Paso Robles district may ‘go to war’ with health officials, teachers by reopening some schools
In an aggressive move, the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board of trustees voted Tuesday to tentatively “go to war” with public health officials and the district’s teachers union by reopening secondary schools on March 16 — potentially in defiance of COVID-19 precautions.
San Luis Obispo County is currently in the purple tier of coronavirus restrictions under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, meaning that COVID-19 infection rates are considered “widespread.”
Current local and state guidelines require middle and high schools to remain closed until San Luis Obispo County is in the less restrictive red tier — meaning that COVID-19 infection rates are considered “substantial” — for five consecutive days.
But trustees directed district staff to come up with a “Plan B” that, if approved by the board, will allow students in seventh through 12th grades to return to in-person instruction even if the county stays in the purple tier.
That means, district Superintendent Curt Dubost said Tuesday, that “we’ll essentially go to war.”
Board members were split 4-3 on Tuesday’s decision, with trustees Nathan Williams, Tim Gearhart and Lance Gannon voting against the motion.
“I cannot support anything that will jeopardize our insurance; our union negotiations,” Gannon said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The trustees who voted in favor of the directing the district to create a “Plan B” said they have been waiting for secondary students to return to campus, but feel the goalposts keep moving.
Board member Jim Reed, who voted “yes” on the motion, said he wants to “dig my heels in.” “I want the schools open” by March 16, he said.
Paso Robles district may face lawsuits if it defies COVID-19 guidelines
Brad Pawlowski, the Paso Robles school district’s assistant superintendent of business services, advised the board members to “proceed with caution” with their decision to reopen secondary schools March 16 regardless of COVID-19 metrics in San Luis Obispo County.
“The county health department does have broad power,” Pawlowski told the board during the Tuesday meeting. “Our interpretation is that if we violate their directive, they do have the authority to close our district.”
If Paso Robles Unified brings students back to in-person classes prior to gaining approval to do so from the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department, Pawlowski said, the district maintains liability for those students.
“That’s going to be a direct impact to the general fund if there’s a claim,” he said. “Who knows what that claim could be, it could be just medical claims. God forbid, it could be a wrongful death suit. ... It could come up.”
The district would not have support from its insurance provider if it reopens prior to the county entering the red tier because it would be “going against a directive from the county health department,” Pawlowski said.
Originally, the Paso Robles school board approved a reopening plan that would bring secondary school students back to in-person classes 14 days after the county enters the red tier. That plan was endorsed by both the Paso Robles Public Educators union and the county Public Health Department.
But board members and Dubost said they’re tired of the reopening of local secondary schools continuously getting delayed because of purple-tier regulations.
Trustees will decide at their March 9 meeting if the district will buck state and local health guidelines and reopen secondary schools even if the county is not in the red tier for five consecutive days.
If COVID-19 case numbers in San Luis Obispo County continue their downward trend, it’s likely that the county will transition into the red tier on March 2.
School board approves return of sixth-grade students to in-person learning
At Tuesday night’s board meeting, the board voted to approve the return of sixth-grade students to in-person classes on March 8.
The only other district to approve in-person instruction for students above fifth grades is San Miguel Joint Union, which has students in sixth through eighth grades learning in person at its two elementary schools.
Sixth-grade students are allowed to return to in-person instruction under the California Department of Public Health’s latest reopening guidelines, released on Jan. 14.
In California, schools educated students in kindergarten through sixth grades are allowed to reopen in counties with an adjusted COVID-19 case rate of less than 25 positive cases per 100,000 residents. That’s been the case for San Luis Obispo County since Jan. 25.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 10:57 AM.
