KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
The William S. Hart Union High School District has added an emergency item to the agenda for their Board meeting Wednesday in order to give the board the ability to vote on an “action plan” to reopen schools in the fall in light of recent protocols put out by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
On Monday, officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) released their protocols for reopening K-12 schools within the county during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The best I can do is give you guidance,” said LADPH Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer during a Zoom meeting with the superintendents from all five public school districts in the Santa Clarita Valley on Monday. “I can tell you what the science says, and I can tell you what the risks are and what the benefits are. This is a complicated decision, and for that very reason educators need to be intimately involved in making it.”
County officials assembled the protocol document over the course of almost two months, consulting roughly 500 individuals from districts across the county as they did.
“There is the requirement that every school district would use that document to help put together a plan for a safer return to school,” Hart District Superintendent Mike Kuhlman said during Monday’s Zoom meeting. “That will be the challenge of all of our school districts, is to use that document and explain how we will be implementing the guidelines that are laid out in that document.”
In light of the recently released protocols, Hart District officials announced Tuesday night that they would add an emergency item to the agenda for Wednesday night’s governing board meeting, titled “Action Plan for the Fall 2020 Semester.”
“I know there’s a lot of unanswered questions (and) lack of clarity for all of us about where we need to go,” Kuhlman said Monday. “This document gives us a roadmap for how to build our plan to where we can actually communicate that we feel it’s safer to return to school.”
See Related: L.A. County Public Health Releases School Reopening Protocols Amid Pandemic
While the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting was originally published on the previous Thursday, California Government Code Section 54954.2(b)(2) allows for items to be added onto a public agency’s agenda under the condition that “there is a need to take immediate action and that the need for action came to the attention of the local agency subsequent to the agenda being posted.”
District officials were already scheduled to update the board on their return to school planning during Wednesday’s meeting, but the emergency item now allows the board to take action.
“We changed it from a discussion item to an action item, which gives us the right to vote on it,” said Linda Storli, president of the Hart District Governing Board. “If we want to now, someone can make a motion to open the schools, keep the school closed, or go with a blended model.”
Storli said that she has received “many emails” from concerned parents and staff urging the board to “just do something.”
“I get about 40 percent saying open up the schools, I get another 40 percent saying keep the schools closed, and the rest of everyone saying to quit discussing it and make a decision,” Storli said.
While Storli expressed that she did not like the current circumstances of working and educating remotely, she also said that she would be heading into Wednesday’s meeting “open to discussion.”
During the Hart District Governing Board’s last meeting on June 30, Kuhlman presented the board with two options for a “blended” return to campuses in the fall.
“What we are sharing today are concepts, not detailed plans,” Kuhlman said.
Under the first proposed blended model, students would be divided into two groups, or “cohorts.” One cohort would physically attend school on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, while the other would physically attend school on Thursdays and Fridays.
Additionally, the two cohorts would alternate attendance on Wednesdays, which would function as a “minimum day.” On holidays that fall on Mondays, the first cohort would attend on Wednesdays.
Every day of physical attendance would be a block schedule of three classes, and every weekday that was not spent physically in a classroom would be used for distance learning.
Meanwhile, under the second proposal, students would still be divided into two cohorts, but they would be divided into mornings and afternoons. One cohort would attend in the morning, and the other would attend in the afternoon.
All students would physically attend school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Wednesdays would be used for distance learning, as well as an instructional day in the event that a holiday falls on a Monday.
On top of that, parents would also have the option to opt-in to an entirely online model for their students, according to Kuhlman.
See Related: Hart District Board Directs Staff To Explore ‘Blended,’ Online Only Reopening Options
Board members ultimately motioned for district staff to further explore the first blended option, in addition to working out the details of the “online-only” option. They also asked staff to provide adequate training for faculty to prepare them for the new instruction model in the fall.
The board meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15, and can be viewed here.
