Sequoia Union High School District students will not return to classrooms for learning when the spring semester rolls around on Jan. 4.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic's current "fluidity," district officials decided to start next semester under the current distance learning model, the district website states.

"I hope this is the last semester we ever do (distance learning)," said Georgia Jack during a Dec. 9 meeting, her last as a trustee before her term expired Dec. 16. "I wish we (the district) would have been more creative. I think we really allowed tradition to push us forward and we weren't really taking the opportunities that were presented to us; I understand everyone is in a crisis."

Jack and other school board members agreed that it would benefit students socially to come to campus for club meetings or athletic conditioning, even if there isn't academic instruction in person. Some students are already training for sports in person in small cohorts.

The district submitted a plan to the San Mateo County Office of Education this month to prepare for an eventual reopening of schools for in-person instruction. The plan includes an option to have some students learn over Zoom in a room on campus while others would continue lessons through Zoom at home. Those students returning to campus would be selected based on their internet connectivity issues, failing multiple classes and seniors failing classes required for graduation.

Other learning options include returning to in-person learning with instruction delivered both in person and online at the same time (with some students physically in the classroom, while others join online); and hybrid rotation, in which students rotate in-person instruction with online learning on their own time, while some learn completely online, according to a staff report prepared for the Dec. 9 meeting. The governing board is considering having teachers continue to teach distantly from home and send some students to campuses, where they would learn on laptops.

"I don't think any of the options are close to awesome," said Bonnie Hansen, assistant superintendent of educational services, during the five-hour board meeting. "It's a really, really tough time and we're working to do the best we can."

Hansen also said that some local middle schools have been able to reopen, while fewer public high schools have been able to, because middle schools do not offer as many courses. Trustee Carrie Du Bois agreed this is a challenge.

"We don't want to send kids back to a bad version of school, but I still want kids to go back to something," she said. "They can't just be at home all day."

If district officials feel it is safe enough to have students Zoom from campus (and teachers virtually instruct them from home), it will be a good opportunity for students to interact with others and "get out of the house," Hansen said. The reopening plan doesn't include a timeline of when students could potentially return to campuses.

"(They'll be able to) take a shower, see other people they haven't seen in a long time but the instruction is still the same," she said.

Trustee Alan Sarver said he would prefer not to sacrifice the quality of the distance learning instruction that teachers have developed for "incremental time" on campus. This in-person instruction would not be "wildly different," he noted.

District officials said during the meeting that they plan to test on-campus staff for COVID-19 about once a month. The district doesn't have enough staff to administer the tests weekly, said Jacqueline McEvoy, the district's assistant superintendent of human resources and educational services.

Appetite for returning to campuses

About 40% of district families took a late November survey on reopening. It found that if the county enters the red tier (substantial transmission of the virus), about 57% of parents would like to keep students at home for online learning. If the county enters the orange tier (moderate transmission of the virus), 42% would like to continue with distance learning from home.

The county is currently in the most restrictive purple tier, indicating widespread virus transmission.

Karyn Bechtel, a district parent and outgoing Portola Valley School District governing board member, said parents are "very interested" in their children returning to campus. Still, she doesn't see the value of students returning to classrooms just to sit on their computers.

Dr. Caroline Krauskopf, a parent who has been vocal at numerous school board meetings about wanting students to return to classrooms, said at-home learning is resulting in learning loss and negative health impacts for students. In-person learning has been working in other schools across the globe and country, with few schools becoming hot spots for COVID-19 transmission, she said.

Conversely, another parent, who identified herself only by the name Morgan, said she does not support a return to classrooms and noted many parents are not in the loop about the district's reopening plans.

View video of the Dec. 9 meeting here.