Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
Kate Ford says the Santa Barbara Unified School District has “met every requirement to open” elementary schools – and is optimistic about final approval from the state to allow classroom learning to restart on Feb. 26.
“We’re just awaiting that letter from the state Public Health Department that says, ‘yes we agree with Santa Barbara County Public Health and we agree with the Santa Barbara Unified School District,'” said Ford, president of the district board of education, ” — go for it, make it happen.”
With Covid infection levels steadily dropping in the county, the SBUSD board president said she has “a high level of confidence” of the state signing off on the district’s “very detailed and comprehensive” safety plan for reopening; it is the final step needed to proceed with a “hybrid” teaching program for kindergarten through sixth grade students, which would combine several days a week in classrooms with the computer distance learning they’ve had since last spring, a plan the district hopes to launch before the end of the month.
“I don’t go to Vegas, I’m not a betting person,” Ford said. “But I think it’s a pretty good bet.”
In an interview with Newsmakers, Ford also said that vaccinating teachers against Covid-19 is not necessary for a safe reopening of elementary schools — but emphasized that the district will do “whatever we can” to obtain vaccines and organize a program to administer them.
She pointed to a letter that she and other district leaders sent to public health officials last week pleading for a change in the current, age-related, tiered vaccination process: “Can’t you take a pause and help us make everyone feel like the risk (of returning to classrooms) is nearly zero and get the teachers vaccinated,” she said they wrote.
“We’ll do whatever we can,” she said. “We offered our schools as sites, we offered our school nurses as personnel to be vaccinators, we have offered to create the priority list, we offered to make sure that everything for vaccinations for teachers and school staff will happen.”
“There’s a lot of pressure from every corner of the state to get teachers vaccinated,” Ford told us. “I’m not sure it’s not going to happen.”
That said, the lack of a vaccination program for teachers — or even any official indication of when one might occur — is perhaps the most politically fraught issue in the push to re-open schools.
Ford said, however, that the district has signed an agreement with the Santa Barbara Teachers Association and local staff employees represented by the California School Employees Association that clears the way for the hybrid program to proceed.
“Getting (Covid) vaccinations is not a condition of employment and it’s not a condition of returning to school,” she said. “If there are teachers who feel, for whatever reason they can’t go back, no one can force them to go back. I do believe that most teachers will return, I do.”
If a teacher refuses to return as scheduled, they would not lose their job, Ford added, but, “They will use some sort of leave” to account for their absence.
The new school president, elected by colleagues last month, in a wide-ranging interview also addressed a host of other key issues about the pandemic’s impact on students.
On the difficulties of making policy in a pandemic. “Honestly, we hear every few days that Governor Newsom is coming out with a different message or a different idea or a different guideline.”
On a return to classrooms for junior high and school students. “As of today, I can tell you, for the foreseeable future, junior high and high school stays in distance learning.”
On local sentiment about returning to school. “In this community, as in others, there are polar opposites. Some people say, ‘don’t go back to school until it’s one hundred percent safe and there is zero risk’ and other people say ‘get back to school right away, what is wrong with you, we’ve got to get these kids back in school.’ So board members just have to constantly weigh it and find a path forward. I feel like most people are voting on the side of where I am which is — it’s safe.”
On criticism the board failed to seek a waiver to return to classrooms last fall, as some other local districts did. “We receive a lot of criticism – ‘why don’t you do this, why don’t you do that?’ We were following the science (and) we were not ready in October…That early November start date just didn’t seem smart.”
On what’s changed. “We’ve been trying to stay on top of science and data, and now the science and data shows us, especially with elementary, that the risk is much, much lower, transmission is much, much lower and we really have seen that those little kids really have a hard time on distance learning…
“This has gone on so long, first of all, we’ve learned, if kindergartners never ever meet their teachers in person, or have interaction with their teacher and classmates beyond the screen, it’s not actually a school experience. So that has been so alarming to us…I’m no genius, I’m just responding to what I’m learning.”
On non-academic impacts on students of being out of classrooms. “So many students have shared with us their discouragement, their disappointment, their sadness, their isolation. These are all things that are part of learning loss too…So it’s not just about ‘skill and drill,’ make sure everyone knows their times tables. This is something very big.”
On intensified problems among economically disadvantaged and students of color. “These student are suffering in many ways, other than learning loss. Many of their parents have lost their jobs, many of their parents have lost their homes, many of their parents and their families are struggling for the basics of life, including food. And so everything is worse because of this.
