Davis school board presents hybrid learning model
PHOTO: The Davis Joint Unified Board of Education delivered a presentation on March 4 with updates on the hybrid learning model.
By Alexandra Zurborg,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
The school board announced a hybrid learning model update at the board meeting on March 4.
“Starting last year, there were several committees formed to study the approach to coming back to campus, the five step process and the hybrid schedule we know today,” said Joe Dinunzio, Davis Joint Unified School District president. “There are several committees. One focused on secondary and one focused on elementary and preschool and really focused on coming up with a recognition with constraints around how many students can be in person at the same time, and what kind of curriculum would best serve.”
DJUSD is partnering with the Davis Schools Foundation, the Davis Teachers Association, the Yolo County Office of Education, Healthy Davis Together and more to open the schools with ease.
All of the board-approved conditions within and outside the control of DJUSD for hybrid reopening have been cleared.
“We’ve already done all of the internal conditions that the board said, things such as MERV-13 filters, air purifiers in every classroom, all of the safety protocols and all of the quarantine protocols. All of that is in place,” Dinunzio said.
Not only do the school conditions have to be up to code, teachers and staff must also be trained and prepared to teach in person.
“The professional development for teachers will happen April 5, however, a little bit will happen before then. There are some special skills that the teachers will need around teaching simultaneously,” Dinunzio said.
In a survey that was released to all teachers and staff members, 89.4 percent (624 staff) received at least one dose and 4.7 percent (33 staff) waiting for the first dose. Yolo County Public Health and Dignity Health are prioritizing educators to get their vaccines.
As the opening date for hybrid learning approaches, parents should expect more information this week.
“An information guide on transition is coming up this coming week, likewise a survey will be sent to every family, and each family will decide what each student will want. Whether they will want their student to continue with distance learning or start hybrid,” Dinunzio said. “We will gather all that information, depending on what those numbers are will change the structure of what your classes will look like. Once we have the final numbers we will do all of the final classroom planning.”
Summer school was also briefly mentioned during the meeting. “We are in the process of building a more robust summer school plan compared to typical years; we are planning there to be more demand from families for there to be summer school programs then there been in past years and so we are preparing for that,” Dinunzio said.
Many parents urge the board to keep on track with their plans to reopen to schools as soon as possible. In a public comment, parent Rachel Nervo stressed that mental health is playing a big role in the push to go back to school. “As a parent of an eighth grader at Da Vinci, I ask you please open in person school immediately. My child and others are clearly suffering due to peer isolation and disconnection from the school community,” Nervo said.
With the plan now set, the board strongly believes that it will allow them to go full in person by the new school year.
The board and the superintendent have both described in detail the intent for the school to open for the 2021-22 school year in full.
“We are planning for that and I think the signs of community spread and the rapid intake of vaccinations are very good,” Dinunzio said. “Whatever we do will be subject to the guides of them, it all just depends what the spread of the virus will look like then, little bit of uncertainty. We have to plan for alternatives in case something happens, I don’t think it will, but there are some concerns such as new variants being difficult for the vaccine.”
