school districts decided to come together and all be on the same page moving forward.”
Rather than let COVID-19 positivity rates dictate when students will return, the Clovis Unified School District and Sanger Unified School District continue to hold in-person classes even though cases have been surging and Intensive Care Unit beds have been at 0% availability.
Clovis Unified started sending phases of elementary students in October and expects a full return by January. Some Sanger Unified elementary students have gone back to part-time in-person learning in November.
Central Unified was holding in-person learning for small cohorts of students, but once Fresno County slid into the purple zone, students returned to distance learning.
Fresno’s Central school plan for in-person learning during COVID-19
According to a district survey, about 63% of Central Unified parents have said they want to return to in-person classes, and 70% of elementary families intend to send their children back to campuses.
Davis said the survey was distributed before the board presented its new reopening plan, so parents who change their minds can work with school principals for accommodations.
However, out of the nearly 30 community members who spoke during the meeting, parents, teachers, and students were split on whether schools should resume in-person classes. Some people said learning and social-emotional losses are the main reasons schools should stay open. Others said schools should remain closed until the coronavirus spread is under control.
Central Unified elementary students who want to return will be split into two groups, groups A and B. Students are put into groups based on their address so siblings can stay in the same groups.
On Dec. 21, parents can check which group their children are in through their district’s parent portal.
Group A students will be on campus on Tuesday and Thursday and learn remotely on Monday, Wednesday and, Friday. Group B students will be on campus Wednesday and Friday and learn from home on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
From 8 to 8:30 a.m., students will arrive on campus and receive breakfast. From 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., students will be in class, and lunch will be distributed after.
From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., teachers will have time for student intervention and online office hours.
Students who don’t want to return to campuses can continue distance learning full-time or enroll in Central Online Home School.
A push for teachers to be among the first for the COVID-19 vaccine
Many teachers who called in for public comment told the board they didn’t feel safe going back to in-person learning.
“I think we overwhelmingly heard (teachers) say they don’t’ think it’s safe and we should wait until we’re at the orange tier,” Carrillo said.
Solis asked the superintendent to advocate for teachers to be put in the second tier of workers to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
“The California Teachers Association is lobbying for educators to get vaccinated ... at the state level, and we will also be supporting that cause as well,” Alvarado said.
Chann is on the Governor’s Community Advisory Vaccine Committee and said he is “hugely advocating” that teachers get vaccinated early in the process.
Alvarado said he expects there will be enough teachers who can teach in-person to accommodate the number of students who will return. The district is working with the teachers union on the issue, he added.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.