Corona-Norco schools have decided to again seek a waiver in hopes of bringing elementary schools back for in-person classes — days after its leaders thought the move would not work.
The Murrieta Valley and Temecula Valley unified school districts also plan to explore waivers for their elementary schools, district spokeswomen said.
These three school districts had plans to bring back students in a hybrid model — a combination of online learning and in-person instruction — before the end of the calendar year. However, those plans had to be altered this week, when Riverside County returned to the most-restrictive purple tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening rules. In this tier, only transitional kindergarten, kindergarten and elementary classes can be taught in person, and only if a waiver application is submitted and that plan approved by local and state health officials.
The Corona-Norco Unified School District board approved a plan to bring students back when the county was in the less-restrictive red tier. It called for all grade levels to start using a hybrid model by the middle of November, with its year-round elementary schools the first ones set to return, on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
The district submitted a waiver earlier this month in case the county returned to the purple tier. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Deputy Superintendent Sam Buenrostro said the district pulled the request, believing schools would not meet all the reopening conditions. The district reversed course Thursday, Oct. 22, after receiving clarification from county health officials, and resubmitted.
Confusion centered around cohort groups, which is the number of students, teachers or staff members assigned to a classroom at any given time. Corona-Norco’s plan calls for two groups for each class, with one group on campus in the morning and online in the afternoon and the other group doing the opposite. This would take place Monday through Thursday. All students would learn remotely on Fridays.
Based on previous communications with health officials, Buenrostro said district officials believed the maximum number for a group was 14. With some classes expected to be larger, the district decided not to follow through with a waiver.
But those limits only apply to schools planning specialized services outside the waiver process, such as in-person instruction for special education and at-risk students, according to Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser.
For schools seeking waivers, there’s no maximum size for the groups, Kaiser said in an email.
He pointed out that the more students in a group, or if groups mix together, “then they run the risk of an exposure, putting a lot more into quarantine and they need to account for this in their response plan.”
Schools still must follow guidelines for social distancing and face coverings to reopen, Kaiser added.
If approved by health officials, Buenrostro said the school board would meet to approve a new timeline for bringing back elementary students. The next board meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 10, but a special session could be called earlier.
The district is comfortable moving ahead with the waiver despite the county’s return to the purple tier.
“Our state of readiness has been there,” Buenrostro said. “Our original plan was approved July 2, and we have continued to add and adjust to that plan as things have changed.
The Murrieta Valley and Temecula Valley unified school districts hoped to bring elementary schools back in a hybrid model before the end of the calendar year, as well. Murrieta Valley’s plan had students returning Nov. 16, while Temecula Valley’s plan called for a start date no sooner than Nov. 30.
Murrieta Valley spokeswoman Monica Gutierrez and Temecula Valley spokeswoman Laura Boss said their districts will apply for a waiver if they can meet all of the requirements, which include letters of support from their school boards, employee labor groups, parent groups and community organizations.
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October 24, 2020 at 07:30AM
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Corona-Norco schools reverse course, will seek waiver to reopen elementary campuses after all - Press-Enterprise
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