LEUSD Board To Consider School Reopenings Amid Latest Hurdle

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — The Lake Elsinore Unified School District's Board of Trustees will once again take up the issue of student instruction amid an ongoing pandemic that continues to force change.

Thursday, during a special 4 p.m. meeting, the board will discuss a staff recommendation to extend distance learning through the end of first semester, Friday, December 18, 2020. The board will also consider a recommendation for in-person instruction to resume Wednesday, January 13, 2021, under a hybrid learning model.

On Tuesday, the state announced Riverside County was moved back into the purple tier of California's coronavirus reopening framework. It the most restrictive tier under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. In the purple tier, schools that are not already open under a waiver must continue distance learning.

The waiver process to reopen K-6 schools is in place but it requires state and county approval. To date, no public school in Riverside County has reopened under the waiver process.

The other way for schools to reopen is if Riverside County moves back into the state's red tier. Even then, there are delays. The county cannot progress into the red tier for at least three weeks (Nov. 1o), and the county must show improved case and test positivity rates for a minimum of days prior to that date.

LEUSD’s latest parent survey shows an increase in the number of respondents willing to keep their children under the distance learning model the rest of the school year, district officials said Wednesday. The district received 14,121 responses to its survey representing 70 percent of all student households. Of total respondents, 6,137 (43.5 percent) prefer staying in distance learning, according to the district.

Working to keep students with their same teachers at reopening is the largest hurdle under pandemic constraints when in-person and distance learning models run concurrently, the district said survey results showed.

“Reopening schools in January 2021 allows time to align and rebuild master schedules and staffing assignments for the second semester start,” said LEUSD Superintendent Dr. Doug Kimberly.

"Since reopening schools in January depends on returning to the red tier, county health officials urge all residents to continue hygiene, social distancing, and wearing facial coverings as safe bets for returning to the red tier. They urge all residents to prepare for flu season now, and to take advantage of no cost flu shot clinics offered throughout the county. Click here for clinic locations and schedules," the district said in a released statement.

To join the virtual Special Meeting of the Board at 4 p.m., click here. Use Passcode: LEUSD. Meeting ID: 956 6032 7277.