Fresno Unified to pay $8 million into district’s health plan in deal to reopen schools

It’s unclear how many Fresno Unified School District students will be able to return to classrooms next month, but in the meantime, the district is ramping up its health plan for employees and giving teachers a paid day to set up their classrooms.

A one-time contribution of $8 million is going into FUSD’s health plan for all of its employees, Superintendent Bob Nelson said during a news conference Tuesday. The cost of giving staff time to set up their workstations is about $3.5 million.

The district anticipated it would need these extra funds and set aside this money in its previous budget, Nelson said.

Nelson’s announcement comes a day after The Bee’s Education Lab broke the news that some elementary students would be able to return to part-time in-person learning beginning after spring break on April 6.

“We have a long way to go, and we know that the first day back on campus won’t look the same as it did when we left on March 13,” Trustee Valerie Davis said during the press conference. “We look forward to the challenge to get back to the normalcy that we once enjoyed.

FUSD originally planned not to reopen until the county reaches the orange Tier 3 in the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” of coronavirus safety measures and restrictions. The orange tier represents “moderate” risk levels for spreading COVID-19. To get to the orange tier, positive coronavirus cases would need to dip between 1 and 3.9 daily cases per 100,000.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan is intended to motivate schools to reopen for their youngest students by giving out $2 billion in grants to districts that reopen by April 1.

“We can say we’re opening April 1, that’s in line with the governor’s plan, but the reality is that’s in the middle of our spring break,” Nelson said. “So really, on a practical note, our first day of instruction is Tuesday, April 6.”

Legislation to enact the deal will dole out the money to schools that have reopened by the end of March for kindergarten through second grades and high needs students of all ages, regardless of the level of coronavirus transmission in their county.

High needs students include homeless and foster youth, kids who don’t have internet access, English learners, and those with disabilities.

For counties in the red tier – where there are fewer than seven new cases daily per 100,000 residents and test positivity is below 8% – schools must reopen elementary grades and at least one middle or high school grade to get the money.

For each day schools miss the April 1 deadline, they will lose 1% of the funding. Although the district’s start date is on April 6, it won’t miss out on funding if the governor’s plan is approved as is, FUSD officials said, because students will be on spring break April 1 through April 5. The current plan won’t penalize school districts that spring break schedules interfere with the April 1 start date.

FUSD estimates it will receive up to $79.6 million from the state, officials said.

Nelson said the district’s agreement with the Fresno Teachers Association is to reopen in the red tier on April 6, but it’s unclear what will happen if Fresno County doesn’t reach the red tier by then.

“The bottom line is we negotiated a return in the red tier on April 6 that’s the reality of what we negotiated now,” Nelson said. “If we don’t make it there (red tier) we’re going to have to reengage in this conversation.”

Fresno County has been closer to reaching the red tier but, as of Tuesday, remained in the purple tier, which has the most restrictive guidelines on reopening.

Nelson said he is “holding out hope” that people will continue to do what they can to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and as FUSD can vaccinate thousands of its employees, it will make an impact on the city.

“Don’t underestimate Fresno Unified’s ability to change the trajectory of the disease,” Nelson said. “We have a direct impact on what’s going down with folks.”

Teachers have been wanting to return to the classroom, but in a safe way for the sake of their students and the community, Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla said during the press conference.

“The COVID-19 vaccine provided new opportunities, and quite frankly, the availability for educators is definitely a game-changer as it presents a very safe path forward,” Bonilla said.

The district is already discussing plans for the next school year, Bonilla said, like how to reduce class sizes, providing social-emotional support, and credit recovery options. In recent weeks, he said, local leaders have been “unfortunately” politicizing the virus.

“That is not what we need,” Bonilla said. “We believe that elected leaders should find a path forward, design solutions together instead of sowing seeds of division or attempting to score political points.”

‘Important’ differences in FUSD’s reopening plan

There are some “important” differences in Fresno Unified’s plan that don’t align with the governor’s announcement on Monday, Nelson said. On Thursday, when the plan is expected to pass, Nelson said the district would have to “grapple with some of those issues.”

“One is the phasing in of elementary kids,” he said.

Rather than bringing back all elementary grades, Nelson said, FUSD officials have discussed bringing back transitional kindergartners through second-grade students back first and phasing in other grades in subsequent weeks.

The governor’s plan also calls for returning at least one middle or high school grade, Nelson said, but instead, the district has discussed returning a percentage of those students. The district has also discussed prioritizing seniors to return to campuses.

FUSD is working on a plan to have more support for students over the summer, which is also laid out in Newsom’s reopening plan. Nelson said the district could have three segments of summer school.

Nelson emphasized that reopening plans are “fluid” and details still need to be worked out as the governor’s plan isn’t approved yet and could change.

“Our approach prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic, following the pandemic will always be to ensure our students have the opportunity to continue to close the gap, particularly those kids that have disproportionate outcomes,” Nelson said. “We all are in agreement that the pandemic has increased disproportionate outcomes.”

Some of the student groups that have been affected most by the pandemic are African American youth who have been subject to chronic absenteeism, English learners, foster and homeless youth, and students with disabilities, Nelson said.

“We recognize all of our kids need the opportunity to come back,” Nelson said. “We know that every single one of our students has been impacted this year by social isolation, as have adults, that’s all very real.”

How many Fresno students will return to campuses?

It’s unclear how many FUSD students can return to campuses or how many want to return. The district surveyed families in December, Nelson said, and about 43% wanted to continue distance learning.

The district is going to start registering students this month to get a better idea of how many students want to return.

“We’ll take everybody’s registration, figure out what those numbers are, and then staff appropriate for what those sizes are going to be,” Nelson said. “In order to socially distance at six-feet, we’re banking on the reality that some of the folks aren’t going to come back because we don’t have the room to bring everybody back in every case, every day, fully in the way that we were before March 13 (when schools closed last year).”

Students will have the option to continue distance learning, Nelson said. Each classroom will have about 10 to 15 students depending on the class size and how many students can fit while also being socially distanced.

The district has had small cohorts of its most vulnerable student populations distance learning at all of its 106 schools, Nelson said, and by March 8, 10,000 students will be at school sites. About 750 teachers out of about 4,000 are also back on campuses.

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. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 1:20 PM.