The Newhall School District announced Thursday that in-person learning would be postponed for TK-2 students due to a “complete reversal” in guidelines provided by the state less than a week before their original re-opening date.
In a letter to parents sent out on Thursday, Feb. 4, Newhall School District (NSD) Superintendent Jeff Pelzel announced that their return to in-person instruction would be delayed.
“Despite our successful efforts to comply with every State, County, and Cal OSHA requirement for our return on February 8th, the Newhall School District is now forced to move our start date to Tuesday, February 16, 2021, including the Newhall State Pre-school,” Pelzel wrote. “I recognize this is not the news you wanted to hear today and we are beyond frustrated as well.”
On Thursday, Jan. 28, the district announced schools would be reopening on Monday, Feb. 8, after being given permission to move forward with a hybrid model by Los Angeles County Department Public Health (LADPH) Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
However, a day after the announcement was made, Pelzel said that the state “unexpectedly” added new requirements that would delay the schools reopening date.
“The State consolidated school guidance does not permit schools to open for full grade in-person instruction until the adjusted case rate in the County drops below 25 cases per 100,000 population per day, for five consecutive days,” Pelzel wrote.
Despite this change, Pelzel said that the state has agreed that some districts followed their county health order and are in a “unique situation.” As a result, state health officials were finalizing a process that would allow districts in this situation, such as the NSD, to request a Safety Review by the LADPH, which when approved would allow schools to bring back all students in grades TK-2, even when the adjusted case rate in their county remains above 25 cases per 100,000 population.
However, this process had not been finalized in time for the district to bring students back to the classroom on Feb. 8.
“This new information was a complete reversal from the permission we had been given from LADPH,” Pelzel wrote. “Upon receiving this information, I began immediately making calls and working with the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the LADPH to determine what this ‘new’ process was going to entail, because of our rapidly approaching Feb. 8th start date.”
Pelzel said he was “assured” that the process would be finalized over the past weekend, and would be released early this week in order to give the district enough time to “complete the documentation and get approval in time for our planned reopening date.”
It was not until Wednesday that LADPH officials notified the district that the additional process would finally be released, but it would take at least a week from the submission date for the state to give final approval before the district would be authorized to re-open on-campus learning, according to Pelzel.
“If we were to proceed without State approval, I have been told we will be shut down by the State and our waivers would be revoked requiring us to wait until the positivity rate drops below 25 per 100,000,” Pelzel wrote.
As of Thursday Los Angeles County’s positivity rate stood at 39 per 100,000.
Despite complying with every state and county requirement for the district’s return on Feb. 8, the NSD is now “forced” to move the start date to Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, including the Newhall State Preschool.
“Other schools across the state, including those in the Purple Tier, have been allowed to exercise their waivers, and many have students back full time, including the Governor’s own children,” Pelzel wrote.
Newhall School District parents expressed disappointment and frustration over the news, noting that it was becoming harder to believe officials on when their children would be able to return to class.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Melissa Dell, a parent in the District. “A lot of parents are losing faith that we’ll be going back on the 16th because of the back-and-forth.”
District officials encourage parents to reach out to local, county and state officials to urge them to immediately allow the NSD to exercise its waiver and to permit the return of our TK-2 students back to our campuses.
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