Yesterday, we experienced our first on-campus COVID-19 cases/exposures involving secondary students in the conditioning program. In working with SCHSA, Public Health, on contact tracing we were made aware of two important pieces of new information that may change the trajectory of our plans to return secondary students to in-person instruction prior to January:

• Our proposed schedule for secondary students attending all their classes in two consecutive days while split into two separate cohorts (Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri) will not receive the blessing of Public Health. We must develop a plan that will get us closer to “small, stable cohorts” with limited mixing.
• The “Triggers to Return to Distance Learning” that we shared for elementary will also apply for secondary. Thus, if there is a case in a classroom, all students in that cohort, including the teacher, will need to revert to distance learning for 14 days.

Public Health has recommended that we use a model that has half our students on campus for half their periods two days a week, with separation between those two days. This would allow us to use a Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday split for students with Wednesday being distance learning for all. On Mondays (group A) and Tuesdays (group B), high school students would attend periods 1 through 3. On Thursdays (group A) and Fridays (group B), students would attend periods 4 through 6; junior high schools would look similar.  To better accommodate those students not comfortable with returning to in-person instruction, we are exploring a plan to allow for both in-person and distance learning simultaneously for 7-12 students. Public Heath has also recommended that it is best to end the school day prior to lunch and to provide for “grab and go” meals or something similar.

What does this mean for us currently? We will continue moving forward with our plans to bring small learning groups to campus at the secondary level in November under separate State guidance. Principals are already working on this and will be reaching out to our most “acute needs” students who are experiencing struggles with connectivity, attendance, grades, and/or social-emotional issues.  Additionally, high school sites are working with Advanced Placement teachers to provide opportunities for extra support outside the school day, with consideration to extend to other teachers and students as well. These students could be back on secondary campuses as soon as November 9.

In the meantime, we will be working with bargaining leadership and site administration/site leadership on this planning process for returning students to campus in a manner that meets public health guidelines and is also responsive to the feedback we have been receiving on our secondary survey and other venues.

On Monday, October 19, 2020, we received notification that both the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, Public Health, and California Department of Public Health had approved the TUSD TK-6 Elementary School Waiver.