Poway Unified’s Reopening Plan for the New School Year
Amidst the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, going back to school has been a complicated process that evolves with the daily numbers of new infections. As the situation of the pandemic remains uncertain, aspects concerning how academics and sports will commence this year have been drastically different from previous years.
PUSD has taken a survey of parents who have at least one child currently attending K-12 schools. The result shows that 61% of parents want schools to reopen. Therefore, PUSD aims to reopen schools for in-person learning as early as possible, while still complying with the measures issued by the California Department of Public Health and rules from San Diego County. PUSD originally provided a choice to families between on-campus and virtual based learning. Due to a dramatic increase in infections in July, the plan was altered to virtual-only.
The school year will officially begin on Sept. 2, 2020. All students will be learning at home, five days a week, according to a new bell schedule. By utilizing the Canvas platform, students will be able to access lessons and assigned work. In addition to learning online, there will also be some time for offline learning. Unlike “distance learning,” which only provided credit and no credit for grading, “virtual learning” will incorporate letter grades for high school and middle school and a standards based report for students in elementary schools.
Other than learning, many students and parents care about how athletic teams, bands, orchestras, and choirs keep performing during the 2020 school year. San Diego County declared that outdoor and indoor sporting events can not be held at this time. Currently, there are too many cases in the state to be able to safely start the sports season. Consequently, The California Interscholastic Federation announced on July 20 that athletics will be postponed until Jan. 2021 in accordance with the data from the CDH to determine if it is safe to play at that time. Fall sports will resume in winter and winter sports will be combined with spring sports. Similarly, band, orchestra, and choir are not allowed to practice before CDH guidelines are adjusted.
Principal Bryan Schultz states, “Our district continues to discuss ways to allow for student-athletes to keep working out that comply with current CIF and CDH guidelines.” As for Physical Education, Schultz said that DNHS’ ENS Department is working to adapt their program to a virtual setting as they prepare to open the 2020-21 school year. He also praised all teachers for working hard to create the programs and assessments that meet the needs of the students. He adds, “Counselors are available for all services, including academic and social/emotional services.”
The circumstance of the pandemic continues to evolve. At the time of writing, the state has declared that schools can only reopen after the county is off the State’s County Monitoring List for 14 consecutive days. San Diego County has stricter rules on school reopening. It requires 28 consecutive days with less than 240 daily cases. San Diego was recently removed from the California monitoring list.