“All the data points to all our of kids who are socially, economically disadvantaged really need to get back to school…(There is) a much lower rate of achievement than we already had. That was problematic as it was. The disproportionality is happening at every level of this.”
On the possibility of elementary schools being forced to close again because of Covid. “I’m very confident that they would stay open. Not only are all the measures in place with regard to hygiene and safety, but also in regard to contact tracing and quarantining…I don’t think it’s an issue — I’d go way up, to a nine out of ten, that we’ll stay in, we’d stay in session.”
On criticism of the board hiring a $50,000 public relations consultant. “They’re a media adviser and I think it’s a totally reasonable expense…smart and important. We have to be so thoughtful about how we communicate, about every single thing, going forward. It’s a good solution for what we need for complete communication.”
Watch our full interview with Kate Ford via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here.
Pathetic. Any parent who thinks it is not safe for their kids to go back to school can just continue to do zoom learning. School admin just needs to get a list of who they are and then assign them to teachers who feel the same way. Done. This is not a hard problem to solve.
Meanwhile for teachers/kids who value in person learning get them back to school.
The problem is the school board and administrators have no consequences for the decisions they are making which are screwing up a generation of kids. I guarantee if you told them that they do not get paid until they come up with a solution, then they would be making different decisions. This is all about how little they can do to appear as if they are doing something.
And to pour gasoline on the fire they waste more money of a PR consultant. To do what? To create spin?
You guys nailed it. I have nothing to add, except that I couldn’t even read more than about three sentences of this BS stuff from Kate Fjord. What a joker! ABSURD. I can’t imagine listening to her or any of the others like her and Maldonado at the school board for even a moment more, much less watching a video. They’ve laid their tracks already. We know what they stand for. Really REALLY lame stuff.
Give me a break with this dying drama. What about daycare providers, private school teachers, grocery store workers, healthcare providers, police officers, office workers, or just about EVERYBODY ELSE?? The teachers are not any more special then the rest of the community. So sick of the drama, we’re all taking on risk.
I wonder whose “friend of a friend” on the Board is getting the $50K -perhaps a bit more transparency into this wasteful use of taxpayer funds. All we hear about is how teachers & kids parents have to buy school supplies. With all that “brain power” in the school district, they had to hire an outside PR consultant to deal with pissed off parents about the lack of education their kids were receiving.
PIT – you know NOTHING about me. I don’t need child care, I need my kids and other kids to get a proper education, so you can shove that nonsense right away.
I’ve been in many, assisting my relatives who teach. Teachers do not need to stand face to face with a kid every time they ask a question. Don’t be a fool. If the kid needs to show them something, they can easily do so from 6 feet away. If it’s too hard to see, they will adapt. Seriously, though saying we can’t go back to school because kids need teachers to hover over them whenever they ask questions is one of the dumbest things (even from you) I’ve ever heard.
VOR, how does a teacher stay 6 ft away from a kid in their classroom that has a question on an assignment? A lot of time is spent coaching the kids that need help. But continue to live in your world where all kids wear masks and stay socially distant at all times if you want. It is your right.
PIT – I can answer for VOR on this one. When a kid has a question on an assignment, he/she uses his/her vocal chords to create the sounds that are the English language and asks for help. The teacher then responds in kind. Why would a teacher all of a sudden need to be within 6 feet in order to answer a question when they’ve been orally answering questions for the past year in zoom class? That was really a grasp there.
Look, I despise most of what VOR stands for, but I will not compromise on my kids’ education any longer. It is completely safe and completely doable to have kids in class, with masks and distanced. GUSD at least has 21 new teachers and received TONS of $$$ to prepare the classrooms for socially distance, but in-person learning. No more excuses.
As for teachers needing to be all vaxxed first, that is absurd and selfish. Why don’t the kids need to vaxxed as well then? Teachers refusing to go to the classrooms unless fully vaccinated, but being OK with the kids being vulnerable is outrageous.
Sac, have you ever actually been in a classroom? I’ve subbed and tutored, so I have. The student raises their hand, the teacher goes over and they look at what is causing the problem together. Then the teacher tries to explain it so the child can understand. No way this is going to happen yelling back and forth. For one, most kids are hesitant to ask questions in the 1st place for fear of looking stupid. It will be worse if the process involves being 6 ft away.
I know you need child care but this is not the solution.
Pit you’re ignoring the fact that there are hundreds of kids just here locally currently doing in person learning. THEY ARE MAKING IT WORK! You’re sounding like a cheerleader for the teachers union. Lots of excuses…