MSN100720-final-lowres

10 | October 7, 2020 | MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS NEWS
malibusurfsidenews.com
SMMUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION
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5
DAYS AGO
Full school reopening is not likely
until 2021, superintendent says
MICHELE WILLER-ALLRED,
Staff Reporter
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified
School District officials said on
Thursday that the earliest they
think schools can reopen for inperson
learning will be early next
year.
Superintendent Ben Drati during
the virtual Board of Education
meeting said that based on
county COVID-19 case information,
as well as the protocols the
district has to meet and restraints
on what they have to offer, “the
earliest anticipated date I would
think we can transition to opening
schools will be Jan. 5.”
“I’m not sure where the state is
going to be in terms of COVID
cases. There were some projections
earlier that schools can start
reopening in November,” Drati
explained. “I’m telling everyone
I don’t think (the district) will be
ready to do a full reopening in
November.”
Drati said the January reopening
is still not set in stone, and
that more information about reopening
will come soon.
He additionally explained that
school re-openings are dictated
by the Los Angeles County CO-
VID-19 positivity rates, which
show daily cases still high.
Los Angeles County is in the
most restrictive of the four tiers
— Purple — and was set to move
down one to Red, which allows
reopening of certain business
sectors and schools. However,
the number of cases recently increased,
and the county has to
meet the threshold for the Red
stage for at least two additional
weeks.
Drati said that in the Purple tier,
the district is authorized to bring
small cohorts of special education
and English learner students
on campus.
“We have applied for and are
confident we will be given permission
to establish learning hubs
to support identified students with
supervision,” said Drati.
He added that the county Board
of Supervisors on Wednesday
agreed to allow schools with a
high population of socio-economic
disadvantaged students to
apply to reopen for TK through
second grade only.
Drati said that only 30 schools
in the county are being considered
for reopening, and he wasn’t
sure if any schools in SMMUSD
met that threshold.
Meanwhile, Drati said the district
is strengthening distance
learning.
During the meeting, Malibu
High School student representative
Estelle Shah said she’s heard
from a lot of students who are really
concerned about the amount
of time they’re spending on the
computer each day because of
distance learning.
“I asked a few of my friends
and other students whether they
would want to go back to (inperson
learning) school, and they
said that they would personally
really want to, but their parents
are really concerned with sending
them back,” Shah said.
“While the students want it, the
parents don’t necessarily want the
same thing.”
Drati said that in a survey the
district sent out to the community,
many of the 2,800 respondents
so far said people are somewhat
satisfied with distance learning,
but screen time is definitely an issue.
He said the district will look
Work on the new library/administration/classroom building at Malibu Middle and High School is moving
forward. SUBMITTED PHOTO/SMMUSD
into the issue and will be working
with the teacher’s association for
suggestions.
He added that the survey suggested
the district has improved
with online learning since spring,
but that there are areas still needing
improvement.
Sarah Braff, president of the
Santa Monica/Malibu Classroom
Teachers Association, said teachers
have been struggling with distance
learning.
“The number of teachers that
have said to me, ‘I don’t know
how much longer I can do this’ is
more than the number of teachers
who said this to me in the previous
six years combined, and it’s
the first of October,” Braff said.
“Our teachers and our students
are overwhelmed and it’s taking
its toll in the form of headaches,
eye strain, muscle stiffness and
back issues and they don’t see
any relief in sight.”
“While we agree the learning
this fall has much improved over
the spring, we need to make adjustments
and refinements so that
there is adequate time for our students
to complete their work and
work offscreen after a lesson or
discussion,” said Braff, who requested
more offline time for students
and teachers.
Braff added that teachers need
more offline time to prepare lessons,
grade papers, work with
individual students, have conferences
with parents, and collaborate
with other teachers.
“They need more support, including
from teacher’s assistants,
fewer meetings and less professional
development. They need
more time,” she said.
In preparation for school reopening,
Carey Upton, the district’s
chief operations officer,
said the district has taken an extensive
look at how to provide the
best air quality in buildings. That
includes putting an ionization
system in the classrooms that will
be able to capture and nullify bacteria,
viruses, mold and smoke.