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Open the schools!! We spend too much in overpriced real estate and Trinity and Legacy are opening normal in Fall. Public schools here have become a huge disappointment for so many residents who moved here for the school district. Education is ESSENTIAL.
For those that prefer 100% distance learning, you are covered. Stay home and utilize the classes online. Sit down and stop forcing YOUR choice on my family!
Wouldn’t you be forcing your choice on mine by opening them? There are legal consequences for missing school, and deadly consequences for going.
Speak for yourself. The schools out here are very good. The Coronavirus has nothing to do with the quality of educators. You realize this is an unprecedented situation, nothing to do with your real estate decision, either.
It may be unprecedented……..look at Orange County. They have their own doctors, they know that COVID has no death toll on children. They can give a hoot what the governor is assigning. They know the cdc is run by Bill Gates (private entity) . It’s nonsense. Santa Clarita needs to open the schools. Cut the BS already.
I just hope that by 2021, schools can reopen and the nation can rebuild.
It can reopen, if America has productive constituents that get involved. Inform yourself my friend. COVID isn’t the extreme that your made to believe.
Things will be normal after the 11/3/2020 With the
Re-Election of President Trump and this political divide and
HATE will be put to rest in the history books,
Your exactly correct. America has been hi-jacked while everyone isn’t paying attention. You bet. By November there will be a magical remedy to COVID. The deep state have thrown every possible fire at Trump. They’re furious. They want him out, he’s a threat to China and the entire cabal that’s been accepting dirty buy outs. Obama is being accused of treason and the biggest corrosive sell off .
Yes, I’m voting for TRUMP. For those that care and want America back, you should be concerned, you need to vote for Trump.
Could we stop saying “reopen schools” and instead say “reopen school buildings”? Because there were a lot of us teaching and guiding student learning, coaching, giving feedback…for months after buildings closed.
Blended model? Sounds funny. The school system can’t even control lice, how dare you plan to react COVID?
???????
I want the safety of my kids, physical and mental, right now the mental part is more important. I can see my and other kids getting depress, irritated . They can’t go out, they can hang out with friends, they can’t do sports is too much for them and for parents to handle. Not all the parents have patients to teach . Other than education kids need social interaction. Please think about blend option two days or four days a week, is perfect.
A Rose by another name still smells like horse apples when terms like the following are used:
Hi-jacked
Magical remedy
Cabal
Obama/treason
Deep State
btw- Bill Gates does not run the CDC. He is a major contributor.
You say you want America back. That’s another stink bomb. America is still here. It went nowhere.
It remains, except for the House, completely under Republican control. That is why we are in such dire times.
If you have trouble believing, you have fortunately not had a relative or friend get sick with this. Count your blessings. If COVID -19 infects your family or someone you care about, you will probably see it differently. In the meantime, the rest of us will continue to protect you, even if you don’t appreciate it.
LAUSD couldn’t care less about students
returning to school. They are asking for their demands to be met before they reopen.
a) Medicare for all
b) Defund Police
What does this have to do with Covid? and teachers being afraid to work for fear of being contaminated by little “Ken
Or Barbie” This is all a sham to keep the schools closed.
Is the WSHUSD playing this same game? I pray not. Our district is doing 5 weeks of distant learning online (what good does that accomplish for some students?)
After the 5 week hiatus the district will revisit the blended models????Hopefully not find another reason to not open
the district. Our community is at your mercy to open the schools!!
When students seek enrollment elsewhere in masses, the teachers will be regretting their stance. If you don’t have students, you are out of a job. Lots of options for parents. Public isn’t our only choice. Should’ve reopened at least the hybrid option but unfortunately the minority won the vote to continue distance learning 100%.
Something to think about:
You can improve your child’s educational experience by improving your parenting skills. Read to your child, take drives to learn about SCV or Calif. history. Write a story together. Give more thought to how you can help.Lastly, DO NOT talk about teachers negatively in front of your child. You will eventually feel better and less upset, but your child will always remember the things you said.