San Ramon Valley Unified Pauses Reopening Plans Amid Surge

DANVILLE, CA — A significant jump in Contra Costa County cases pushed board members of San Ramon Valley Unified School District to postpone reopening plans for its campuses. The decision received a unanimous vote during a regular meeting on Tuesday.

Prior to Tuesday's virtual meeting, the district was forging ahead with plans to partially reopen Jan. 5. The district had planned on giving parents a choice come the new year — either returning to an in-person hybrid classroom or remaining at home for remote learning.

But the board voted to continue on with distance learning after assessing recent coronavirus data from the county as well as hearing concerns from teachers on returning to the classroom.

"Opening schools is a community effort," Susanna Ordway, education board president said during Tuesday's meeting. "We have to do it together. The district can't do it by itself, teachers can't do it by themselves, students and parents can't do it by themselves. It has to be everyone including the community."

Students will continue with remote learning until Contra Costa County moves out of the widespread, purple tier on the state's COVID-19 assessing blueprint. Once the county moves into the red, substantial tier, board officials said they would consider returning students to their classrooms.

The board live-streamed a town hall meeting Wednesday night, where parents and community members could submit their concerns anonymously online for Superintendant John Malloy to address.

A few parents balked at the board's quick decision to cancel reopening plans Tuesday, and expressed concerns that teachers would keep claiming they felt unsafe even as the county moved into the red tier for reopening.

"The plan is to pause, not to end, the plan is to move forward," Malloy said to parents Wednesday.

More parents expressed frustration with Tuesday's vote and asked Malloy to allow families to participate and weigh in on future meetings. Malloy acknowledged the request and said public comments would be allowed in the future.

Another parent asked whether the threat of a lawsuit influenced the decision to pause reopening.

"The California Teacher's Association questioned our ability to open," Malloy said Wednesday, assuring that no lawsuit was threatened. "There were concerns related to the concept of being open."

Contra Costa Health Services reported an alarming surge in cases throughout the county this week. And on Wednesday, the Bay Area hit a grim threshold, dipping below 12.9 percent intensive care unit capacity, triggering a sweeping stay-at-home order for counties that hadn't already opted in.

Contra Costa was already under the order but reported that just 13 percent of ICU beds were available Wednesday.

Most parents previously reacted to stark metrics like these by electing to have their children continue classes virtually. According to district officials, 64 percent of elementary and nearly 76 percent of secondary students had already opted into distance learning rather than returning to the classroom.

In neighboring Alameda County, parents and their children gathered in downtown Livermore Tuesday to protest the continued closure of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District.

Tuesday, parents held signs reading "Our kids matter, reopen schools" with even some children with signs reading "Bring us back to school" in downtown Livermore, according to the Mercury News.

The district had also planned to reopen in January for optional hybrid instruction or distance learning but canceled such plans after the county fell back into the dreaded purple tier.

Similarly, Livermore district officials also plan to reopen campuses once Alameda County moves back into the red tier.

"As a county, state and nation, we clearly have some challenging days ahead, but there are signs of progress in fighting this virus and I am hopeful that the new year will bring with it an opportunity to be together, to learn and spend time with one another in person again," Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L. Karen Monroe said in a statement in mid-November. "In the meantime, our collective commitment to our children and communities will sustain us."