Dublin School District On The Brink Of Return To Hybrid Learning

DUBLIN, CA — Students in the Dublin Unified School District are now on the brink of returning to a hybrid learning model if they choose after the school board was presented with the district’s plan for a return to the classroom at its meeting Tuesday night.

Under the plan, students between kindergarten and the fifth grade would return to school beginning March 18 barring a spike in positive coronavirus cases, school officials said. A return to the classroom for middle and high school students, however, is much more complicated.

Under Alameda County guidelines, the county would need to be in the red tier in order for secondary students to return. Once the county moves from the purple tier to red, school officials will begin to determine when it is safe for students to return. Acting Superintendent Daniel Moirao said he hopes to begin to determine a return date by mid-March with hopes of having students return to school before spring break. But, for now, determining exactly when secondary students will return to the classroom is not feasible, he said.

Declaration letters are scheduled to go out on Thursday to allow parents and staff members to determine whether students and teachers will continue with remote learning or will move to the hybrid model. School officials are asking letters to be returned by Sunday, which will allow district officials to better determine a schedule.

Under the plan, parents who choose the hybrid model can shift back to remote learning if they choose, but those who select the remote model will not be permitted to switch to hybrid. The current elementary school plan calls for students to be placed into AM/PM cohorts while secondary students would be placed in A and B cohorts.

Students within the A cohort will attend class on Monday and Tuesday while the B cohort would attend school on Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays will be reserved for remote learning for both elementary and secondary schools to allow teachers to do planning, Moirao said.

School officials will do their best to keep siblings in the same cohorts, but parents will not be given the option of what cohort their student is placed in if they choose hybrid learning. Final schedules will be announced once school officials know how many students will be placed in either model.

While board trustees are grateful for parents to have the choice of whether to send their students back to the classroom, Trustee Gabi Blackman implored parents to take the decision seriously knowing that some parents do not have the option of sending their students back to school because of health reasons as the pandemic continues.

“I hate to say this but COVID doesn’t care if we have a plan,” Blackman said during Tuesday’s meeting. “It doesn’t care if you want to go back. It doesn’t care whether you wear your mask of if you follow all the rules. It doesn’t follow our rules. This is a virus and it’s highly contagious and for all the planning we’re going to put together, families need to realize that the decision they’re going to make, they make for their children, are theirs alone.”

While the district’s ultimate goal is to get students back to a “pre-pandemic” level of learning in which students are back in the classroom on a full-time basis. However, Moirao said that school officials always knew a hybrid model would be needed between remote learning and a full return, he believes any return to the classroom is a positive step.

“I don’t know if (learning) will ever look quite the same,” Moirao said.

Trustee Megan Rouse said she feels it is important to determine a return date for secondary students as soon as possible. Moirao said it is difficult to even pinpoint a return date for middle and high school students because of the complexities that exist in not knowing how many students and staff will determine if they will return to the classroom even on a hybrid model.

Moirao said that while building administrators are anxious to get students back in the classroom, more information is needed before determining a possible return date for older students.

District officials had originally hoped for students to be back in the classroom by March 8, but needed to push the date back to mid-March due to ongoing pandemic restrictions. Trustees, including Rouse, said that they are glad the district is “here, in this place and ready to move forward” in getting students back into the classroom, but needs to plan for a return that looks much different than before last March,

Trustee Catherine Kuo said that parents need to curb their expectations with the reality that classroom will not look the same as it did before the pandemic. Kuo said she has seen gradual changes in her children's attitude and work ethic as remote learning continues and is grateful for the opportunity to take this step toward normalcy.

But the return needs to be treated differently because of the changes that will come along with it including the requirement of masks and social distancing. Those changes, she said, will prevent students from engaging with others as they did before.

“I know (returning to the classroom) is a huge lift to all the parents and students” she said. “But it really won’t be back to school as normal …I feel it is really a wonderful chance for our children to see other faces in person, but there are a lot of caveats to being back in person.”