By Wendy Sigmund
San Lorenzo Valley School District, as well as Scotts Valley School District, will begin the school year with online learning. The question of whether to open campuses or not was not easy for any District to answer. There are so many variables in this unprecedented time; however, all are in agreement that the safety of students, their families, and staff is the first priority.
There are two sides of the school opening issue- first is physical safety of the students, and the families they return home to after school each day. The second is a learning gap due to education being delivered online, as well as social and emotional well being of students being in isolation, and the very real issue of “parents as teachers” instead of returning to work.
Being debated in the school board rooms around the country and this valley is the issue of whether online learning can be meaningful and effective. The answer is “Yes”. A problem with most public schools is teachers are not trained to teach this way. When schools closed in March and teachers were told to teach their lessons online, many were out of their depth in terms of using technology in this manner. The tools are available but some teachers did not utilize them either because they did not want to, or more commonly, did not know how.
In almost all districts, teachers have spent their summer learning how to deliver meaningful content through an online platform through the use of Zoom or Google Meet to see the students and discuss the topics. Much of teaching is moving to online platforms even in an in-person environment. There is more information available virtually then there could possibly be in an in-person lesson. For example, Sesame Street has taught ABC’s to children for generations and many people learned the concept of how a bill becomes a law from Schoolhouse Rock. Virtual learning has been around for a long time.
Social emotional isolation is arguably the greatest challenge. Students feel isolated not being in contact with their friends. As a mother and aunt of teens as well as a high school teacher, this is clear. According to Dr. Laurie Bruton, the superintendent of San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, curriculum has been purchased for all students at all ages on social emotional health. Content will be delivered to each student in an attempt to address feelings of isolation and depression. In addition, she described how the social emotional counselors will be available for phone calls and in some cases in-person meetings observing the social distance protocall. It is important to remember that when schools closed their campuses in March the world looked very scary to everyone including our students. The news was bad and no one knew what to expect. The situation is different now. The number of cases still increases and the economy is only barely beginning to recover but the outlook feels better, not so dismal.
There are other issues to online learning such as student nutrition and the increase in child abuse through lack of a child’s access to mandatory reporters. In San Lorenzo Valley as in all school districts food will be provided to students daily. There will be a pick up location at the tri-campus and at Boulder Creek Elementary School.
Does the decision come down to economics or safety? It being an election year, no politician wants to go to the polls with the highest unemployment rate since the great depression and parents unable to work because their children are not in schools. It will not play well in the polls.
Looking at the safety side of the issue, a basic question is can young students properly social distance? Can a young student wear a mask for hours at a time. Anyone who has spent time with young children knows that the mask will be a soggy slimmy item they will play with and not just wear.
The California Department of Education led by Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has released a guideline for schools to open all through California based on recommendations from the CDC. School opening is dependent on the number of positive Coronavirus cases and the rate of increase. Full document is available online.
The CDC has laid out conditions for the reopening of campuses which are hard to achieve. One condition is a symptom check before any student gets on a bus or enters a campus. An indicator discussed is a temperature check. However, a student could be exposed to the virus, a carrier, and test positive before any symptoms present themselves. If a student is in a classroom for a week before they present symptoms then the other students will all be exposed. These students will have already taken the virus back to their families, spread it to their siblings which in turn takes it to their classroom. Also at risk is the elderly grandparents with whom the students could unknowingly share the virus.
A paradigm shift is occurring in education. Whether students are in the classroom or not, technology is a huge part of what learning will look like. Embracing the technology by teachers and students may be the best we can do at this point. In-person education will continue only when it is safe to do so.
“I know parents are frustrated with us right now but we are making the best of a bad situation” says Dr. Bruton. “If we teach our children to help each other and look out for your neighbors, then they will grow up to be the kind of person I want living next door to me.” She went on to offer this advice to parents and students concerning screen time and online learning: “Take a break if the screen is getting too much. Go for a walk. Do a scavenger hunt in the backyard. It will make all the difference in the world.”
So given that students will be engaged in online learning in the fall, here is what SLV will look like. Each class will be scheduled and each student will be required to log onto that class at the appropriate time. They must be seen by the teacher. The check in may not be long but a daily check in will be required. The teachers are tasked with developing relevant and meaningful content to ensure learning is not lost. This is a two way street. Students must do their part to become engaged in the learning. They must take responsibility for their own learning. This is challenging for the younger students. It falls to the parents to keep students engaged. Advice to parents is to keep it fun, keep it active and take lots of brakes.
In the coming months information will be provided by the school district and the Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin. Also the website SantaCruzMountainBulletin.net will list current information, food pick up times and locations, advice to parents as teachers and hopefully a teen advice column. We will get through this together.