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Friday April 9 Superintendent Update: Voluntary In-Person Spring Intervention and Instruction Plan Details, Intent-to-Return Form
April 9, 2021
Dear WCCUSD Community,
I hope you are enjoying the spring recess. This week has been full of promising and positive news. Contra Costa County moved out of the State’s Covid-19 Red Tier into the less restrictive Orange Tier, meaning more businesses and places can operate at a higher capacity.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he expects schools to reopen full-time, five days a week in the fall, and the State economy to reopen June 15 fully, and that the tier system will be retired. Of course, there are caveats: vaccination rates continue to climb, and the spread and presence of Covid-19 continue to decline.
We also received great news as we started the recess with all five WCCUSD employee groups overwhelmingly approving the voluntary Spring In-Person Intervention and Instruction plan.
The Spring In-Person Intervention and Instruction MOU includes a stipend for employees voluntarily returning to in-person work. Our goal is to ensure the largest number of teachers returning to in-person classrooms and hubs. As we see in many districts throughout the state, there are still challenges for teachers to return, such as childcare, health issues, care for other family members, and more. Each school is in the process of defining the model of instruction based upon the number of volunteer teachers.
Our goals for the final seven weeks of this school year are to:
- Keep Distance Learning as the primary mode of instruction, and families that would like to remain in Distance Learning for the school year can do so.
- Get WCCUSD’s highest-needs students, who have struggled most with distance learning back to campus for instructional support
- Bring as many students back to campus with available staff for both instructional and social opportunities
- Support WCCUSD staff to practice and perfect new protocols, procedures, and routines for health and safety, instruction, and social-emotional learning for spring, summer, and fall
- Continue to provide more than 20,000 boxes of weekly meals to the community each Thursday through the Seamless Summer program
- Provide safe in-person opportunities for extracurricular activities: sports, graduation, and after school groups
As part of the MOU, each union member notified us this week on how many staff members can volunteer. For teachers, we are reviewing the number of volunteers and those that have been fully vaccinated. We are also reviewing the number of support staff volunteers available at each school. We are also working through what additional supports we will have for the hub model to determine the total number of students that we can serve. As we stated previously, the logistics of meal service preclude a full-day return for spring.
There will be more information coming next week from the District and your school, including an Intent to Return form so that each family can make an informed decision on what is their best choice. Please complete the form, one for each student, no later than Wednesday, April 14. Upon returning from break, individual school sites with the support of our district team will send information directly to families regarding intervention blocks.
Please be patient over the next few weeks, as we will have to readjust to the new routine. Students have not been in physical classrooms in over a year, and teachers and staff will have to shift to another form of supporting students. We understand and relate to the feeling of not receiving timely information and guidelines. Covid-19 situations change quickly and often, creating anxiety and leaving us feeling overwhelmed.
Please enjoy the final few days of the spring recess, and please look for an intent to return form and more information about the Spring In-Person Intervention and Instruction plan next week.
In community,
WCCUSD Cabinet Team
(Matthew Duffy, Superintendent, Ruben Aureilo Chief Academic Officer, Tony Wold, Ed.D., Associate Superintendent Business Services, Luis Freese, Associate Superintendent Facilities, Maintenance and Bond, Kristen Hardy, Special Education Local Plan Area Director, Tracey Logan, Chief Technology Officer, Marci Williams Chief Personnel Officer, Bobby Jordan, Communications Director)