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Vallecitos Elementary School reopening plans in place

The 2020-2021 school year for Vallecitos Elementary School begins Aug. 20. Initially all students will continue to learn at home rather than on campus, but plans are in place for when in-school student attendance resumes.

Maritza Koeppen, principal of Vallecitos Elementary School, who is also the superintendent of the Vallecitos School District, addressed the reopening of the school during the Aug. 11 school board meeting.

“We have state guidance that we’ve been following,” Koeppen said.

The guidance is primarily from the state’s Department of Public Health, although the district is also subject to county health orders.

“We have a health order that changes almost weekly,” Koeppen said.

The San Diego County Office of Education also has guidelines for reopening schools. The state has also issued requirements for online public school learning. The schools must provide full internet access to all students, and accommodations must be made for special education and English as a second language students.

The requirements also include monitoring attendance. Vallecitos Elementary School had been monitoring attendance before the shutdown in March but discontinued that monitoring for the remainder of the school year.

“This time we will,” Koeppen said.

The state also specifies minimum instruction days of three hours and 50 minutes for students from kindergarten through third grade and four hours for students in fourth grade or higher.

The district will work with parents for online learning activities.

“We want to provide multiple methods of communication,” Koeppen said.

The school district has 100 new computers. Fifty of those were donated by Google through that company’s program which provided computers to rural school districts.

“We were one of the recipients,” Koeppen said.

T-Mobile provided 75 hot spots, which will allow for student internet access.

During the spring shutdown the district learned that many families did not have internet access. “We worked with those families,” Koeppen said.

Teachers will have a “necklace” microphone for both virtual presentations and in-class presentations when students will be at greater distances.

“This is going to be extremely helpful,” Koeppen said.

Vallecitos’ teachers are also being trained about the COVID-19 virus itself including prevention techniques.

“When teachers return, they will have training in COVID-19,” Koeppen said.

When distance learning becomes in-class learning distance will still be a standard.

“We are going to take a classroom and split them in half,” Koeppen said.

Koeppen said that half of those students would be in the classroom at a specific time and the other half would be at home.

During the shutdown the district conducted a hygiene evaluation to determine the level of contamination on surfaces. Counter tops, the door on the faculty lounge refrigerator, and restrooms including doors were found to have bacteria.

“We’ve been cleaning all summer,” Linda Miller, business manager of Vallecitos School District, said.

The school will also have signs encouraging hand-washing and 6 feet of separation between individuals.

The school has added hand sanitizer dispensers and has also added portable hand-washing stations.

“A lot of our classrooms don't have sinks,” Koeppen said.

The contamination risk from shared school supplies will be mitigated.

“Each student will have their own supplies,” Koeppen said.

Plexiglas barriers have been added in the school office. Contact between parents and faculty will not be restricted but will be coordinated to the best extent possible.

“We are asking parents to make an appointment,” Koeppen said.

The school district will also be providing face coverings for students or legitimate visitors who do not have one.

“It’s really going to take all of our efforts to ensure that we are successful,” Koeppen said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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