A plan to move ahead with getting students back into the classroom two days a week starting on Jan. 11 was approved Monday by the Mount Diablo Unified School District board.
The hybrid plan, as proposed by district Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark and approved by a 5-0 board vote, would have kindergarteners, first-graders, sixth-graders and ninth-graders do their first in-class learning on Jan. 11; second-, third-, seventh- and 10th graders on Jan. 19; and fourth-, fifth-, eighth-, 11th and 12th-graders on Jan. 25.
Families that want to opt out of face-to-face learning could continue with distance learning.
Clark said many details have yet to be worked out. Some of them, he said, will depend on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. While infections in California are currently holding steady, many parts of the U.S. are seeing spikes. The district also will need the results of surveys that parents and teachers will be asked to fill out in mid-November.
“We can’t move forward until we know how many are coming back (to the classroom), and where,” Clark told the board Monday night.
Another challenge is that agreements with school district labor groups, most notably teachers, have yet to be reached as to how, or when, they will return to in-person classroom learning.
Evan White, a physics teacher in the district, asked the board to hold off on any return to in-person teaching until it’s safe for students to return full-time.
The ranks of teachers leaving the district or the teaching profession have swollen with the COVID-19 pandemic, White said, and the ongoing teacher shortage will likely accelerate if in-person teaching resumes sooner rather than later.
“Moving to a hybrid model while the infection rate is at an all-time high is reckless, and leaves the door open to too much uncertainty,” White said.
Most parents who called in to the board meeting took a different tack, saying their kids were suffering under distance learning, both academically and socially.
Doug Novotny, a psychologist and parent of a student, said distance learning isn’t good for kids, especially the youngest ones. He called it “disaster learning.”
“A hybrid plan is, in some ways, the worst of both worlds,” Novotny said.
A couple of parents suggested live-streaming of in-person classes to students whose families opted for learning from home; Clark said managing two separate audiences simultaneously would be a “Herculean task” for any
teacher. In any event, Clark said, easing high school students back will probably be more complicated than with younger students.
Board member Linda Mayo said the district is at a turning point, and that families need options.
“We know we have to be flexible,” she said. “Our families are tired, I think, and they’re looking for different choices.”
If distance learning continues, according to the plan, students who choose to attend school, would go for two days a week, then continue with independent learning for the next three days.
62 comments
won’t the parents be making that call, i.e. those who need to both work will be sending their children back.
yeah it wont be the kids
Is there a logical explanation why only two days instead of five. Think about it.
The idea is that there would be 2 groups of Kids A/B. A goes M/T, B goes Th/F. Less kids in the classrooms at one time (as there are typically 30+ in a classroom) , less exposure, more opportunity for physical distancing.
S.
I appreciate you use “S.” so people aren’t confused with me.
Thanks,
Steve
Physical distancing isn’t going to work for sure with kids. So that is not a reason.
It is easier to scientifically prove that COVID removes all logic then it is to scientifically prove COVID even exists.
thinking!
Now the real work begins – negotiating with the union on the terms. I bet this gets pushed back when they cant come to an agreement.
Anything to protect Teachers Unions. I demand a tax refund.
People with children already get a tax credit. It is the people that do not have school age children that pay most of the taxes. Why should they pay higher taxes when they don’t even use the schools?
Look up the amount of the child tax credit (even at it’s new expanded level) and the amount of per student funding in CA public schools. Guess which one is bigger.
Ever heard of the marriage penalty?
Good news! The schools have been forced to open
Bad news! Teachers are not slaves and they are quitting.
Good news! Classes will be open.
Bad news! No cleanings, no ventilation system upgrades, a bunch of kids of antimaskers are ready to go back.
if you have any kids that lived then dont send them back iots that simple
Good news! all those teachers saying they don’t make enough to go back to work can be replaced by people that actually care about the children.
Good news! the greedy unions have been up front and it is time to abolish them.
Good news! I know several parents and construction companies that are willing to help with the sanitation and air ventilation.
