Not everyone is happy that Fresno County schools can reopen more classrooms next week

Schools in Fresno County received the green light Wednesday from the health department to allow more students to return to classrooms beginning next week.

School districts received a letter from the Fresno County Department of Public Health on Wednesday evening, according to Clovis Unified Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell, who read the announcement at the district’s board meeting.

“Based on current Fresno County case rates, testing positivity, and health care system capacity, if a school was implementing a phased reopening, the school site may resume their phased-reopening for grades K-6 only on February 8, 2021,” the letter, obtained by The Bee, read. “More information for grades 7-12 will be forthcoming.”

Dr. John Zweifler, a doctor with the health department, told The Bee on Thursday that over the last two weeks, the department “has been pleased to see decreases in COVID-related hospitalizations and ICU admissions, and in case rates.”

He said those decreases led to the announcement that schools can resume reopening plans.

“Fresno County is working closely with California Department of Public Health to determine when it is safe to reopen schools for grades 7-12,” he said.

Clovis schools will quickly start bringing students back to campuses

Clovis Unified stands out as one of the school districts in the state with one of the largest populations already back in classes, O’Farrell said at the board meeting.

Although 11,000 students have already been in face-to-face classes since before winter break, about 2,300 elementary students were not able to return after COVID-19 cases spiked over the holidays.

Some schools only have a small handful of students to return, and others 100, the administration said. All schools are in a hybrid model, with most students going to school for about three hours a day.

About 23,000 students, including middle and high school, have opted to remain at home for distance learning, O’Farrell said.

Many students and parents spoke at the meeting, begging the district to open secondary schools immediately because of the mental health toll it has taken on their families. O’Farrell said she asked the health department to clarify whether middle and high schools can also start bringing students back, and she expects an answer in the coming days.

A Clovis Unified high school teacher, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, said he isn’t teaching in-person yet because high schools have not received the OK to reopen. But he’s heard mixed reactions about more students returning from his elementary school colleagues.

“There are a lot of teachers out there that feel it is not safe, and there are teachers that are OK with it,” he said. “There is a lack of transparency, and teachers are not being part of the discussion.”

He said the district talks a lot about how teachers make the district what it is, “but we play no role in the decision-making process.”

O’Farrell said Wednesday night that other than employees who have a remote working agreement, all employees are back on site.

At one time, the district planned to try and give a two-week notice to parents and teachers about when they would return, according to district spokesperson Kelly Avants, “but we have many teachers and parents who don’t want us to wait and therefore are working through each individual need,” she said.

O’Farrell said students would start returning on Tuesday, after the upcoming holiday weekend. She said the district has been ready to return the rest of the students as soon as it was possible.

Avants said the return date of Tuesday would actually depend on each school.

“Each individual school is working with their staff and parents who had kids in this final phase to establish the timeline,” she said. Parents can expect to get a call with more information if their student opted to return.

Reopening plans for Fresno and Central Unified schools

Although cases are dropping in Fresno County, it still remains in the highest purple tier of the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” system.

At Fresno Unified, the announcement means exploring “bringing back our small on-campus cohorts of our highest need students to help facilitate their distance learning earlier than we had planned,” according to spokesperson Vanessa Ramirez.

Cohorts began the week of Oct. 12 and ran through Dec. 18 when students began winter break, Ramirez said.

“It also allows us the possibility of implementing additional in-person supports on Mondays for students needing more support sooner than planned.”

She said the district is still working out formal plans after the announcement but, “our phased reopening plan is still to return to in-person learning once our county reaches the orange tier.”

Central Unified School District will also phase back its in-person cohorts of at-risk students from kindergarten through 12th grade beginning Feb. 16, according to spokesperson Sonja Dosti.

The board of trustees voted on Dec. 15 not to bring back students for in-person learning until the county is in the red tier, and that hasn’t changed, according to the district.

The Centers for Disease Control director on Wednesday said schools could safely resume in-person learning even without teachers receiving the vaccine, the Associated Press reported.

“Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team.

Teachers unions have pushed back on reopening across the country, including the California Teachers Association, saying they first want vaccines and the ability to track cases in schools. The City of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against its own district on Wednesday, attempting to force schools to bring back students, according to the Associated Press.

Although teachers are high on the list of those who should receive the vaccine first, the group has yet to see the shot in the Central Valley.

Clovis Unified has 6,400 employees, and everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get it, O’Farrell has said. A recent employee survey will gauge how many doses of the vaccine the district will have to obtain.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has also pushed for schools to reopen, unveiling the “Safe Schools for All” plan on Dec. 30, which included a $450 per student incentive for districts.

The state’s largest districts, including Fresno Unified, pushed back on the proposal, which included bringing back transitional kindergarten through second graders in February and following with more elementary school grades through the spring. The plan has yet to pass the Legislature.

Newsom’s plan cited multiple studies that suggest children get COVID-19 less frequently than adults.

The Fresno County Health Department, during a live Q&A with the Education Lab, said there had not been major outbreaks of COVID-19 at schools where students have returned.

“Based on what we’ve seen with our experiences here,” said assistant director David Luchini, “when schools follow their plans correctly, it went pretty well.”