By Tom Robertson
The latest from the Vista Unified School District Board of Education is, parents should prepare their students for beginning this school year online starting September 8th. Currently directed by Governor Gavin Newsom, all schools will begin online until counties can show a sustained drop in COVID cases for a specified period of days. Vista School Board President, Rosemary Smithfield said, “Vista is prepared to go with the flow and do what is required to maintain student education through distance learning online. All items checked out to finish last year have been collected, will be cleaned and ready for distribution prior to September 8th. This includes computers, textbooks and workbooks. Details for distribution are still being worked on.”
Administrators and other personnel are in the process of developing master schedules and curriculum to begin the school year online. Teachers also now have the opportunity to work on lesson plans since the opening date has been pushed back to September 8th.
Smithfield said, “The School Board is working with the teacher’s union to try and have teachers work online with students while the teachers are in their classrooms.”
She said the unions have also been working hard to make sure education works best for both the teachers and the students in this most unusual of times. In her words, “This COVID-19 experience for everyone is ‘just horrible’. Not only are businesses suffering, but student education is suffering and “all we can do is be prepared and be flexible in a situation you have little control over.”
Classified workers have been considered essential workers and are still on staff and are being brought back to assist at schools in various ways. Along with preparing for online education Smithfield said, “They must work on preparations for when students are allowed to return to schools. The Classic program is the name given to what schools might look like when students return. What will the safety protocols be? How will social distancing be maintained? What will a school day look like? Will there be split schedules? For high schools, what sports will be continued and when?” These questions and many more surround schools as they begin to think about and prepare for a time when students might return.
