The following information is from the Mt. Diablo Unified School District:
Dear MDUSD Community,
At its July 13 Board Meeting, the Governing Board of Education signaled unanimous support for returning to school on August 13 with primarily distance learning. The Governing Board noted health and safety as priorities that cannot be compromised, given most recent coronavirus pandemic information.
With this direction, newly appointed Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark and the existing structure of Task Forces will bring reopening plans into higher resolution. This marks a transition into the, “Adjustments and Final Plan,” stage in the Roadmap to Reopen.
A new Revised Reopening Plan will be developed and presented to the Board of Education for consideration in the coming weeks. The Revised Reopening Plan will show the 2020-21 school year beginning with distance learning, and will allow for selective phasing into classroom environments only when and where the highest standards of health and safety can be achieved.
On the Roadmap to Reopen webpage, find out how you can participate in our planning process, or review our timeline for plan development.
We are sincerely appreciative of the high level of public participation in our surveys and in our public meetings.
You have been excellent communicators of your ideas and perspectives, which is fundamental for healthy collaboration. We are also thankful to the Board of Education for providing direction that is essential to our planning efforts. We look forward to communicating to you any and all reopening plan developments going forward as soon as possible.
I hope that the district is considering dual sessions…morning and afternoon. Would make distancing easier and less kids on buses at any given time.
First, who has buses?? Second, before there can be morning and afternoon session…there has to be a system in place to clean and sanitize classrooms between sessions. That’s a lot to ask and not something that can be done in an hour. Unfortunately being a country that allows states to make their own decisions regarding education…there is no consistency to tackle a problem that impacts all states. This is actually a good call by the county. Not ideal but the best under the circumstances. If I was a teacher, I’d quit before being put in a situation of in person classes right now.
Distant learning means they’re not going to the physical location so shifts would not be needed, and MDUSD doesn’t bus for the most part anyway, with the exception of certain students with extra needs.
Thankfully, Concord mom is no a teacher. We all know how the system works and many times there is not money for everything or there are not intentions to do what it is needed. So I guess we need parents to volunteer, if necessary, if we want the things to run better. Many schools have been running with extra parent’s help. we don’t have to worry about it, for now. Hopefully, our children are able to go back to school in a near future for their social-emitional well being.
That bs all they of dollar sings school board dont care about keeping kids safe specially with overcrowded classrooms
What he said?!?!
Sandy – bless your heart. I think you may need some reading comprehension classes. Take a look at the MDUSD website, they have adult education.
LimeRidge Larry – Is it really necessary to be so rude? Does it make you feel more intelligent in some way?
Disrespectful post
This has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with politics. Did anyone see the the LAUSD teacher union demands that must be met before they will return to work? Nothing at all to do with the children. Meanwhile schools across the world are going back in session with few if any ill effects.
I don’t want to be too hard on teachers for the failure of any meaningful teaching in the spring as no one was prepared in advance and the messaging from our government was so poor – two weeks to six weeks to the remainder of the year. Regardless, my daughter had a wasted three months. Sadly, I don’t really expect these teachers to work any harder for the coming fall session. If they don’t want to teach our children, they should find a new profession.
I love the “schools from around the world” excuse. What did these countries do to be able to open and how were they different than us? That should be the question that needs to be answered. I am for the teachers 100%. Maybe one lesson your daughter could have learned in those 3 months was empathy. Guess you missed a great TEACHING moment.
Distant Learning? LOL
That should be the motto of the MDUSD.
All the curriculums are more like indoctrinations.
By definition, for the students, a great distance from learning anything useful.
LOL Exactly, not that the students were ever closer to learning anything before, now they just made it official that the students will be a great distance from learning. But don’t worry, they’ll be safe at home since we’ve had to release some dangerous inmates to further our dirty agenda
This is all BS. What a scam. Open the schools 100%. Stop running scared.
Do you realize that would be a death sentence for some kids? Open schools would mean the children would bring the virus home.
