PALO ALTO — In spite of a large group of unified parents and teachers who deeply oppose the Palo Alto school district’s coronavirus reopening plan, the school board unanimously decided late Tuesday night to begin a phased reopening process that would start Oct. 12.
The swift board action comes just days after nearly 400 parents and teachers signed a letter urging the school board not to approve the district’s plan over significant concerns about safety and quality of education. Many dozens of district critics tuned into Tuesday’s deliberations and gave public comments condemning what they say is a plan that ignored teacher and parent input.
But despite the mounting backlash among some parents and teachers, the district is now set to bring elementary school students back to campuses starting Oct 12, with two grade levels phased in every week through Nov. 9 and middle and high school students set to return Jan. 7 in similarly staggered schedules.
All parents are being asked to make a commitment to one of the district’s two options: a hybrid online and in-person education complete with teacher interactions at Palo Alto schools, or a continuation of distance learning from home. Many elementary school parents who faced making a decision in less than two weeks objected to the district’s rigid choice standards and urged educators to consider more flexible options.
A survey by the school district which says about 66.5 percent of transitional kindergarten and first grade parents chose a hybrid model, with 33.5 percent selecting full distance learning. Undecided parents in these grades have until Wednesday to make a decision that can’t be changed later on: whatever you choose you have to stick to.
Some parents were deeply concerned that the two choices will split classes up and divide students in a way that will disproportionately affect distance-learners and urged district leaders to allow parents to assess and change their decision at a future point in the school year, a notion that district leaders contested but which some board members considered.
The school board plans to meet in person for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic at its next meeting on Oct. 13, a day after elementary school classes are set to reopen for the city’s youngest students.
