Officials with Newhall School District voted Tuesday to adopt a re-entry program that would have all students begin classes in the fall online and remain so until it is “safe to transition to in-person teaching.”

During their regular meeting Tuesday, the Governing Board for the Newhall School District unanimously voted to have students start classes online in the fall, with the intention to transition to a blended learning model.

“I ask that you guys do formally approve that all students will start in a distance learning format,” said Superintendent Jeff Pelzel.

Under the adopted plan, parents would have the option to have their students participate in a blended learning model once state and county health officials approved the physical return to school campuses. Parents could also choose to have their students remain in an online learning format for the duration of the school year.

Additionally, students who participate in the blended learning model are set to attend classes in either a morning or afternoon session, according to district officials.

Regardless of which session parents choose for their student, all students who take part in the blended model would physically attend school for two and a half hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This would leave Wednesdays for students to engage in “independent online/digital learning,” as well as give time for teacher “collaboration and planning.” 

See Related: Sulphur Springs School District Votes To Start Fall Online

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting indicates that 1,350 students are currently enrolled in the online learning model for the start of the 2020-2021 school year, while 4,512 students are enrolled in the blended model. 

Pelzel also shared that 67 percent of a group of 223 teachers within the Newhall School District stated that they felt school should begin online first in the fall. He went on to say that district officials planned to survey teachers to see which of them would be willing to teach in a blended model, and which would be more comfortable remaining online.

“I’m not ready to put our students back into the classroom,” said Board Member Suzan Solomon. “There is still to much unknown about this.”

The Sulphur Springs Union School District adopted a similar model to reopening during a special meeting Monday evening in which the Board of Trustees for the district unanimously voted to adopt a phased approach to reopening schools in the fall, with all students starting classes in an online format.

“It’s actually something we have to do,” Dr. Catherine Kawaguchi, who serves as Superintendent for the district, said at the time. “It’s not something that we cannot do, we are in L.A. County.”

See Related: Saugus Union School District Votes To Hold Online Classes For Beginning Of Fall Semester

The meeting came less than a week after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that schools within Los Angeles County must remain closed until the county is off the state’s “watch list,” for at least two weeks.

“While it is disheartening and unfortunate that Los Angeles County students can’t plan for a normal first day back at school, we respect the Governor’s decision to insist that counties reduce the rate of community transmission before schools re-open for in-person classroom learning,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said on Friday.

Counties in the state can be on this “watch list” for one or more of several reasons:

• They have not achieved more than 150 tests per day per 100,000 people
• They have more than 100 cases per 1,000 residents
• They have case positivity rates greater than 8 percent
• They have a 10 percent or more increase in hospitalizations over the past three days
• They have less than 20 percent of ICU beds available
• They have less than 25 percent of ventilators available

After a county is off the “watch list” for two weeks, local public health officials are able to make the decision to allow in-person learning. 

Classes within the Saugus Union School District are scheduled to begin on Aug. 13.

For more information on Tuesday night’s meeting, check out the agenda here.

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