District Delays School Reopening

By Samantha Caracoza and Chantel Castrejon, Staff Reporters

Courtesy of NBC NEWS

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) Board of Trustees took a new vote in delaying students returning. The vote came as a result of Orange County returning to the purple tier on California's Blueprint.

Orange County’s rising numbers in cases of COVID-19 put a stop to the plans of students returning to school at the start of January 2021. Additionally, students would only be able to return to school if Orange County returned to the red tier, a recommendation by the Board of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees also discussed the amount of staff that would be in attendance with students not on campus. They decided to modify the number of adults going consistently on campus alongside with students.

“What we could is modify their request in where their not back five days a week but each counselor is back one day a week on a rotation” Assistant Superintendent Jaron Fried said.

Based on emails and presentations shared on the re-opening of Kennedy High, staff had previously been discussing and planning a reopening of the school. While some teachers are excitedly waiting until they are able to return, some are not.

“It certainly would be wonderful to see (the students),” English teacher Kimberly Weir said. “But I know that the COVID cases have gone up again. I wish you all to be safe and take care of ourselves until we could all meet one on one.”

Although some people are looking forward to school reopening, there are others who reject the idea for now.

It’s normal to not want to return considering the terms that come with going back and it’s equally important to highlight their voices as well. Because of the rising cases of COVID, this worry is gradually being more and more justified.

Mrs. Weir is one of the staff members ready to return while others seem to be opposed and are content with how it is now.

“I enjoy it!” Math teacher Olivia Marinone said. “I’m able to work from home and still teach you all.”

At the start of first semester until now, teachers have been working non-stop either at home or at school doing their best in order to try to normalize the current situation. Starting in fourth quarter, they should be eventually returning and thus resuming their normal on-campus school schedule.

However, returning to school would have to be as safe as possible with the current climate of COVID-19.

“As the pandemic continues, we can’t let fatigue fool us into dropping precautions to prevent the spread and stop the surge,” County Health Officer and Director of the OC Health Care Agency Dr. Clayton Chau said.

The proposed plan to try and reinstate school, before its current cancelation, would have been a hybrid schedule. The proposed schedule included one day out of the week when students would meet for live in-person instruction. The rest of the week would be divided between one day of live online synchronous learning with three days of asynchronous activities. While on campus there would be certain safety arrangements including socially distanced seats, hand sanitizer stations, and masks to be requirement.

However there are still parents that are on the fence about the idea of reopening in March.

“I think it’s quite irrational,” Kennedy parent Mizuky Santos said. “If the cases are rising then obviously the kids will be put in danger. It makes no sense to reopen school since they were closed based on covid and the way to prevent covid could possibly not even work.”

Concerns like this are normal but all parents can rest assured that their children will be in safe hands when they return.