The traditional start of the school year is just weeks away. While the Trump administration and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are pushing hard for schools to resume, some parents, teachers and others fear that with transmission rates exponentially higher than when in-person instruction ceased in the spring, catastrophe will be the end result.
To help quantify the risks, understand the precautionary plans and envision what learning will look like next month, NSPR’s Marc Albert reached out to Mary Sakuma, Butte County’s superintendent of schools. His first question: what are the current reopening plans?
Here are highlights from their conversation. You can also listen at the top of the page.
Interview Highlights
On reopening plans for county schools
Every school district or local education agency, like a charter school, each of them will develop their own specific plans for reopening and have them approved by their board of trustees or their school board. So what I can do is I can share with you what our BCOE programs and schools are looking at for options. But this I can't answer on behalf of every school district because each and everyone will have their own specific plans.
What I can share with you is the — I have been leading an effort called the Butte School Sector Reopening Committee on behalf of Butte County and Butte County Public Health. And that group has really been focused on the health and safety issues, as well as developing specific protocols and flowcharts for what staff and school leadership will do in the event of a case or a suspected case of COVID-19 on their campuses. So I just wanted to be clear that we're working on those kinds of plans. But again, the specific programming for every school district and charter school will be approved locally, by their boards, not by BCOE.
On what state guidance they've received and whether BCOE has the expertise to know what plans are likely to be successful
Let me address your first question. Yeah, we've received quite a bit of guidance both from the California Department of Education, as well as from the California Department of Public Health, and of course, the CDC. The California Department of Education would be experts in this area in regard to providing guidance and support out to various school districts. But it's really important to note that is guidance. It is not directive. So there are many examples of other guidance out there as well, that has been helpful, that has been developed by a variety of groups, including the Association of California School Administrators, CCSESA, which is the county superintendents group, and a number of other groups that have various areas of expertise inside education. But again, there's nothing that is a specific directive. I want to be clear about that.
On whether BCOE has the expertise necessary to evaluate and approve those plans or to find weaknesses in them and to suggest the improvements
You know, that's a great question. I mean, I think in every school district, the reason that local control is so important here is that not every plan would work in every school district. Nor does every school district necessarily have the capacity to run a certain type of program.
On challenges with the state guidance
Well, as you can imagine, there are a number of challenges that present themselves with any of the guidance, not the least of which is the issue around figuring out how to keep the six feet minimum of social distancing when we're trying to meet the needs of all kids. So a number of our districts and charter schools and BCOE as well, we're examining what that can really look like and so obviously, that means that not all students can be together every day if we're to meet those strict guidelines.
As you know, there has been, at times, conflicting guidance and advice and that makes things really, really challenging. I am amazed at the creativity of our educators and how hard they're working to try to figure this out. And I think that as far as efficacy goes, I don't think we're ready to judge that. But obviously, in the best of all possible worlds, we would have our kids back in school, you know, five days a week 100% of the time, but we know that that's just not possible right now. So I think each district and charter school are really working hard to prepare their individual plans. And I suppose at the end of the day, we'll see what is or is not practical or effective.
On what can be done to reduce transmission
Let's talk for just a moment about preschool-aged children. And I'm going to speak now specifically about the programs that BCOE runs for state preschool. So first of all, there will be a significant reduction in group sizes. So programs that normally would have had 20 students with two or three professional teachers in the classroom will now have 10 students with two teachers in the classroom. Again, this is for state preschool specifically.
Our school leaders are working on ideas such as developing individual buckets of supplies. So that bucket of supplies would be assigned to a specific student and kept separate. They're obviously going to do a lot of cleaning and wiping of surfaces throughout the day. They're planning for lots of outside time. And for some items that might be available for use that would need to be reused say for another group, those items would be set aside and then cleaned on a daily basis, so that the child to use that item the next time would have a clean and sanitary item, whether that's a toy or a some kind of supply.
And then finally, it's actually going to be a very interesting time. I think because those 10 children in a cohort group will have the amazing benefit of having the attention of highly qualified staff working with them every day in a very small setting. Again, this is very specific to preschool programs, state preschool programs that we're running.
Oh, and of course, every day there would be frequent cleaning and sanitizing and disinfecting.