Covid 19 has a 99.6% survival rate ages 0 – 69.
This is about the election period.
TRUMP 2020!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
This was never about a virus. This was always about the election. It’s no secret most teachers vote democrat.
@an iota Never forget, your credibility is shot. Just like Joe Biden’s brain
Great post your 100%right
What world are you even living in, @iota?
Schools have not been forced to reopen – they are *planning* to reopen, *pending* union agreement, in January! And everything might change by then depending on Covid numbers. If teachers have already quit, it must be for some other reason. Maybe, I don’t know, they hate teaching online and feel that this isn’t what they signed up for? Or maybe they are just part of the general flood of people leaving the state? Possibilities abound, but no public school teachers in CCC have been forced back into the classroom, nor are they likely to be anytime soon.
btw, can we just pause and contemplate how ridiculous the quote from White, the physics teacher, is?
“Moving to a hybrid model while the infection rate is at an all-time high is reckless, and leaves the door open to too much uncertainty,” White said.
“All-time high” – you just can’t make this stuff up. Our daily cases per 100K are a fraction of what they were in the summer. The positivity rate fluctuates from 1-2.5%. But since cases in other parts of the country are up, it would be “reckless” to have any in-person school! Once again, spokespersons for teachers want zero risk while kids bear the burden of that choice.
High numbers – ‘can’t reopen.’ Low numbers – ‘well, they might get high again.’ Still low numbers – ‘well, they’re high in other places.’ Low numbers right now – ‘well, we can’t open until January and they will probably be high by then.’ Nothing will ever be good enough, the goalposts just keep moving. What’s really going on is stalling all the way through this academic year. You can take that to the bank.
@bdml
There is a severe teacher shortage. Good luck filling those vacant positions.
LAME!! #FREEAMERICA
Doja keeps it juicy!
I have a five-year-old who attends distance learning as a kindergartner my concern there’s five months left of school and at least the first month as the kids return back to a hybrid learning is going to be wasted going over classroom etiquette listening skills these kids haven’t seen other kids in a very long time so the socialization is going to be an issue. I would love more than anything to throw my daughter in the school and have a break my biggest concern is if there’s an outbreak and now that we’ve got them acclimated to a brick and mortar situation even if it is only two days a week we’re going to be proved to put them back into distant learning and the same the disappointments that we faced in the early spring when our children were ripped out of school whether it be preschool TK or elementary or whatever we’re going to have to face again. I’m like so many parents out there my child would benefit from a brick and mortar situation is very difficult to do just didn’t learning for any parent and my heart goes out to any single parent or children that are in daycare situations but for me as much as I want to send her back to school I think it’s in our best interest is just keep moving along the way that we are moving along I’m very open to hear what other parents of younger children feel on I’m trying to keep it on my home as possible
Teachers, as usual, continue to be overpaid, blubbering babies, who want to continue to collect full paychecks for half the work, and continue to be (unjustly) lauded as Christ-like heroes just for doing it.
Children who play sports at school are more likely to die while playing that sport than to die of covid. That is how low the death rate is.
If some teachers are old as the hills and don’t feel safe, they can quit. They are not being asked to expose themselves more to the virus than any other public-facing worker out in the world today. Arguably they’re much safer; a clerk at Safeway deals with thousands of new people a day, a teacher needs only deal with the same consistent, much lesser number.
Anon, you don’t know how hard a teacher works until you’re married to one.
anon-You do not know any teachers. You think they only work 4 hours a day. They have lost their prep time. When the school day is over they are still working with small groups. Then they have 1 or 2 IEP or 504 meetings a day and staff meetings and training once a week. Then they must prepare the classes for the next day. Not as easy as before because they must also put all online. Then they need to check and grade all work that has been done. And do a daily and weekly report for each class. Maybe, if they are lucky, they can turn the computer off by 10:00.
Block… that can be said of any profession. Why are teachers special?
The unions and many teachers are being too risk-averse and have tunnel vision on this issue.
