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The San Ramon Valley Unified School District has reached a major milestone in its efforts to reopen in-person learning by reaching a tentative agreement with its teachers’ union, the San Ramon Valley Education Association, and has scheduled a Board of Education workshop on Thursday to discuss next steps.
As a part of the process for reopening, the agreement means the district will now enter into its declaration process and will soon begin asking parents to declare their preferred instructional model for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year — meaning families may choose to have their students continue with full remote or start an in-person hybrid model.
“We completely understand that this decision is very significant and challenging. We want to provide as much support as we can to assist your decision. Our commitment is to provide an effective in-person hybrid program and to continue an effective remote learning program,” Superintendent John Malloy said in a statement.
“We are also committed to providing every student with the academic programming they began in August. We will follow all public health requirements,” he added.
A necessary part of the reopening process, declarations asking families if they would like their students to continue with full remote learning or enroll in hybrid in-person will be sent out on Friday (Nov. 6) and will be due no later than Nov. 13.
At Thursday’s workshop, Malloy will be on hand alongside district staff to present the community with information about instructional models, the tentative SRVEF agreement and the declaration process, followed by a Town Hall meeting where residents will be able to submit questions on the process.
For families who do enroll, in-person hybrid learning will be offered to transitional kindergarten through 12th-grade students starting on Jan. 5, 2021. District officials say the hybrid model will be the equivalent of two days a week of in-person instruction, one day a week of current remote learning and two days of asynchronous time.
Physical distancing requirements from Contra Costa Health Services mandate the district to use the hybrid in-person model; however, Malloy said that once the requirements are lifted, the district will be able to return to the full five days of in-person learning.
In-person learning has already begun for Special Day Class Program (SDC) students as of Oct. 27, and district officials say more SDC students will be invited to participate on Nov. 17.
“For those who choose the hybrid option, we will return to school full-time when physical distancing requirements allow. For those who choose remote, you are choosing this option for the rest of the year,” Malloy said.
Malloy added that when it comes to parents’ declarations, a definitive decision by Nov. 13 is important because, while the district will create a waitlist, there is no guarantee that they will be able to accommodate declaration changes later.
The SRVUSD Board of Education will meet for its special reopening plan workshop at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Interested residents can view the meeting live on the SRVUSD’s YouTube channel.
District staff will present a link to the ThoughtExchange at the end of the Board of Education workshop for families to submit questions on the reopening plan and declaration process.