Doh… why would you just say children would bring the virus home? That statement is not based on facts and science. Your mental problems are not anyone’s but your own. You need to science better. And stop spreading panic propaganda
Doh, do you actually follow the data? Your death sentence statement has no basis in reality. As of today, the total deaths for children in the entire state aged <1-17 is 0. ZERO. Within that same age range, there have been just under 30,000 cases. That's from the CA Dep of Health.
Do us all a favor and turn off the major media outlets who promote panic. The scare mongering has one specific purpose, and it's not to inform or protect anyone from covid. If that was their purpose was to inform, they would reassure the public that cases do not equal death, most people recover that get infected, and there is ongoing studies that suggest kids are not significant virus spreaders.
The constant doom and gloom, and overreaction to the virus is really exhausting.
Ladies and Gentlemen , I implore politeness when expressing your views and to not berate others. Let’s assume good intentions on all sides and not put each other down for expressing our views on a complicated issue. It doesn’t make anyone’s argument or reasoning stronger and it’s unbecoming of our fine community to put others down.
That said, whatever opinion of the quality of our teachers and schools —these obviously vary widely—I believe the overwhelming vast majority of teachers miss their students and desperately want to come back to traditional in person learning. Teachers I have talked to as friends have reasonable concerns for their safety. It was pointed out to me recently that dying is not the only adverse effect from the virus—it can cause permanent injury and damage to the lungs and heart that leave lasting effects on people for months, if not years.
The difference between us and countries that are opening their schools is they have much lower infection rates per 100,000 people currently. Also their infection rate has either been stable for a months or declining. If the same circumstances were true for us, I’m confident local education agencies would be opening schools for in person instruction.
It’s hard to deny that our Western European and East Asian allies, e.g., Germany, Japan, South Korea, Scotland, to name a few, have done a much better job of lowering the transmission of this virus and are reaping the benefits.
We on the other hand are right back were we started back in March. That is so incredibly frustrating given all the sacrifices we have already made to fight this thing. I wish it were different. We need to look after our small business and workers better so we don’t create circumstances for a dichotomous choice between economic destitution and taking our chances with the virus that leaves every one in bad shape. This is not a local problem best solved locally. It’s a big, widespread problem, hence the term pandemic, and it requires real support and real leadership from the federal government. Until that happens, what viable options are really left for our schools?
Sandy and Lowrider, you might want to read it again. Slowly this time.
Rebecca maybe you should. Seems to me that Sandy is speaking about the road map to reopening. She’s hopeful that it would be easier to stay 6feet apart if the classes are in shifts. You might be better at asking Sandy what she meant instead of being a mean person. The world has enough of those.
@ Doh …. you need to get a grip. And stop using Homer’s line for your handle. You don’t deserve it.
This doesn’t have much to do with children or safety. The CTA is calling the shots and Newsom has to go along as they were heavy campaign contributors. They also want to BK the Charter schools, but that’s another conversation. See Assemblyman Kevin Kiley’s site.
I still think they should do one teacher per grade. All first graders in the district, learning from one teacher district-wide (recorded online videos). All second graders learning from one teacher district-wide, etc. Other teachers can create & grade work packets (sent with self addressed stamped envelopes) and help individual students who need it. Will greatly keep the costs down and when schools re-open administration can bring back the laid off staff.
I agree.
poor kids. Sorry our government is pulling this crap. And double sorry for all the braindead and brainwashed idiots who applaud all of this asinine bs. You know who you are mask police
😉Legalize it! 😜 = 🚫😷
Over 1,000 contacts with children who had the virus found ZERO transmissions — even in choir practice. children are not emerging as considerable drivers of transmission of COVID-19 – Granted a small study but.. https://t.co/nbu7qMGXQQ?amp=1
So my son is special needs and needs speech and ot he didn’t get that over summer cus he’s transitioning to middle school so is he going to get this soon, mine u I need an iep cus I BELIVE he needs more services he can barely read and is going into 6th grade! WTH is going on w the district where’s the tax dollars going and the funding??!!