But they aren’t lazy, by and large! It’s more work to teach online in many ways, even if it is also more burdensome on the parents and less effective.
Yea you don’t know any teachers. Thanks for trolling
First, tell the teachers the starting date when they have to report to their classroom. If they don’t, notify them that they will be terminated for not doing what they were hired to do. They can reapply for the job just like anyone else if they want it. Forget the union BS. It’s time we hold these administrators and teachers accountable.
You don’t know how unions work do you?
It is like the board went out of their way to find a worse solution for teaching then the current distance learning failure. Less hours … less work for them …
i know, right?
if Schools cannot fully open then Jury Duty should not be allowed either.
People from everywhere come in and make everyone else sick.
The worst flu I ever had was from Jury Duty in the 70’s and caused a mistrial.
Oh just throw the summons away.
Tell me about it. I got notification for United States District Court in San Francisco! So I’ll have to BART or drive all the way to the civic center. What fun to be on a grand jury. How Grand!
a Re- Post: Just an FYI:
S October 27, 2020 at 6:21 PM
Just had dinner with one of my flies on the wall. They told me the teacher’s union sent them all an email this afternoon. I hate long posts, but thought this was worth a cut&paste to share for your consideration.
Dear Members,
Last night, the School Board set a targeted date of January 11th to begin a limited, phased-in approach to reopening to some on-campus instruction. The Superintendent acknowledged that actual implementation will depend on the completion of negotiations and the status of community health metrics.
OurMDEA Bargaining Team is committing an incredible number of hours to this work. They have reviewed the survey results, read emails sent in by members and developed lists of questions. They are continuing to formulate proposals and are meeting frequently as a team and well as with the district’s bargaining team on the scheduled dates.
The district’s phased-in approach includes the following five steps:
Begin in-person testing for Special Education and ELD
Begin “Learning Support Hubs” for students in need
Begin Hybrid for grades TK, K, 1, 6, and 9 on Jan. 11
Begin Hybrid for grade 2, 3, 7, and 10 on Jan. 19
Begin Hybrid for the rest of the grades on Jan. 25
Just to reiterate, all of the details of all of these steps still need to be negotiated and implementation is contingent on the status of community health metrics.
The Superintendent’s intention is to implement the first two steps as soon as negotiations are complete.
The Superintendent also stated several general principles:
All certificated staff will be offered the option of remaining in distance learning if they prefer.
Parents will be offered the option of having their students convert to hybrid learning or staying in distance learning for the remainder of the school year.
There are still many open issues regarding how student assignments and schedules will be impacted.
Students will be completely independent for three days each week – there will be no planned daily live interactions, although there may be virtual office hours.
There will be no expectation that teachers attempt to engage students on Zoom and in the room at the same time.
There are many more questions to be answered and much still needs to be negotiated. We will continue to ask for your input and to keep everyone informed as we get more information.
Take care and stay safe,
MDEA Leadership team
Again, the teachers need to stand up to their horrible, marxist, worthless union. There are some terrific teachers in this district, but they are being made to look like lazy fools. Take a look around the country, do some research, there are thousands of school districts (not to mention the private schools) back in session with no problems. When the media claims SPIKES!, it’s just the dog whistle from the libs to scare people. Everyone is and will be just fine. Especially our kids…..get them back in school. They are suffering.
I used to think that teacher strikes were bad for holding our children hostage for political reasons….this covid BS goes WAY beyond that.
Inside of marxism, there is no need for a union….
I’m sorry, but that hybrid model is just awful. 2 days in school with 3 days independent is a joke for most elementary aged kid. Somehow they just managed to shovel more onto already overburdened parents at home, incredible. MDUSD has let us down again.
You let yourself down thinking they would do anything different. MDUSD has always been an epic failure and will be until people band together and demand better.
I know it’s popular to teacher bash in the Claycord comment sections, but I just wanted to mention that there ARE a lot of awesome teachers out there working hard throughout all of this! I’m a teacher in a different school district that has also been distance learning. Although last March through June was a big mess with the last minute school shut downs, this school year has been so much better!
