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After reaching a stalemate Thursday on reopening Pleasanton Unified School District for in-person learning, the Board of Trustees is scheduled to revisit the matter at a special online meeting next week.
Following a lengthy discussion that included two separate board motions — both resulting in 2-2 votes, with Board President Joan Laursen absent Thursday evening — the board called for the special meeting to ensure compliance with the Brown Act, which requires proper public notice of any action up for a vote.
Trustee Mark Miller was among the trustees who suggested “that we should table this conversation for a subsequent meeting where we can notice the community properly,” a motion also supported by Superintendent David Haglund.
That follow-up hearing is set to take place next Thursday (Feb. 18), starting 5:30 p.m.
New state guidance allows elementary schools to reopen while Alameda County is in the purple tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system, as long as the case rate is less than 25 per 100,000 people, but secondary schools must remain closed to in-person instruction while in the purple.
As of Feb. 10, the average adjusted case rate was 18.1 per 100,000, according to the Alameda County Public Health Department website. The county is currently still in the purple tier but case data has been recently trending downward.
The district’s current plan calls for gradually returning students to school in a hybrid model — starting with pre-kindergarten through second grade, then continuing up through secondary school — once the county has been in the red tier for two weeks. Families would have the option to remain in remote learning, as required by state law.
Within the secondary grades, a phased approach has been recommended to have grades 6 and 9, moderate-to-severe special day classes (SDC) grades 6 through 12, and all Village High alternative education students return the week after grades 3 to 5. All remaining secondary students would be invited back the week following just grades 6 and 9, in order to allow more time for student orientation.
A similar motion that failed to pass Thursday would have the same groups returning just five days after Alameda County reached the red tier, with trustees Steve Maher and Kelly Mokashi voting No in support of a more expedited process.
“Another school of thought I had been thinking about was basically we have pre-K to 2; why can’t we have the 6th through 9th (grade) at the same time consecutively?” Mokashi asked. “Because we’re losing time; we have 14 weeks left, so that’s what I’m really struggling with.”
Maher, who has expressed his desire to have students back in school sooner, said he wasn’t against grades 6 and 9 returning separately.
“I don’t have a problem with the orientation; I just have a problem with the rest of the high school waiting another week. Again, that’s pushing them out,” Maher said, then suggested holding evening orientation hours for grades 6 and 9 while concurrently reopening for all secondary students.
“I agree with Trustee Mokashi; I don’t want to delay more than five days,” Maher added.
Earlier during the public hearing, a couple dozen people voiced their opinions — many varying greatly — on reopening. Some speakers urged the board to wait until teachers are vaccinated, while others begged to reopen right away, including several students.
Reopening advocates added their voices to a chorus of parents in the health care field who asked the board in a Feb. 8 signed letter “that you make every effort to open our public schools to full-time in-person education as soon as the public health officer permits.”
“We implore you to make every effort to reopen schools now, with the clear goal of having kids TK – 12 back before the end of the school year,” the group wrote.
PUSD parents and students advocating for a return to the board’s prior reopening plan — which called for grades K-5 to return while the county is still in the purple tier, after the case rate is below 25 per 100,000 for five days, and grades 7 to 12 to return after the county is in the red tier for five days — have held several rallies since December to draw attention to their cause.
This last week, the group urged the trustees “to reconsider the timing for school reopening to align with (the) county’s guidance,” which largely informed their original plan.
The group “by no means underestimate the risk that children and teachers may face from leaving their homes,” but said “for the vast majority of students, the benefits of in-person school greatly outweigh the risks.”
“The learning losses, the negative mental health sequelae, the increasing inequity, and the social breakdown our children are living through are no longer a questionable future prospect; they are a stark current reality,” they said.
In a statement following the meeting, the district thanked staff members and the community “for the thoughtful discussions that have served to keep our students’ best interests at heart of our decision-making processes.”
As required by the county and state health departments, PUSD is also submitting several COVID-19 safety and protection plans for approval so they can reopen.
The CDC, science/medical journals have explained that elementary schools can open but yet our district continues finding ways why they can’t make this happen.
They already have had small cohorts on campuses since November(?) proving that this can be done.
In addition, the governor has green-lighted elementary students in the purple tier that they can start if meeting certain criteria. (PUSD meets criteria)
Let’s get these elementary students back into the classroom or outside on campus (we live in Cali for crying out loud) and make some progress to finally giving all PUSD students the opportunity to get the education they deserve. Enough of the zombie zoom calls staring at screens.
Quit punting this until the end of the school year. Give parents the option to get their kids back into the classroom. Not everyone will want to go back but some desperately need this to happen.
Catholic schools are open, private schools are open (Newsom’s kids) with no problems. If it’s the teacher’s unions then get rid of the unions and HIRE NEW TEACHERS. When I grew up during the Polio Pandemic, which attacked children, they didn’t close the schools. What is wrong with you people?
Email Karla brown and ask her to push for a lawsuit against the school district.
It’s going to take legal action to get what we need
Listen to Ron DeSantis…doing it right. Too bad he isn’t our governor!
We need a balanced approach to reopening our schools in Pleasanton. Schools in Palo Alto and Marin County have been open since last fall with no outbreaks or virus transmission. The CDC director stated the other week that schools can reopen safely and that teacher vaccination is not a prerequisite for reopening.
That said, there is no activity that is entirely risk-free. Letting our children walk or bicycle to school in traffic is not without risk. Teenagers driving to school is not risk-free either. Though, just like everything in life, we need to manage risk and emphasize safe behavior based on facts and evidence – and this applies to COVID-19 as well.
PUSD board should be recalled. They are incompetent people. They should have been working on a plan for Safe Opening of the Schools. Instead they are bickering about mundane issues. Where is the Plan? Why the Teachers obstructing safe opening of the schools?
Naveed, the board isn’t incompetent, they have just never understood that they are the ones in control. Staff is running around and trying to not open. Those parents who want their children back in school need to “show up” in large numbers and demand schools be opened. Otherwise, the debates will continue.
They are incompetent if they don’t understand the position they hold
I’m trying to be kind. You pointed out they are low paid volunteers I believe. But, you are probably right.
San Ramon is open!!