Mt. Diablo Unified School District is changing teacher assignments at elementary schools because of a recent increase in students enrolling in the district’s remote learning program as COVID-19 cases have also spiked amid the more-contagious delta variant of COVID-19, Superintendent Adam Clark said Thursday.
In a letter to the district community, Clark said the number of people enrolling in its independent study program has swelled along with the number of COVID cases reported recently.
Before Aug. 11, about 150 students were enrolled in the program, but nearly 500 more have transferred since then from in-person instruction to the remote program. As a result, some elementary school classes are merging and some teachers will move to independent study instruction, Clark said.
The newly formed classes will not exceed limits set in the teachers’ union contracts, he said.
“I completely understand the frustration, concerns and disappointment that families and teachers are feeling as these shifts take place and I am truly sorry this is so upsetting,” Clark said.
“We are moving teachers to follow the kids. I understand that this shift will cause a disruption, but this is a common occurrence in districts throughout the state as they adjust to actual classroom enrollment after the school year begins,” he said.
The district is updating its COVID cases reported at each campus at this link. Within the past 10 days, 51 people, including both students and staff, have tested positive for COVID in the MDUSD.
Superintendent’s message regarding teacher assignments:
Dear Mt. Diablo Unified School District Community:
In the past month, we have experienced a substantial increase in students enrolling in the District’s Independent Study program. This has caused us to be overstaffed at elementary schools and understaffed in Independent Study. Therefore, we are collapsing several elementary school classes and moving teachers to serve students based on class sizes established in our teachers’ union contract.
The newly formed classes do not exceed contracted class size limits, which are:
TK-K (All Day-360 minutes): 27
TK: 32
K: 32
1-3: 31
TK-3 Combination: 30
4-5: 34
4-5 Combination: 31
6-12: 37
English: 33
Physical Education (K-12): 45
Choral Music: 45
Instrumental Music: 45
Before August 11th, our enrollment in the Independent Study program was approximately 150 students. As news continued to spread about the Delta variant, we have had nearly 500 students transfer from in-person elementary schools into Independent Study, with more families submitting applications daily. Because these students have come from every school within the District, staffing shifts are being felt throughout the District.
I completely understand the frustration, concerns and disappointment that families and teachers are feeling as these shifts take place and I am truly sorry this is so upsetting. However, we are not laying off teachers or making budget cuts. We are moving teachers to follow the kids. I understand that this shift will cause a disruption, but this is a common occurrence in Districts throughout the state as they adjust to actual classroom enrollment after the school year begins.
As a District, we have been directed by the Contra Costa County Office of Education and State agencies to live within our means financially. Therefore, we cannot hire more teachers for Independent Study, while allowing educators at elementary schools to teach classes that are only partially full. Here is a link to a report on MDUSD’s financial situation that warns we must make tough decisions to stay within our budget now in order to continue to serve all of our students and families in the future. This document was shared at our August 11th Board meeting.
I am confident that our teachers will continue to deliver high-quality instruction and that our students will be resilient and safe. We have strict mask guidance in place. Merv-13 air filters are in every classroom, and we have made optional COVID testing available throughout the District for students, staff and their immediate families. We are following all county and state COVID safety guidelines.
I know that there are some who are still uneasy, but we are placing our talented staff where our students need them most.
Adam Clark, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Hasn’t Covid taught us it’s time to dismantle the antiquated and ineffective public schools and their unions? They’re nothing more than money-grabbing, middle-class-welfare job generators where ‘woke’ philosophy and dumbing down youth for blind obedience to government is taught.
School choice, including homeschooling absolutely needs to happen. The public school system is a joke. Defund the teacher”s union!
I’d rather know where Mr. Clark stands on Critical Race Theory than classroom reassignments. Since it’s the Bay Area I’d bet he’s pro-CRT, but I’d like him to go on the record.
Why hasn’t a news organization asked every superintendent and school board member to go on the record regardingtheirstanceon CRT, then publish the results?
I teach history in the district at the high school level. We do not teach CRT in high school or any grade below that. Most colleges don’t teach it unless the student goes down a very specific academic track.
MDUSD Teacher: You teach CRT but call it something else. I’ve seen student history papers here with all the CRT talking points in it. And I’ve looked at colleges that specifically say they emphasize CRT and not in “specific academic work.” You need to seek out a less knowledgeable group less involved in their kid’s material to shovel your BS at. Seriously, you want to tell the parents who read their kid’s papers that they did not see what they see.
Wow. Telling a teacher that they don’t actually know what they teach. Ballsy. Perhaps you have been misinformed?
MDUSD Teacher – thank you and hang in there.
MDUSD Teacher: Actually, I want an answer on this. I DEMAND an answer from you. Yes, YOU. Why does my kid know the CRT talking points on the revolution and such if you claim you do not teach it.
My daughter graduated from College Park in 2019. In my experience, they don’t openly teach CRT, but they give assignments where all the research paper sources are of the “whitey is racist” POV. Since the students have to use the sources listed (they cannot go outside those sources), the content of the research papers is a foregone conclusion. Plausible deniability? CRT is not policy, but the individual teachers appear to have the leeway to push in that direction, and many do.
