‘Distance learning is killing me.’ 2 SLO County school districts approve reopening plans
During board meetings on Tuesday evening, two of San Luis Obispo County’s largest school districts approved new reopening plans to bring students back for in-person instruction during the coronavirus pandemic.
The decisions by the boards of trustees for San Luis Coastal Unified and Lucia Mar Unified school districts come as COVID-19 numbers in San Luis Obispo County have improved in recent weeks and new state and federal guidance has been released.
Both of Tuesday’s meetings drew large virtual attendance and hours of public comment from concerned parents, students and teachers who spoke about the mental health challenges of distance learning.
“I’ve never had self-harm thoughts before this year, the distance learning is killing me,” Morro Bay High School junior Nick Gray said at Tuesday’s San Luis Coastal board meeting. ”I don’t know how to describe it other than it’s eating my mental health.”
Parents, teachers and board members expressed frustration that San Luis Obispo County has largely failed to prioritize coronavirus vaccines for teachers, even though many consider educators first responders.
“Our teachers are first responders every day, all the time,” San Luis Coastal trustee Mark Buchman said at Tuesday’s meeting. “They’re the ones that have to identify poverty, hunger, abuse and mental health issues with kids.”
“They become first responders for fire, earthquakes and other disasters,” Buchman continued. “And I don’t understand why they weren’t given vaccinations first.”
San Luis Coastal, Lucia Mar trustees vote to bring kids back to classrooms
At San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s board meeting, trustees unanimously approved a new reopening plan that will allow students in kindergarten through second grade into classrooms on March 4, and third through sixth grades on March 8. Secondary schools will reopen on March 15 if local and state public health departments allow.
On Tuesday, Lucia Mar Unified School District’s trustees voted unanimously to bring transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students back to in-person classes on Feb. 24. Students in first through third grades will return to campus on March 1, and students in fourth through sixth grade will return on March 8.
Secondary school students will be brought back to in-person learning within one week after San Luis Obispo County is in the red tier for five consecutive days, according to the district.
New school reopening guidance released by CDC, CDPH
The school boards’ decisions come as new guidance was released from the California Department of Public Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say schools should be prioritized to reopen even as the COVID-19 pandemic bears on.
The CDC requires that masks be worn at all times, physical distancing is done whenever possible and classrooms are regularly cleaned. The agency says these “mitigation measures” will help prevent the spread of the virus — which it noted in its guidance is low in school settings.
CDPH’s guidance said that elementary schools can reopen once a county’s COVID-19 case rate is below 25 cases per 100,000 people per day for two weeks in a row.
As of Wednesday, San Luis Obispo County was at an adjusted rate of 15.6 cases per 100,000 residents.
The state’s guidance under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy also said that secondary schools can reopen once a county is in the red tier of coronavirus restrictions for five consecutive days.
Both the CDC and CDPH stressed the importance of prioritizing vaccinations for teachers, though neither says they are required for schools to reopen.
“Teachers and school staff hold jobs critical to the continued functioning of society and are at potential occupational risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2,” the CDC said. “State, territorial, local and tribal officials should consider giving high priority to teachers in early phases of vaccine distribution.”
Parents, teachers express concerns around reopening schools
Tensions were high at each board meeting. Teachers and parents were sometimes brought to tears as board members listened on during hours-long public comment periods.
Noticeably, however, the tones at each meeting were different. San Luis Coastal teachers, students and parents who called in during public comment were mostly sad and distraught about distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those who called into the Lucia Mar board meeting were limited to two minutes each for public comment, compared to the three minutes typically allocated to each speaker, and spoke about their anger and distrust in the board’s decisions to keep schools closed for so long.
Teachers expressed their frustration that the reopening plans never seemed to be buttoned down, and fear that they are going to be put into an unsafe work environment.
Students said they’re frustrated that their grades and mental health are suffering because they hadn’t been inside of a classroom in 11 months. They said they were scared about what their academic future holds.
Meanwhile, parents shared concerns that the boards they elected had not reopened schools sooner, and said they’re terrified by how their kids have suffered academically and mentally due to distance learning.
“We are in desperate times right now with our families in San Luis Obispo,” parent McKenzie Garcia said at the San Luis Coastal board meeting. “We are not rushing this, in fact, we are not opening soon enough. Please, I am begging you to please open our schools, for the sake and the safety of all of our students.”
Dan Winterberg, who has two sons attending Lucia Mar schools, said he’s an essential worker. “Last I checked, teachers are essential workers too,” he said.
“My kids’ teachers, they’re good teachers. I know that,” Winterberg said during Tuesday’s meeting. “But they’re good teachers in the classroom and they’re not good teachers online — and my kids are hurting for it.”
Some people spoke at both meetings in opposition to the districts’ reopening plans. Teachers worried the plans were rushed and premature, especially since the districts originally promised they would not reopen campuses until the county is in the red tier for at least two weeks.
Danielle Blauer, who teaches at Shell Beach Elementary School, said the last several months have been “the toughest” of her career, adding that she does not feel safe going back to in-person instruction.
“Nearly every meeting, I’ve sat in front of my computer in fear of being forced into an unsafe work environment, praying that the board will hold on to their decision to delay opening in person until it is safe,” Blauer said at Tuesday’s Lucia Mar board meeting. “In November, when the board made the decision to wait until the county spent two weeks in the red tier (before reopening), I breathed a sigh of relief. But now, I feel the panic sinking in again.”
“This is just the calm before the storm hits again,” she continued. “And with the new variants, it may very well hit harder than it ever has. .... Our staff is still unvaccinated. Please delay reopening in person until our staff is protected at the very least, we’re still in the midst of this storm.”
At the San Luis Coastal board meeting, San Luis Coastal Teachers Association president Emily Cappellano said that the union is “not against reopening,” but doesn’t think the schools are ready to reopen because the county is not in the red tier.
“None of us want to be teaching on Zoom, we all want to be in person,” Cappellano said. “No one’s hiding behind the union. ... It’s about safety and health, number one.”
After hours of public comment, board members from each district responded to concerns by teachers, parents and students, and talked about their personal feelings about their districts’ reopening plans.
San Luis Coastal board president Chris Ungar gave an impassioned speech, saying he’d struggled greatly in the days leading up to the vote on the reopening plans.
“I know that there are going to be challenges. I know that that that everyone is afraid. I’m afraid too. I know that our teachers are afraid ... that they’re going to get sick. But I think they’re also afraid that their kids aren’t getting what they needed,” Ungar said. “Our parents are terrified by what they’ve seen happening to their children. And I don’t use the word terrified lightly.”
“They’re concerned about learning loss that their children have experienced, the loss of socialization that their children have experienced. You know, nationwide, there’s fear that we’ve lost a generation of students,” he continued. “So, I will support this. And I think we need to move forward.”
For mental health support, crisis support or suicide prevention, anyone can call the San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health hotline at 800-783-0607.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
