School Operations Update #4 (10/13/20)
Stanislaus County in the Red Tier
Stanislaus County officially entered the "red tier" for COVID-19 cases today under the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy. If the county remains in this tier for two more weeks, schools may reopen to in-person instruction in Grades TK-12. As noted previously, school districts may choose a more restrictive approach to reopening.
Reopening Schools in Patterson
Parent surveys on school reopening were due today at noon. Input from this survey will be shared with our board at a special meeting this Thursday, October 15th. Feedback from the Patterson Association of Teachers and CSEA will also be shared and all employees are welcome to view the board meeting via WebEx. Our goal is to have a reopening plan to present to our board on October 19th. A reopening date will be based on case numbers and our tier status in Stanislaus County.
Student Connectivity
As of today, we are down to just 14 student residences without internet access - either through an established service provider, district deployed hotspot, or the LTE tower installed at Grayson. District staff met with Motorola this morning and we are very hopeful that the remaining LTE towers will be installed by the end of November. In the meantime, we will be establishing several small group "cohorts" to meet the needs of those families who are truly lacking availability of any kind. These small group cohorts will be initially established at Northmead, Grayson, and Walnut Grove. We are focusing on homeless students and those living in circumstances where a stable connection is not possible. The hotspots deployed do work very well, and the new version being supplied is even stronger.