@Sabrina apply for SSI have him evaluated you will have more leverage and $ to help with his needs.
All of you commenting negatively about teachers need some serious help.
O.k. then, Ashley…..name one thing positive coming out of a teachers union demanding to defund police departments before teachers will go back to work. The teachers are holding kids’ education hostage……talk about teachers needing some serious help.
2 of My children will all be attending Middle school for first time 6th graders! Whom on Pre Covid would be bussed, due to where we live they run 2 bus loads of kids from north concord to El dorado. One of my children HAS an IEP! And needs to have in person help. My other child would be home entirely alone if she was allowed to attend school dude to her IEP. We are a 2 working parent household that can not afford to take off work! So best case both kids home to attend distance learning all by them selfs. Or one gets to go to school and one is home alone! Neither option seems like an education to me!!
Our fearless leaders say stay 6feet apart and wear a mask. Scared teachers don’t have to get near a student. Just stand up in front of the class and teach. Don’t touch your face. Keep windows and doors open for cross breeze. Use hand sanitizer on the kids before coming to class.
Teachers could always demand a bubble or hazmat suit.
Time to recall Newsom and the Contra Costa County Supervisors.Open up California now.
I feel like for the end of the school year my son’s (5th and K) had mayfbe 1 hour of zoom classes per day. The rest of the time it’s on the parents to supervise and make sure kids are in task and completing assignments. If there is to be distant learning I feel that children and teachers need to have the same school hours as normal. I feel for the teachers, but also don’t feel my tax dollars should be paying for one hour of face time in our own home. Will the county be subsidizing parents as they are now basically forced to take on part of the school’s responsibilities? It’s really a no win situation, but the longer Distance Learning continues the farther children will fall behind. Especially those who have two working parents or infants in the household. I really can’t believe they are proceeding with an August 13th start. Guess we will be going out of pocket for tutoring just to keep pace. Tax deductible lol?!?
1 hour per day?!?! My son was getting 1 hour per week. The teacher, school counselor and special ed gave 0 compassion towards my sons special needs.
Has anyone seen that other countries have sent their children back to schools and haven’t even been wearing masks and they aren’t having any problems. Children are not coming down with Covid19. Is this about the children or the teachers? I can’t believe that parents aren’t more concerned that their children aren’t getting a proper education and won’t be able to play with friends. Believe me there are parent out there not making their children do the online learning. Children shouldn’t have to be punished. Children need normalcy Has anyone noticed how many missing teens there are out there right now? They are running away because they don’t know how to process all of this. They need structure and friends to talk to. This is important for children as they grow. LA school unions are using this as a negotiation if they don’t defund police and close charter schools they don’t want to open. What happened to no student left behind? Let’s make this about children’s education and not politics. Get our children back into the classrooms. It’s fine to practice social distancing in the classroom and wear masks.
Okay but have you seen the way other countries handled Covid compared to this country? They did not open up as quickly as this country, you can’t compare their schooling choices to ours when they’ve obviously been handling the virus far better than the US. Maybe if people didn’t make wearing a mask such a political statement, the kids would be going back to school this fall, and everything else would be opened up by fall.
Good thing I already have my child enrolled in K12 excellent program. This will be our 3rd year and already know how it all works. We get entire lesson plans done by 12:30/1pm. I truly hope that some parents try and look elsewhere for your kids education this school year. It’s not for everyone but if you can make it happen do it. Your child’s education will not get interrupted. Then when the following school year rolls around just stick them back in their old brick and mortar. Good luck
Any word on special ed, they had my son doing zoom meetings that are totally worthless he’s had a lot of regression
Special ed would be the first to come back when its safe to open
@Gladys,
It used to be “women and children first” and now we’re letting over-hyped fears and bureaucratic red tape strangle our future.
Here are my questions.
-How will “distant learning” widen the gap between socio-economic classes?
-What are the ramifications of creating an underclass that is raised to take instruction only from a computer screen?
