If you blinked, you missed it.
At last night's Board meeting the Trustees agreed to move the learning model from one day per week to two days per week, starting this coming Monday, March 22.
Given the history (and occasional histrionics) associated with this issue, you might rightly imagine a long debate, raised voices, a 3-2 vote and some angry people.
Nope.
Tonight, in 5-0 consensus, the Board agreed to two days per week starting this Monday.
What made the difference?
It starts with a court ruling in Superior Court that California's school reopening framework is likely illegal and unconstitutional. You know, the one that asserted "if a specific school was open on November 15th, then they can reopen, but if another neighboring school wasn't open back then they can't reopen now, even though both schools have identical safety plans."
It didn’t take the court long to determine that that makes zero sense. You can find the details of the legal ruling elsewhere on this site, but I will summarize by saying it was an epic smackdown delivered to the State and an important win for students. The case isn't over by any means, but the judge ruled that it is likely that the plaintiffs will prevail after a full trial, so for now the court has ruled that the State cannot enforce its school reopening "guidance."
One key component of the court's decision was that "local educational agencies shall offer in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible."
Given that other local school districts are open two (or more) days per week, we would have a hard time convincing the court that we are offering in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible if we remained with 1-day per week of in-class instruction.
There was some pushback that we should wait another week before moving to 2-days per week, but I stood firm. Every day missed at school is crucial to our student's academic and social and emotional well-being. On the other hand, most of our teachers have been vaccinated, and those that haven't have either been scheduled to have one or have decided they don't want a vaccine.
Faced with these facts, there is really no reason we can't immediately be at 2-days per week of on-campus instruction. Everyone on the Board eventually came around to this conclusion.
We now need to plan for moving to the next phase in school reopening. Our school district needs to be in court on April 1st to present a plan to reopen schools as completely and as quickly as practicable. We will have a special Board meeting next Wednesday to decide the plan to present to the court. I will have a separate post to obtain your ideas on a go-forward plan.
There were other important outcomes from last night's meeting that are worth mentioning.
It was clearly stated that we will have in-person graduation ceremonies for our seniors. The exact details will need to be determined and we will need to see what rules are in place regarding in-person gatherings at that time, but it was decided that we will have an in-person graduation of some form, perhaps in addition to a drive-through ceremony. More on this in the coming weeks.
Separately, the Board approved the hiring of new athletic trainers to support our kids and their sporting activities. This is long overdue and will be warmly welcomed by our coaches and players alike.
Lastly, Mr. Bryan Marcus stressed that our Oak Crest surfers complete their applications for ISPE to the best extent possible. He recognizes that due to the COVID crisis, ISPE applications will be carefully scrutinized to allow for potential special dispensation. In the longer term I will be studying the laws and policies around ISPE and will report back on what I learn.
Let me end by saying that the progress achieved last night could not have been accomplished without the support of individuals in this group of concerned parents. Your dedication to making important changes in our District, your voice and your involvement makes all the difference in the world. I have been a steadfast supporter of parents and students since I joined the Board, and I will continue to put your interests first, but it takes a village. I could not have done it without you. Thank you.