Clovis parents urge school board to defy COVID-19 health orders, bring more students back
Clovis Unified School District parents and trustees voiced their frustration Wednesday night at not being able to let more children onto campuses this year.
The Fresno County Department of Public Health halted CUSD plans to bring back more students until at least Feb. 1 due to the number of COVID-19 cases in the region.
After hearing from parents during a board meeting late Wednesday, trustees pondered what would happen if the district decided to defy the health department and continue with its plan of letting in thousands of children return to school.
Around 11,000 students who were able to get phased in before winter break are still in classrooms. However, about 2,300 elementary school students who indicated they wanted to return are not yet back, according to Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell. About 9,000 secondary students have also opted for in-person instruction, she said.
Since early December, the number of Clovis students who have tested positive for COVID-19 has nearly doubled to 101 students. There have been 237 employees who have contracted the virus, and 139 of those cases occurred in December.
Parent Sarah Cornelison told trustees she is worried, scared, and frustrated at the emotional toll not being in school has taken on her children and is disappointed that the district didn’t make more of an effort to get all kids back before the health department directed them to pause.
“Seeing children in pajamas half the day is no longer cool,” she said. “Each school should have been back in session at the first opportunity before the holiday break. Why wasn’t this made a priority? We diligently filled out the surveys hoping for a smooth transition to a hybrid plan, and that plan is not being followed.
“Our children are depressed, they’re sad and emotionally unwell, and they are not getting what they developmentally need to succeed in life,” she continued. “They can’t run on the playground, pass the ball to the team, or live the Clovis way of life.”
Tim Hulse, a parent to a high schooler, asked the board to confront the health department.
“I’m here tonight to ask you guys to step up as leaders,” he said, “and let the county board of health know that they will not dictate whether or not our high school students are allowed to return to campus.”
Following health department orders
O’Farrell said that she meets with the health department every week, and “we have asked them, ‘What are the consequences of us not adhering to your guidance?’
“Besides the fact that, obviously, we want to continue to provide a safe working and learning environment for staff and students. The Department of Public Health has indicated that they do have the authority to pursue legal action against Clovis Unified if we decided to go in a different direction,” she said.
The district’s legal counsel, Maiya Yang, also said the recent directive that students who are not already in classrooms must remain in virtual learning is mandatory and not a mere recommendation.
Yang said there are rules coming out from the local, state, and federal levels that are “quite challenging” for the district to determine what they do and don’t have to comply with.
“What’s clear is that the local health department does have certain legal authority,” Yang told the school board.
Trustee Steven Fogg, an eye doctor, said when he recommends medication to his patients, he hopes they take it seriously “because I’m doing it in their best interest.”
In that way, he said, he understands why the district should follow health department orders.
“If we were a district that 100% every single teacher wanted to go back, maybe we could do that. But we’re still divided even as a community, even as a school district, not everyone wants to go back.”
Some teachers have said they have had little say in whether they can return and are being forced back into classrooms without good reason.
O’Farrell said it’s frustrating because she feels she has indicated that the district can phase in students safely, but the health department’s rationale is that bringing in more students now is too high-risk.
Trustee Tiffany Stoker Madsen asked if there’s a way to ask the health department to reconsider because there are other states that have children back in school, and some research shows school transmission is uncommon.
“I actually have that conversation every week,” O’Farrell answered, “and will continue to lobby and advocate for us to be able to do that.”
Trustee David DeFrank said parents should know who is stopping kids from returning, and it’s not the district.
“I think parents quite rightfully want to know who in their government is making the decision that their child can’t go back to school, and I think they have every right to know how that decision is being made and who’s making it,” he said. “And if the Department of Public Health is directing us under pain of lawsuit or litigation to do that, then that’s the decision, and parents (should) know when their government’s making that decision.”
When private, faith-based Immanuel Schools in Reedley defied public health orders and opened to students in the fall last year, it faced a legal battle in Fresno County.
A judge ultimately ordered the school to pay $15,000 for violating a court order to stop teaching in-person, and the schools agreed to adopt health and safety measures.
CUSD trustee says returning to schools in February is unlikely
Fogg said he doesn’t see the district opening up to more students on Feb. 1 due to the region’s low ICU bed availability. The state has directed that schools can reopen when there are fewer than 28 cases per 100,000 people. State metrics put Fresno County at 81.6 cases per 100,000 as of Wednesday, and hospitalizations are about double what they were at the beginning of December.
But since more vaccinations are increasing, Fogg envisions it could happen in March — if enough people take the vaccine.
O’Farrell said there are 6,400 employees, and everyone who wants the vaccine will be able to get it. A recent employee survey will gauge how many doses of the vaccine the district will have to obtain.
Fogg expressed frustration at not being able to bring more students back sooner.
“We’re exhausted,” he said. “Can you tell we’re exhausted by doing this? Because we want it back so badly, but it seems like nothing we do works.”
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