-There is a clear correlation between drop-out rates and later life outcomes. How much of a drop-out rate increase are we willing to tolerate?
-If drop-out rates do not increase will it be because the online curriculum/standards were made easier to justify its continued use?
-What message are we sending about the worth of the older generation when they can’t/won’t educate the young?
How will that younger generation reciprocate when they’ve matured enough to be the primary policy makers?
No one is forced to teach.
Teachers do it and will continue to do it because they want to make a difference for the future generation.
That’s what makes them the real heroes.
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I’m for distant learning, but seeing how they handled it this past spring, I wish they had a better online curriculum.
Is there any news of Martinez schools following in the same way?
Attn: Geniuses
The pandemic is real – just because you don’t personally know someone who suffered or died from it, doesn’t mean it isn’t real or serious.
Nobody actually knows if reopening schools will result in increased deaths/illness, but a decision has to be made and there is likely more/greater risk if there is face to face contact (vs virtual)… so the schools will error on the side of caution and proceed conservatively.
Yes this will make a lot of things more difficult (especially for working parents), but at least you won’t be regretting that the school system contributed to any illness or death to you or loved ones.
THANK YOU!!
Daycares have been running all summer with no issues following the state guidelines.
Here is the irony, kids will be attending daycares on school campuses, using chrome books to do distance learning, with teachers presen for each age group.
The daycare building is about 20 feet from the real class the kids would have attended.
Do you see the irony!
There were 82 people (staff and children) at a camp in Missouri who came down with covid 19 a few days ago. A camp is outdoors. If that doesn’t say It is not safe to put kids into a room inside together, I feel sorry for you and your kids. Younger kids do not know how to properly cover their mouth when the sneeze let alone follow all the safety guidelines needed to keep everyone safe.
Want to get your kids back to school? Lead by example and follow the guidelines. Your children are watching and learning from you.
That is correct they did that without any guidelines. There are over 200 daycares in the area with no outbreaks. Because they are following county and state guidelines.
Either way kids will be in daycares doing distance learning with daycare tea hers on campus.
What is MDUSD going to be doing differently to ensure that distant learning isn’t a catastrophic failure again?
If EVERYONE would follow the simple guidelines we would not be in this situation.. kids could go to school, parents could go to work and people could stop complaining! It’s REALLY not that difficult.
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Again, Claycord, for some bizarre reason you censored me again. Why?
Believe me, I know of some teachers, who were voicing to start with the Hybrid model for safety and then in-person. They do want to teach at 100 percent.
I’d be curious to know what percentage of people upset about schools not opening have not been wearing masks or social distancing. How many of the older kids have been going to parties with large numbers people? Teachers would like nothing more than to get back to their classrooms and have children in school. They also want to stay healthy. If you haven’t been doing your part then you are part of the problem. It’s time for us to get together and be part of the solution!
Here’s something to think about,
1. The teachers are still not under contract yet we want them to work longer days.
2. If you do morning and afternoon sessions then who’s going to be willing to cut their hours back if both parents work to transport kids to and from schools
3. They budget is not there to pay our teachers fair wages now why should they have to work more for nothing being added to wages
4. Why are we willing to let not only the staff at each schools but they children go back to school when the virus is going up not down.
5. If colleges are not going back to classes because of the virus going up why are schools opening up, harder for younger kids to wear masks all day than adults.
6. How many staff at these schools live with a family member that is high risk for the virus and shouldn’t be around their jobs because of that. But opening school up gives them no choice. No they don’t get unemployment and not an Option
7. Why do we feel that because of freedom of speech we have the right to be rude and disrespectful.
This is not just about one person or teacher or child it’s about everyone . This virus doesn’t just kill people it also takes a healthy person and makes them have life long health problems once they have fought of the virus.
Think of it like this anyone who gets the Covid-19 and has to be hospital will spend 95% of that time with o family visiting or staying with them. They are on their own fighting it, from birth to 100 plus. Are you really willing to send your kids to school and take that high of a risk with their lives. I’m not
Just my thoughts and opinions