Sacramento region’s largest school district announces campus reopening plan
The Elk Grove Unified School District announced to its parents of more than 60,000 students a reopening plan that would bring back students as early as mid-November if Sacramento County’s coronavirus risk level is downgraded by the state.
If the county has a lower infection rate by Nov. 3, and moves from the state’s red tier to the orange tier, students in preschool through third grade will return to campus on Nov. 17. Students in grades four through six will return on Dec. 8, and middle school and high school will return on Jan. 7.
The district clarified in a letter that was sent to staff and parents that if the county does not meet the orange tier requirements, the district will continue full distance learning and will reopen schools in January with a Concurrent Instructional Model.
“Our first priority is student and staff safety,” Superintendent Chris Hoffman. “Our second priority is maintaining learning continuity and providing our students with the resources they need for their social, emotional and academic growth and development. We are addressing those two priorities now in our full distance learning model and with carefully planned small in-person cohorts.”
Hoffman said the partial in-person Concurrent Instructional Model allows the district to transition back to school with flexibility, and without disrupting student progress if the district needs to return to full distance learning. He added that he is confident that the community will be able to work together and move forward with academic programs, student services and activities “with or without a vaccine.”
Students will not return to campus five days a week, according to the announcement. A hybrid model will still be in effect. While nearby districts that have reopened campuses have opted to move distance learning students to virtual academies, Elk Grove Unified students who choose to continue distance learning will stay with their current teacher and school.
Details about the Concurrent Instructional Model, transportation to school and more will be available at a school board workshop on Wednesday, from 10:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Elk Grove was the first major school district to close campuses when the coronavirus pandemic struck in March.