Our staff and students were all issued computers, wi/fi, etc. and set up with access to the new distance learning software. I spent the summer teaching myself the software programs I would be using, so that I was ready to live stream classes starting the first day of school. I have been teaching full school days every day since then, along with daily office hours for one on one student feedback. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but honestly I see a lot of positives.
I can give detailed feedback in real time with all of my students. I have almost 250 students total since I teach secondary level, so instant messaging in great for immediate Q&A. It is so much easier to connect with them online, to get them assignments, etc. at any time of the day. My class is run more like a college level class now, since I can focus entirely on the subject matter, and not constant behavior management issues that happen during in person classes.
I can see why parents are frustrated though, especially those with elementary level students. And I agree that not all teachers were so proactive about learning the new online teaching format and really maximizing the positives. But for those of us who were, we really are teaching just as much as we were in person, if not more so.
I’m not sure why there is this belief that teachers should all be willing to just “get sick and/or die” or they should “do it for the kids”. I enjoy what I do and I care about my students, but it IS a job. Of course we work to get paid! Everybody does. And I think ALL workers in ALL jobs should have safe working conditions, not just teachers! (I also agree with the previous commenter that jury duty is NOT SAFE to do right now. Those little rooms were a germ fest before COVID.)
For those of you posting in support of teachers, thank you so much! I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents in my district as well. We are all in this together, and it’s great that we can support each other in doing our best to stay safe, stay healthy, and get through this pandemic together.
Everyone does have safe working conditions. If you didn’t stay home last year to avoid getting the flu, you have no leg to stand on . This is SAFE for people. Hardly anyone is dying; it is only those with severe existing conditions. The numbers you are so afraid of have been inflated. Even the CDC says so! Please check actual facts instead of going by your feelings and STOP. We are all back out here working and are all fine CCC is SO INCREDIBLY safe. Why do you teachers think you are so special that you don’t have to do the job for which you were hired? THAT is why people are teacher bashing and THAT is why it will continue until you folks can actually consume the real data instead of buying into the fear mongering.
I have no doubt there are lots of teachers working hard right now and doing their best.
But look at this: “And I think ALL workers in ALL jobs should have safe working conditions, not just teachers!”
Yeah, who is against safe working conditions? That’s like being against puppies.
But safe can’t mean “at home forever” for all jobs. That isn’t “safe” or “healthy” for society. The people delivering your Amazon packages are not at home. The service workers are not at home. The healthcare workers are not at home. Agricultural and energy workers are not at home. Public infrastructure workers are not at home.
So is being at school essential for kids or not? The union is making it clear what it really thinks about that.
Second point: yes, exactly, your class is like a college class now. That’s great in a way, but you know who college classes are *not* good for? Elementary and middle school kids, that’s who. You can’t teach five year-olds via a college-suitable delivery method. What really happens is that the parent ends up homeschooling (or not, in which case the kid learns nothing). And it’s the worst kind of homeschooling: on someone else’s schedule.
As much as my daughter would love to be in-person in class, I’m not sure 2 days of class and 3 days self-study is better than 5 days on Zoom. She wants more school, not less.
I would imagine it would be better for kids in terms of socializing and getting some time with other kids, however.
I feel sorry for parents so stressed they’d toss kids into the germ-pool any classroom will be, to be ‘educated’ by Marxists parading as educators.
Common sense tells us they will bring covid home, infect school employees, and continue it’s spread.
Besides, one teacher remotely addressing 10,000 monitors in students’ homes saves massively versus the outdated model. And, enables parents to witness what they are actually ‘teaching’.
Well, I agree that real homeschooling is better, if you have a parent at home to do it. But all the info for education is out there for free on the internet. That doesn’t mean that parking your kid in front of a computer is a better education than going to school. It’s not actually efficient, because education isn’t just about having information accessible. Especially not for young kids! I means the teacher is doing online instruction AND the parent is doing near-full-time homeschooling.
