High school reopening delayed until January
On Oct. 22, the CVUSD Board of Education voted to approve an amended school reopening plan that would delay the beginning of the blended education model for high school until Jan. 19. The motion passed four to one with an honorary vote from student trustee Addie Craig. Trustees Betsy Connolly, Cindy Goldberg, Bill Gorback, and Jenny Fitzgerald all voted in favor of the motion with Trustee Sandee Everett being the sole dissent.
Dr. Mark McLaughlin, superintendent of CVUSD, explained the rationale behind the delay, explaining that there would be a lot of schedule changes. “The information that came back from our surveys indicated that now we have large adjustments that would be taking place between students either moving from remote to blended or blended to remote,” McLaughlin said.
When considering the schedule changes, McLaughlin and other district administration had to consider the needs of every student and teacher. “[The schedule changes would] impact our students and the classes that they would be taking, and who their teachers would be,” McLaughlin said.
Stephen Lepire, principal at NPHS, recognized the importance that school staff has in promoting the social and emotional well-being of students. “Our first line of defense is the staff at NPHS. Our counselors stay in close contact with any student that is struggling. Each Friday, the administrative and counseling team meets together and one of the standing agenda items is individual student concerns which can include social-emotional support, attendance support, behavior support or general support depending on the issue,” Lepire said.
The biggest concern of reopening for Caitlin Keeler, science teacher, is having a seamless transition to blended learning. “My biggest concern was navigating classes where I have blended and remote students in the same cohort. Teachers are working lots of extra hours and are stretched very thin and a mid-quarter switch to in-person learning would have been an extra burden,” Keeler said.
It became apparent to McLaughlin and district administration that this delay was almost inevitable. “I received feedback from our counselors, our APIs and our principals that there’s going to be major issues. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy as was anticipated at the start of the year when we went into these cohorts,” McLaughlin said.
The decision was met with controversy from members of the community and local politicians, but Lepire stressed the importance of unity over division. “Everybody has a right to their beliefs and opinions. Are we all going to agree all the time? No. Just because somebody has a different opinion than another, that does not define them as a bad person. We as a community need to continue to engage in positive and thoughtful conversations and dialogues that lead to productivity, not destruction,” Lepire said.
Although the reopening of high school is delayed, it is clear that district administration and teachers are working to create a smooth transition to reopening in January. “Reopening is so important, and I believe we all want it to be as smooth and seamless as possible. Teachers want students to have a positive experience going back and so much of that positive experience is having teachers who have had adequate time to prepare,” Keeler said.
