CCSD’s Jara hopeful older students can return before school year’s end

Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara said Thursday that he remains hopeful that older students will be able to return to the classroom before the end of the school year.

But he provided no timetable for an expansion of the initial return of some preschool through third-grade students announced Wednesday in a memo to employees and parents, which it said will begin on March 1.

At a news briefing, Jara said the firm return date was necessary in order to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for the teachers and staff — such as food service workers and school bus drivers — needed to support the in-person component of the hybrid teaching model. Under that model, the district will continue to provide online instruction to those who want it while also holding in-person instruction.

Employees required for that duty were instructed by the district memo to report to work sites Feb. 22, a week before some students return.

The five-workday cushion was part of a memorandum of agreement between the district and Clark County Education Association that paves the way for the partial reopening. The School Board approved the agreement on Jan. 14.

The school district, which has about 315,000 students and 42,000 employees, has operated under 100 percent distance learning since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But pressure has been building to reopen the schools.

The district will try to accommodate telecommuting requests, under to the agreement.

Priority vaccination list

The agreement with CCEA did not take into account the COVID-19 vaccine, Jara said Thursday, but added that the district is working with the teachers union and individual employees to address their needs.

“I think the safety protocols we’ve put in place protects the employees,” he said.

After confusion at COVID-19 vaccination sites last week, school district employees can now register online through UNLV and will receive an invitation when they are able to make an appointment. Many likely won’t be able to receive both shots required under the two-dose regimen and pass the extra time needed to realize the full protective effect of the vaccine before students return to classrooms.

Dr. Michael Gardner, vice dean of clinical affairs for the UNLV School of Medicine and president and CEO of UNLV Medicine, said Thursday that the university is working with the school district to get the first group of returnees vaccinated after receiving a priority list from the district.

The School Board had previously approved giving small groups of students in all grades the option of coming to campuses for academic and mental health interventions. No timeline has yet been set for when schools will submit plans to do so.

For students in fourth grades and above, schools will decide whether to offer small group instruction and academic support and the district will provide “guidance and support,” Jara said Thursday.

Bringing back other grade levels?

As for returning more grade levels to hybrid instruction, Jara said, “I want to make sure that we bring in more kids, but it’s going to be strategically, methodically and carefully.”

Any expansion of the hybrid model before the school year ends in late May will likely go by grade level in order, he said.

Jara cited student mental health concerns as one reason to bring children back, saying there’s a need for educators to be able to “put their eyeballs on the kids.”

He also acknowledged some families will want their children to stick with distance education for the rest of the school year.

The district is asking preschool through third grade parents to complete a questionnaire by 6 p.m. Friday to help schools plan for staffing and transportation needs.

Parents who have already completed the questionnaire will have one opportunity to change their response before the deadline.

Survey results from parents will be used for planning needs such as master schedules and school bus routes, Jara said.

For kids who return under the hybrid model, they’ll stay with a cohort in their classrooms through the school day, Jara said. He said the district is reviewing whether there will be an opportunity for outside play and use school lunchrooms.

Decisions about whether children under the hybrid model will keep their current teachers will be made a school level, he said.

Reaction from community

Some of the district’s rural schools that have been operating under a hybrid model since the beginning of the school year are waiting to hear if they’ll get the green light to go back full time.

To do so, they’d need the district to request a variance waiver from the state to allow them to space students 3 feet apart, rather than 6 feet, said Teresa Holzer, a Moapa Valley High School parent and president of the school organizational team.

Each school’s cohorts would then be merged, and students would attend in-person classes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Holzer said she believes that with low rates of COVID-19 spread in their community, rural schools could reopen full time with the precautions they’ve already been taking.

“If they don’t do it soon, we won’t be able to bring these high school and middle school students back before the end of the year,” Holzer said.

In public comments submitted to the School Board on Thursday night, many residents expressed concern about reopening, including teachers wishing to receive their vaccines prior to a return and parents who don’t wish to change teachers mid-year. A smaller number described their struggles with distance learning and supported reopening.

Many also raised concerns about the effects of canceling sports, especially on high school athletes.

Parent Belinda Beck wrote that her daughter had played soccer for 14 years and would now miss out on her final season.

“You may think, “It’s just a sport” but in the mind of a teenager these activities, their friends and these experiences from high school are everything to them at this time in their lives,” Beck wrote. “I know its not possible to give it all back to them but we can give them something!”

Teacher Dan Hergenrader asked the district to refrain from giving up on the fight against COVID-19 and to set the 2021-22 school year as a soft target for reopening.

“We can, and will, defeat Covid. But you can’t wish it away,” Hergenrader wrote. “School buildings in Clark County should not be preparing to open right now, for any grade level.”

Las Vegas resident Beth Mundo, who has a son in the 10th grade, said she’s fine with the decision to bring younger children back first because they have a more difficult time with online learning and require constant parental supervision.

She said distance learning is going very well for her son, saying he has more access to his teachers now than he did during a traditional face-to-face classes.

Mundo said she would probably opt out from having him return in person this school year, saying it’s too late in the year and too hard on teachers to make that transition

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter. Staff writer Aleksandra Appleton contributed to this report.