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FUESD plans to send T-K through first grade students back to in-person classes 4 days per week

Fallbrook Union Elementary School District administrators are planning to send some students back to classrooms four days a week at the end of this month.

Currently, FUESD is in “phase one” of its reopening plan, with most students attending school in-person two days a week in a “cohort” model, with one group in classrooms on Mondays and Wednesdays and a second group in classrooms on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and with students participating in virtual learning otherwise. Classrooms reopened in that format on Oct. 5.

The plan, Singh told FUESD’s board on Nov. 2, is for the district to send transitional kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade students back to classrooms Monday through Thursday as of Nov. 30; they would continue to learn virtually on Fridays.

After that, the district was tentatively planning for further groups and grades to return to classrooms in January, depending on public health data, but grades 2-8 would remain in the current cohort model for the time being.

“We remain committed to a careful and measured reopening model,” Singh said.

The reason grades TK-1 are being prioritized, she said, is because of in-person learning’s importance to early literacy development.

“The foundation for long term success in school begins with a strong foundation with literacy and we know this,” Singh said. “This foundation of literacy will contribute to their success or will contribute to their lack of success going forward and we want to make sure that our littlest ones are going back to school.”

While San Diego County was heading back into the purple tier of the coronavirus reopening plan as of Nov. 10, that would have no effect on FUESD’s plans to restart TK-1 in-person classes.

Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer, said schools, unless they have already restarted in-person learning, will be restricted to distance learning. K-12 schools already in session – as FUESD already has – can continue, Wooten said.

FUESD Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Communication affirmed the district was continuing with its plans.

“Health data has and will continue to serve as the foundation for school reopening plans in FUESD,” Billingsley said in an email statement on Nov. 9, when it appeared likely though not yet certain the county was headed back into the purple tier. “We remain committed to balancing the real risks of the long term academic setbacks and social/emotional traumas students are experiencing during school closures with the risks of COVID-19 in the school setting. We know that schools continue to be among the safest places for students and adults given the extensive safety measures we have put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

“FUESD will continue to monitor the COVID data locally and throughout the county,” Billingsley continued. “At this time, we are moving forward with our plan to bring back all TK, Kindergarten, and first grade students four days a week on Nov. 30. We are steadfast in our belief that these early years are critical to their long-term academic success.”

FUESD’s cohort model was made possible by San Diego County’s removal from the state’s coronavirus watchlist on Aug. 18, which started a 14-day countdown to schools in the county being allowed to reopen.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated FUESD would not be able to restart any classes four days a week if San Diego County returned to the purple tier. Village News regrets the error.

 

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