Majority Favor All Three PUSD Learning Models

The majority of respondents to a survey asking for parents’ opinions regarding education models for the 2020-2021 school year, said they favored any of the district’s three current plans.

More than 50 percent said they favored an online and in-person learning model, in-person learning and students learning strictly online.

According to the district, 7,766 people responded to the survey which asked three questions: in-person, virtual online, and blended in-person and online learning.

Of the three options, 57.2 percent of respondents said they favored blended online and in-school learning. That option barely edged out full in-person learning, with safety guidelines, which 55.6 percent favored, and full online learning, supported with additional live lessons and more defined schedules which 51.7 percent favors.

The anonymous survey was conducted between May 24 and June 7.

“The intention of this survey was not to capture the preferred method of instruction for each student,” said Tendaji Jamal, Chief Information Technology Officer in a summary of the survey. “Rather the intent was to provide some indication of the community’s willingness to engage in each potential learning option.”

State plans call for local districts to consider:

Student, Family and Staff Population: Who are the student, family and staff populations that will be impacted by or can serve as partners in implementing any of the following measures?

Ability to Implement or Adhere to Measures: Do staff, students and families have the tools, information, resources and ability to successfully adhere to or implement the new measures?

Negative or Unintended Consequences: Are there any negative or unintended consequences to staff, students or families of implementing the measures and how can those consequences be mitigated?

As part of the reopening guidelines, the state will supply every school and childcare center with no-touch thermometers, hand sanitizer, face shields for every teacher, cloth face coverings for staff and students and tight-fitting N-95 masks for health care professionals in schools, in addition to enforcing requirements for physical distancing.

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Department of General Services said they will distribute personal protective equipment and other supplies to traditional and charter public schools, private schools and childcare facilities.

The agencies plan to send out more than 47,000 no-touch thermometers for every school and childcare facility;

roughly 2.4 million face shields for every teacher and childcare provider; more than 14 million cloth face coverings for staff and students; more than 16 million disposable masks; 123,000 N95 masks for school-based health professionals, including those interacting with symptomatic students; and 143,000 gallons of hand sanitizer.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines include limiting the sharing of toys, electronics and books, constant disinfecting of school sites, staggered start and departure times, social distancing at school and on buses, teaching and reinforcing hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and increased monitoring to ensure adherence among students and staff.

Students have been in distance learning since March, when the pandemic forced the closure of schools to try to stop the spread of Coronavirus.

Districts could be facing billions in cuts, as well as other reductions in Newsom’s revised budget. If enacted, the cuts would be single-year reductions to public education greater than those experienced during the Great Recession a decade ago.

About 7 in 10 California school districts were overspending before COVID-19 forced schools to close, according to the California School Boards Association.