Over the last few days, I have seen a substantial number of posts on various websites and social media groups talking about the return to school. Let me just state the obvious, we all want a return to school and a return to normalcy. This has taken its toll on our students, teachers and families.
Let me share my bias. I have been an instructor using both in person and distance learning modes. I dislike distance learning and prefer in person education as it given more benefits to the students and instructors by discerning body language and other visual and audio cues that do not translate well to zoom or other forms of distance learning. However, I am here to represent the needs of our community and district.
While we will get back to in person instruction relatively soon, it may take some cooperation and a refusal to jump to conclusions. After speaking with several teachers and staff at our schools, I can say that I have heard no proof to the rumor that the teachers unions do not want a return to school as has been claimed on some websites. In fact there are working agreements in place to help toward a return to school. Most teachers I have spoken with WANT to return to school so long as there is some limitation of infection. Under the rules agreed upon by WPUSD and the Western Placer Teachers Association (“WPTA”), there are clear and concise items that will help limit infection potential.
The key issue right now is that there are state rules governing a number of factors of the return to school process. Yes, the rules have been enacted under an emergency declaration by our Governor. Yes, some of you may love our Governor and some of you may extremely dislike the Governor. As a candidate for WPUSD trustee, my goal is to let you know how I would approach this issue (which you will see in the coming weeks in the Lincoln News Messenger) and not to just state a political aim. Our goal with respect to the district is how to open our schools and keep them open for the duration of the school year. This means a safe and reasonable plan to limit the spread of COVID-19 (please not I am not suggesting that we must completely solve COVID-19 to get back to school, but we must come up with a business-like plan to protect our students and staff).
As a Trustee, my goal would be to make sure that we return to school in a way that ensures that (1) we meet state requirements, (2) that we adhere to our agreements with our teachers and staff regarding safety on campus, and (3) provide a safe environment that does not jeopardize the in person model.
You may be asking why each of these are important, let me explain my process here.
- If we do not meet state requirements for issues such as providing personal protective equipment (“PPE”), social distancing while inside, and other preventative measures, it is likely that the governor will find a way to cause another shut down in Placer County. That means we would have another interruption (or possibly multiple interruptions between now and the close of the 20-21 school year) to the education process for our students and staff which would cause more stress to all involved including our families.
- We have an agreement on rules to go back to work between the District and WPTA. I get it, many of us hate the masks. I get it, we don’t feel like we need to social distance. I get it that we have a variety of social, psychological, philosophical and political arguments over any one of the various measures that the state has imposed and that our staff and administrators have agreed upon. The fact of the matter is that we have an agreement which is binding and we need to make sure we are taking reasonable precautions as reasonably prudent individuals. If we choose to ignore either the agreement between the District and WPTA or if we fail to take reasonable precautions, there are legal repercussions which can be visited on this District which could be financially disasterous. Even now, there are discussions in legal circles from plaintiff’s attorneys about the potential for liability to be placed on businesses who do not take the necessary or agreed upon precautions they have either had enacted by the state or enacted themselves. We are a HUGE business enterprise with hundreds of staff and thousands of children we assume responsibility for during the school year. My first priority is making sure that we do not spend excess funds on unnecessary legal costs which are easily avoidable.
- The last thing I want to see is that once we move to a lesser impact level (just this week Placer County moved from “Purple” to “Red” on the state’s new meter of severity) and then get moved back to the previous level of restriction which means that we move from an early return to “in person” instruction to a quick retreat to distance learning. Our children need consistency in order to build a quality learning environment.
My goal as a trustee will be to help us achieve a consistent, safe and functional workplace for our children, staff and families.
We need our Board of Trustees to be more proactive in developing and enforcing these plans for return to in person education. Who is enforcing the agreement that was made with the teachers regarding safety precautions? Again, WPUSD is a business enterprise bound by the same rules as other major businesses. We need to work together, as the District and the families that rely on WPUSD, to achieve success and not allow WPUSD to become a new hotspot for an outbreak or we (and by we I mean the entirety of Placer County) will suffer the same shut down rules we have been under for months and return to distance learning for a longer time period.
Let’s work together and focus on keeping our County and our schools open because that is what we really want.