Chino Valley Unified Board of Education: June 16, 2020 (special meeting, study session)

This was a special meeting held as a board study session on Zoom, with a single item: the 2020/2021 reopening of schools. Superintendent Norm Enfield and staff gave an overview of the district's draft plan, and the minutes record no motion or vote 11. The plan had three learning options keyed to the state's reopening stages 2, a choice for families 3, and two parent surveys, the first opening the next day 4.

This page follows the board's signed minutes, which the board approved without amendment on July 16, 2020 5. The minutes name who attended and who wrote in, but they record no member's questions and nothing about what any email said. The recording supplies the content of the presentation, and this page attributes no question or remark to any member.

🏛️ Who was there

President Joe Schaffer called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. with Andrew Cruz, Christina Gagnier, Irene Hernandez-Blair, James Na and Schaffer present via Zoom 1. Six administrators also took part virtually: Superintendent Norm Enfield; Associate Superintendents Sandra H. Chen (Business Services) and Grace Park (CIIS); and Assistant Superintendents Lea Fellows (CIIS), Richard Rideout (Human Resources) and Gregory J. Stachura (Facilities, Planning, & Operations) 1. The minutes record that Mrs. Blair left the meeting at 5:46 p.m. 1, and President Schaffer adjourned it at 6:49 p.m. 1.

✉️ Emailed comments

All comments came by email and were read into the record. The minutes list the writers as Eric Wetzell, Shelly Burnett, Stacy Day, Kristin Coletta, Andrea Baker, Jamie Falls, Kristiana Trucios, Danielle Foster, Marie Bonovitz, Janine Madera, Bridget Meredith, and Chau Nguyen 1. The minutes record who wrote but not what each said, and on the recording each email is read out under its writer's name, so this page does not summarize them.

One further email, on a subject that was not on the agenda, was not read. It was said from the dais that every board member had received it and that its author could resubmit it for the regular meeting that Thursday 6.

🏫 Two schools on early calendars

The presentation opened with two schools that would start before the rest of the district. Cal Aero Preserve Academy, the district's only K-6 year-round school, would begin the 2020-21 year on July 6 with three tracks in distance learning 6, and would stay in distance learning until August 10, 2020, when the traditional-calendar schools were due back 6.

For Boys Republic, a school where the courts place students, the district was looking at bringing staff back and starting in-person instruction on July 6 6. The presentation said every student is tested for COVID-19 with a medical release before placement there 6, and that the school had no positive cases among students or staff and, as captioned, 64 students averaging about six per teacher, with the boys living together in cottages 7.

📚 Three learning options, keyed to the county's stage

The plan followed the governor's reopening roadmap as applied to San Bernardino County, which the presentation described as in stage 2B and close to stage 3 82. Distance learning would be offered in stages 1, 2A and 2B, blended learning in stages 2B and 3, and traditional instruction in stages 3 and 4 2. The stages set what the district could offer, not what each family had to take: families could still choose distance learning when in-person models were available 3.

• Distance Learning 2.0 would be a scaled-up version of the spring's distance learning 2, with Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams as the two district platforms and daily live instruction from the teacher 2.
• Blended learning would split each class into two cohorts that spend a few days in the classroom and do the rest of their work at home 99. In the elementary sample schedule, cohort A attended Monday and Thursday and cohort B Wednesday and Friday 9.
• Traditional instruction would bring the whole class back every day 10, in a "2.0 version" with a renewed focus on essential standards 10.

The superintendent's letter to parents the next day listed three further options for families not comfortable returning to school during any of the stages: home-based independent study for grades K-8, a virtual program at the Alternative Education Center for grades 7 through 12, and home hospital instruction 11.

📝 Two surveys

Families would get the same survey twice, one per child 4. The first would open June 17 and close June 24, would make the child's name optional, and would give the district data to plan staffing 44. The second, around the second or third week of July, would be each family's final choice of learning option 44, and this time the student's name would be required 12. The superintendent's letter the next day gave the same June 24 deadline and said a second survey would follow in July 11.

🧴 Health and safety

• Guidance. The presentation said staff had cross-checked guidance from the CDC, the California Department of Education and county agencies 1313. The state's guidance had come out the week before 14. ABC7 reported that a state education official said of it, "There are no mandates within this document" 14. The plan had been reviewed with the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, which the presentation stressed does not approve plans 15, and the county office of education asked to share it with other districts in the county 15.
• Supplies. No students would come back until the district had a sufficient stockpile of masks, face shields, sanitizer, gloves, thermometers and barriers. Orders had gone in since early March, and most of the supplies were expected by July 131313. As captioned, purchases already made included 500 no-touch thermometers and 39,000 disposable masks 1016.
• Face coverings and screening. The presentation said health authorities recommend face coverings for students at school, especially when distancing cannot be kept 10. Families would check temperatures and symptoms at home, and schools would add visual wellness checks and no-touch temperature checks 1616. Every site would designate an isolation room 16. After a positive case, county public health could recommend dismissing students for anywhere from two to five days up to a month 1617.
• Buildings and buses. Plexiglas dividers for work stations and public counters would go in first at Cal Aero that week and then across the district 1818. HVAC fresh-air intakes were set to the maximum allowed under Title 24, with MERV 16 filters 1919. Bus drivers would take each student's temperature before boarding, masks would be required on the bus, and buses would fill from the rear seats forward 191919.
• Outside groups, visitors and meals. Campuses had been closed to outside users since March 20. Child-care providers would be allowed back in early July, and other groups not until stage 4 2020. Visitors would be allowed from stage 3, mainly for groups such as booster clubs, school site councils and ELAC, and they would be screened and have to wear face coverings 2020. Meals would come individually packaged on disposable trays, and lunch periods might be staggered 2121.
• Attendance. The presentation said the district was suspending its perfect attendance awards for 2020-21 and asked families to keep children with symptoms at home 22.

❓ Questions from the dais

Members questioned staff after the presentation, but the minutes record no member's questions or remarks 1. On the recording each member is called on by name, so this page does not summarize the question period.

🔭 What came next

The day after the session, the superintendent wrote to parents that the district planned to reopen all schools on August 10, with safeguards that follow the county's health orders, and that the stage San Bernardino County was in would decide how schools operated 11. The board held a second study session on reopening on July 7 23. On July 16 it adopted a resolution directing the superintendent to adopt a reopening plan, providing blended learning districtwide and distance learning for students who are medically fragile or would be put at risk of COVID-19 24.

This is an independent summary of public meeting records and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Chino Valley Unified School District.