Menifee schools face even more revisions in reopening plans

By Doug Spoon, Editor As a result of the constantly changing state and regional guidelines regarding COVID-19, the plan for reopening Me...

By Doug Spoon, Editor

As a result of the constantly changing state and regional guidelines regarding COVID-19, the plan for reopening Menifee schools in August is becoming ever more complicated.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide order June 19 that residents wear face coverings in all “high-risk” settings includes students in school, according to local administrators, who are now planning even more strict health guidelines than previously. That, and Riverside County’s return to the state’s “watch list” because of rising coronavirus cases, is resulting in the structuring of multiple school reopening models in which parents will be faced with difficult choices.

Just last week, Menifee Union School Board members were presented with a “traditional model” of on-campus instruction with modifications, and with facemasks for students considered optional. In addition, board members expressed the desire to support the traditional model and a stay-at-home “advanced learning +” model, but told district staff they did not favor providing a “hybrid learning model” as a third option for parents and students.

But at Tuesday’s MUSD board meeting, district administrators presented all three models for further study and refinement, with the knowledge that even more adjustments could be made before Aug. 12, when the next school year opens.

“Since our information meetings on the different models, there have been changing COVID guidelines,” said Dr. Kimberly Huesing, assistant superintendent of educational services. “The traditional model can’t address the social distancing model, while the hybrid model can.”

Depending upon the number of students who enroll in the hybrid model and the distance learning model, the number of students attending classes on campus through the traditional model will be somewhat reduced. It may not be reduced enough to allow small enough class sizes for the six-foot social distancing requirement, however.

MUSD last week posted a link for parents to register students for the Distance Learning + Model, in which students would work from home while receiving instruction from and interacting with specially trained teachers in an online format. Assignments would be required and grades earned totally through online assignments.

Huesing told MUSD board members that as of Tuesday, 420 students had been enrolled in the Distance Learning + program, and registration remains open.

In the MUSD hybrid learning model, half the students in that program would attend school on campus on Monday and Tuesday and the other half on Thursday and Friday. The other three days of the week, they would participate in online instruction.

Task forces are being formed to receive input from administrators, teachers and parents on all three models and the results will be presented to the board at its July 14 meeting. Immediately after that meeting, more detailed information will be sent out to parents to assist them in choosing a program, if they haven’t already.

“We are under the thumb of the state on this,” board member Kenyon Jenkins said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We may want to do one thing, but the mandate may require something else. We don’t make the laws, but we must follow them. And there could be more changes.”

A similar discussion took place Tuesday at the Romoland School District board meeting. The same three options were presented, again stating that current state health requirements include the wearing of masks at school. The Romoland hybrid model would send half the students in the program to school on Monday and Thursday, with the other half attending on Tuesday and Friday.

Schools in the Romoland School District are scheduled to open Aug. 6. Details of the three options were presented to parents through an email today and are available on the district website. An online form will be available to parents from July 1-15 to select the learning model they prefer.

“We anticipate more changes,” Romoland District Superintendent Trevor Painton said. “We have a plan, but we’ll still have to be flexible. Schools are not exempt from the facemask order, so right now we’re expected to comply.”

In a recent survey conducted by MUSD, 55.5 percent of parents and 80.2 percent of teachers preferred a return to traditional learning. In the Romoland District, 67 percent of parents and 67 percent of staff favored the traditional model. Those surveys were conducted before Newsom’s order requiring the wearing of masks at school.

MUSD board member Kyle Root asked administrators to seek clarity in their upcoming planning sessions on what ways the district could accommodate parents who are against having their children wear a mask all day at school. Would those students be forced to take part in a distance learning model?

Time will tell. The only thing certain in all this is that there will be many more updates before school opens. Unfortunately, parents are being asked to make a decision very soon, based on what is known at the present time.


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