Original article courtesy San Mateo Daily Journal
By Sierra Lopez
Daily Journal staff
Jan 7, 2022
Educators and school administrators are using a number of measures to address a surge in San Mateo County COVID-19 cases, potentially compounding an already strained staffing pool.
“We certainly knew this return to school was going to stress the system and are doing all we can to keep schools open, safe and healthy for our learners,” Burlingame School District Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites said in an email.
In a letter to BSD’s school community, Mount-Benites said the district is “in better shape than many” other districts due to having smaller school sites with fewer instances of infections. He also credited the district’s increased pay for substitutes, parent substitutes and the flexibility of teachers for getting the district through the challenging period.
Districts across the county have been reviewing their pay rates for substitutes during a time when the support is greatly needed but the hiring pool is slim. Before the winter surge of cases caused by the more contagious omicron variant, districts were already reporting staffing issues among nutritional services, bus drivers and school support staff.
Diego Ochoa, San Mateo-Foster City School District superintendent, touted the district’s many safety measures as key for keeping students and faculty on campus. The district has contracted with third-party vendor Virus Geeks to conduct daily testing at five school sites, distributed 10,000 rapid tests this week and will administer roughly 8,000 pooled tests weekly, he said in an email.
As for personnel, Ochoa said the district hired an on-site substitute for each campus at the beginning of the year to help cover classes and frequently deploys teachers on special assignments to also fill in when needed. If necessary, site and district administrators will also be assigned to classrooms this week and next, he said.
“It is definitely an all-hands-on-deck situation,” Ochoa said in an email.
Similar measures are being taken at South San Francisco School District where about 10% of staff members were absent on Thursday for a variety of reasons, school board President John Baker said. District spokesperson Peter Feng noted it’s still too early to tell if omicron is the cause of some absences, adding “we remain cautious about the coming weeks.”
Having spoken with teachers, Baker said some staff members have reported feeling as though their own safety was being disregarded at this time. And some school community members have called for classes to either be postponed or transitioned to remote.
“The district is getting by but we’re suffering what every local district is suffering,” Baker said.
Schools do have the ability to transition classes to temporary remote learning during large outbreaks but Baker noted districts lack the authority to transition to remote learning unless granted an exemption after state legislators allowed Senate Bill 98, the law permitting remote learning during the pandemic, to expire last June.
Schools that don’t hold the required 180 days of instruction could be forced to make up missed days or risk losing funding or accreditation, he said.
“There’s not much we can do except keep pushing vaccinations, keep pushing masks and social distancing and keep pushing testing,” Baker said.
At the administrative level, Baker said staff is discussing next steps if conditions worsen and outbreaks begin to pop up across campuses.
Meanwhile, Baker and Feng encouraged the public to follow health guidelines, to get vaccinated and to keep their children home if they appear to experience COVID-19 symptoms. Like SMFCSD, Feng noted the SSFUSD will also be holding pediatric vaccine clinics from Thursday, Jan. 13 through Saturday, Jan. 15.
“We’re planning for the worst and hoping for the best. I know that’s a cliche,” Baker said. “If everyone follows the protocols I think we can get through it but we have to be prepared and we are taking as many steps as we can.”
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