Blah, blah, blah Agenda 2030.
here here!
Can’t believe Lawrence voted yes. That guy never wants kids to return to school as it removes one of the levers to enact his hatred of republicans.
He likely realize he and the district were going to get sued. This has nothing to do with what they want. They are distancing from liability. But they still managed to come up with a worse option. Sigh.
@Jana, I’m glad you mentioned that physics teacher, who must obviously think of himself as a “person of science”. Well, I don’t know what he his doing to enlighten his “out of class virtual students” about gravity, electromagnetism, or physics interactions by video. But I can say that my daughter has come to me in tears about the fact that she has not learned anything in Chemistry via zoom. Science subjects, and math for that matter, do not work via zoom. So I say Thank You teachers, thank you for having no spine towards your union, Thank you for proving that you are true educators by doing your own research to realize that in fact you and your students are at next to zero risk (sarcasm intended) Thank you teachers (and Principals) for always watching out for us parents who might drive into the school the wrong way, or perhaps pause too long in front of the bus zone in fear of hurting a child….but this fake virus is far more serious, right?! Thank you teachers, you used to have my full respect. Next time you are in line to check out at Safeway with your snacks and bottles of wine….think about how many random people those ESSENTIAL WORKERS come in contact with every minute of every day. Tell your union to pound sand and get back to work in class…..our kids are SUFFERING!!
Parents, you have enough time from here to January to get your kids use to wearing a mask for about 4 to 5 hours a day. I have talked to parents who can’t wait to get kids back to school, but yet they dont have the kids wearing mask around the neighborhood.
Are you insane? Or just a typical child abuser
Yeah, this is all the parents’ fault (three months from now)!
Jana hit the nail on the head. This isn’t difficult. MDUSD isn’t even trying. They should be looking at creative and obvious solutions.
Mamba, always enjoy your posts. The answer is clear to me, they are proposing this BS proposal because they are looking for an easy way out to blame parents for keeping distance learning and appease the teachers union. Clearly no parents will agree to 3 days of independent study. By default, parents then agree to 100% distance learning. What an FN absolute joke.
Your school district does not have THE MONEY to safely return to classrooms. A Feb 2020 accounting by the District admitted a $21 million deficit even before accounting for spending needed for new DL software, PPE and more nurses & staff required for a safe return at this time.
This is NOT a hybrid plan, it is a smoke screen by the MDUSD.
https://mdusd.org/pf4/cms2/news_themed_display?id=1582887710726
Exactly!!
I bet you’d all like to have the schools fully open, no masks, safeguard, etc. Then we’d be back to square one. Some people are SO selfish. “Waaa, I don’t care about my kids, the teachers, or anything. Just get these kids out of the house!”
Bitter much?
No, some of do not believe the crap coming out of Newsom’s mouth. Have you read the article in SFGATE today that says the projections have been wrong.
Now, I care about my kids more than anyone else! Hence, why I want them in school. Distance learning is a joke, a farce, a complete and utter failure, and that is all on a good day.
The teacher, I care, but they go shopping at Walmart, on vacation via plane to Hawaii, Grocery Shopping etc … If they can go there, they can go to a classroom which they CAN control. You see, the folks in Walmart cannot control if people are washing their hands, cleaning their stuff etc … but any teacher worth their weight in the classroom could control the class. They can dictate the cleaning of their classroom. Yes, it might require a little more work on their part .. but you know what, that is the job they signed up to do.
I want my kids to get an education. That requires, because of their age, that they be in a physical classroom so that they can learn academics, social and mental skill sets.
And finally, Jazzman, where does it say no safeguards or masks? You are reading into it so that you can continue living in fear. You are reading into it because you want others to live in fear with you. No one said, no safeguards or masks, that is your little fantasy world!
If you want to lock your kids up! DO IT! But with your attitude on here, I doubt you are a parent.
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