It’s like Antifa’s propaganda that Antifa is an idea and not an organization. Yet they have meetings (online and in person) and groups on Twitter.
My daughter insists she was never propagandized or indoctrinated, but when communist propaganda is the standard, you may not even recognize it. The kids don’t recognize it for what it is, but I certainly do.
Thank you, Anonymous. You were more professional than I was and provided useful information. I see what you mean with their materials. There is an example of that right now my kid is working on.
MDUSD Teacher- you are either a liar or you are too stupid to realize what you are doing. Either thing is a problem. When there is forced “equity” training, you for SURE teach CRT principles.
@To Do List I have seen multiple examples of what I posted happening across the US in every state. I saw some from Missouri and Virginia this week. High School kids have to write a research paper on racism or justice using only the sources provided and all the sources are pure CRT. But CRT is not officially adopted by the school district, so no one knows.
I’ve almost cleared my daughter’s brainwashing (sucks to be you MDUSD ha ha ha) but I know it started early and is embedded deep. It’s like how the Catholics say give us your child at age 5 and he will always be Catholic. The schools do the same thing thing.
“Everything woke turns to s**t”
– President Donald J. Trump
+1
“woke” is based on evil lies, racism and hate.
So much for in person learning. My kids can go back to school, but in a crowded classroom with less teachers! This is awful.
32 TK and Kinders. 😮
That’s going to be crazy!
That is not new. It’s been that way for years.
That is how it has been all along. they are only together as a group of 32 for about 2 hours. The period of time when the early/late students overlap.
Mdusd can buy the superintendent and upper management new cars , but the district can’t afford to keep the teachers at their schools in order to not have these kids stacked together and possibly spreading colds, flu, COVID-19.
So much for all the extra government money given to the schools to get our kids back on track. Now we have larger class sizes, and a dismantling of classrooms that JUST started their school year. Once again MDUSD is not looking out for the best interest of our kids. Where did all the money go? The districts actions are disgraceful.
Check the salaries the maintenance staff and painters make way more than teachers why?????
Maintenance makes more because they work harder than any of the teachers
Teachers in Lafayette make like $100-$150k before benefits after like a decade, the woah-is-me BS story teachers give gets old, especially after they hid, refused to teach, and collected extra money during the whole pandemic, while children got stupider and more depressed. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/school-districts/contra-costa/acalanes-union-high/
I’m certain the teachers union will make decisions that positively impact their membership without giving a damn about the students. Everyone please continue to expose them so charter and private schools will flourish and we can kill the union run ‘public school’ system.
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Teachers’ and school administrators’ #1 priority are childrens’ education, right?
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Get to work!!!
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And 1 day notice to all of the parents that got kids schedule changed. “Thanks MDUSD” the kids really do come first and it shows….
Another year where our kids are going to get a $hitty education, perfect. They say teachers can’t teach a small class?? If they are moved to distance learning, they need to take a pay cut, and we need to get rid of these ridiculous teacher’s unions. The entire system has let our kids down during this pandemic, this has long lasting repercussions for our kids, they’re not going to be able to get this time and missed education back. Kids are more likely to end up as just more people being a drain on society. We need to stop letting this happen, contribute or get the fu(k out!
At what point do us parents say enough is enough?
It’s absolutely sickening that after extorting an insane amount of money from us, the zombie blob CTA/MDEA union and MDUSD keeps stuffing their pockets at the expense of our kids education.
HIRE MORE TEACHERS FOR THE KIDS! Why is this concept so F’in hard to grasp for our “educational leaders” ???? Where is the money going?
Last year, the deranged MDEA locusts spewed verbal diarrhea about keeping kids and teacher’s safe during COVID. Now, we are increasing classroom sizes?!?!?!?
When does the corruption and complete lack of rational thinking stop?
The CA public system is total joke, and we are FAILING our kids.
Didn’t the school district get $83 million in COVID relief? Where did that money go and why can’t they just hire more teachers for online schooling?
I thought I read that they were reassigning 12 teachers district-wide. Does that really have lead to a protest. The administrators say they are faced with more independent study students-they have a right to learn too. A complete over-reaction.
What a complete joke this all is. So many morons we’re allowing to run our lives.
MDUSD has so many teachers on TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment). Send them back to a classroom to teach a regular full day with a regular class! Wasting money there! Do we really need a teacher focusing on only STEM lessons right now? No. As a “liaison” for who knows what or “academic support teacher” for district programs? No. The kids need them in the classroom. Their colleagues need them in a classroom. The district needs them back in the classroom. Those should have been the teachers to get reassigned. But I’m sure they have some contract making them untouchable and they don’t want to lose their higher salary with less work position!!
I have heard a lot of stupid things since the pandemic started, but this has got to take the cake. We are trying to limit the spread of Covid, so let’s crowd the max number of students into a classroom— yeah! Are you trying to spread Covid and sabotage in person instruction? Sure sounds like it. Union limits should not apply to virtual. The teachers don’t have any contact with the students. It doesn’t matter how many blank screens are staring at them. They can also use teachers who do not teach a classroom right now (like substitutes) to teach virtual.