In regard to your question about older students and them wanting to be near each other, and horse around during free time, you know, I think it's going to really be dependent on teachers and staff really working with students in the first few days of school and talking with them about the importance of social distancing and really working on specific routines as to what would happen during passing time. What would happen during breaks during the day, what happens at lunchtime, etc. And again, those specific plans will be developed by individual districts, but I'm adding that everybody is taking into consideration the fact that our kids have been out of school for a really long time and they want to see each other, they miss each other, they miss teachers, they miss the staff. And so it's going to be a big challenge for sure.
On whether schools will have enough teachers to implement ideas like partial schedules, partial days and smaller class sizes
Well, again, I hate to keep repeating this, but I think it's important to note that every district is looking at that individually. But yes, I believe that the districts are making plans to make that work, but it's definitely going to be a big challenge. Again, it will be dependent upon the different options that school districts offer to parents and families. As I'm sure you're aware, a number of districts have published some tentative plans that are under consideration. And we're waiting this week and next, the final plans that are approved by each of those districts and charter schools. But yes, I mean, districts will do what it takes because that's what we always do. But I would be remiss if I didn't also note that we are facing some very challenging economic times. And there just simply never seems to be adequate resources to do what we're asked to do. And this is no exception.
On the triggers if cases start appearing in schools
As I mentioned before, the Butte School Sector Reopening Committee has really been focused on these types of health and safety issues. And so we are developing a series of flowcharts that will be used by school staff in collaboration with Butte County Public Health, and for cases that are confirmed positive cases, there will be a very specific flowchart that both Butte County Public Health and our schools will follow. And each situation will be different.
So for example, if we have a positive case confirmed in a classroom that is able to run as a single cohort, in other words, same group of kids every single day, no switching classrooms, it's the same teacher and other staff members present in the room, that would be treated a little differently than if you had a student who has potentially been a part of multiple classes throughout the day and has moved more freely around the campus. Public Health will be there as our partners. They've been really great partners in the planning of these documents. As have our school nurses — been lending their expertise to these flowcharts and they will be followed by school staff.
On how school budgets, typically based on daily attendance, will be impacted
What has happened with the adopted state budget is there will be a hold harmless for school districts and charter schools, which essentially means their apportionment will be based on ADA through February of 2020. So the month right before the school campuses closed due to the pandemic. So for most of our schools, that is helpful. They can plan on those numbers and they know that they'll be receiving funding according to that plan.
However, for those districts or charter schools that were in a growth mode, it really, you know, could pose a big problem in regard to their funding, because none of that growth will be recognized in their funding for the school year 2020-21.
The other big challenge that we're facing, and I can't emphasize enough, what a big challenge this actually will be. And that is that, beginning in February, there will be cash deferrals. So apportionments that would be intended for that particular month that would be sent to schools will be essentially deferred until several months later, in many cases. So this is a big concern in regard to a school district's cash flow. There are certain times of year in particular in the late spring, that school districts are not allowed to hold a negative balance in their funds with a county treasurer. So it is going to require that school districts look at obtaining loans to help them with the cash flow during those spring months. And so we're exploring some different options of doing some kind of pooled borrowing so that we would have an economy of scale as a group of school districts, including BCOE.
On options for teachers who are at a higher risk or who might not want to do in person teaching
So there have been some new pieces of legislation that will allow for additional leave time when someone has a confirmed situation that causes them to be more at risk. And again, each district will be needing to work with their personnel on the specifics of applying those particular kinds of leaves of absence.
As far as a long-term arrangement or working from home as a teacher, again, those decisions have to be made at the local level. We are examining that right now within our own organization and trying to be as creative as we possibly can be, in order to meet the needs of our staff. And, again, we're going to follow the guidelines and the laws that are provided for our staff.
And you know, I think and this really brings me to an important point. We want to emphasize that we are concerned about the protection of our staff and our employees. And so, to the greatest degree possible, we are going to make provisions for providing a healthy and safe work environment. And that includes the availability of hand sanitizer, hand washing stations, appropriate personal protective equipment, or PPE for everyone. And beyond that, I think school districts and school organizations including BCOE, we really are going to have to look at it on a case-by-case basis.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Click the “play” button to listen to the entire interview.