Santa Maria Joint Union High School District seniors returned to in-person learning for the first time in more than a year on April 20, and school officials say all is going well so far. Some students opted to continue distance learning, and those who returned are on a hybrid model.
For now, only 12th grade students at Pioneer Valley High School, Santa Maria High School, Ernest Righetti High School, and Delta High School have the option to be on campus part time.
Pioneer Valley Principal Shanda Herrera said the high school had about 150 seniors on campus for the first day back, and spirits were running high.
“We welcomed the kids with an inflatable tunnel, breakfast, water bottles, and then every student got a candy bag with a PV mask,” Herrera said. “We also had a DJ for them at lunch for the first two days of school.”
Herrera said allowing the seniors to optionally return will give them “a chance to walk the campus again and allow them to have some closure for the year,” and also to engage with their teachers in ways not possible at a distance.
“In ag classes today, outside they sheared a sheep and they built step stools. You can’t do that over Zoom,” Herrera said. “I have one ag teacher, he is committed to doing a hands-on project once a week until the kids graduate—getting the kids out from behind the screen and really letting them have that time.”
Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Superintendent Antonio Garcia said teachers are making the most of having students in person while maintaining safety protocols.
“Things still need to be conducted in a safer manner in the classroom,” Garcia said. “But nonetheless, for example, some of the science teachers have been able to conduct some of their labs in person, and other teachers have been doing other hands-on instruction. Most people know we have a strong career technical education program across all of our schools in the district, and so a lot of that learning takes place beyond the textbook.”
District Public Information Officer Kenny Klein said school officials will be evaluating the return on a weekly basis to make sure things are operating safely and smoothly.
“We just wanted to see how it goes … to bring the students back in the safest way possible,” district Public Information Officer Kenny Klein told the Sun. “As the environment becomes safer, I’d like to have all the kids back, to give students an opportunity to come back, but when it’s safe to do so. We’re evaluating the ninth through 11th graders on a weekly basis for an opportunity to return.”
Garcia said he’s been in conversation with other school officials to assess how things are going, as well as keeping a close eye on COVID-19 metrics.
“We’re looking not only at our county tier, but looking at our local data here in Santa Maria. Things are looking very favorable in that regard,” he said. “Those are some of the factors that we have been looking at very closely, and will do so here in the next few days, to then make a determination and bring a recommendation to the board about the possibility of bringing any other students back in person.”
Under the current hybrid model, all students are on Zoom on Mondays. Seniors who want to be on campus are broken up into two groups based on their last names, with half on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other half on campus Wednesdays and Fridays.
Garcia said that across the high schools, as of April 26, about 40 percent of 12th graders have decided to come back to campus with the hybrid model, and the others are opting to stay fully at a distance. But if a distance-learning senior decides they’d like to come back to campus in a future week, it’s not too late.
“We are going to leave that option open for our students, if others would like to come back in the hybrid model,” Garcia said.
Righetti High School social science teacher Joseph Graack said he was happy for the students who decided to come back, especially after seniors last year had to miss quintessential 12th grade activities like prom and graduation.
“It was smooth, kids were happy to be back,” he said. “I think [the hybrid model] is good to get us through the rest of the year and try to acclimate things together, in terms of who else they bring on campus.”
But in the long term, Graack said it might be unsustainable. He said it’s challenging to simultaneously teach online and in-person students. Superintendent Garcia acknowledged that “it requires a lot more work.”
“There are different types of arrangements that teachers have had to work out to make sure that their instruction is engaging for those students that are in the classroom physically and those that are at home,” Garcia said. “We have provided a lot of technology to help facilitate their instruction in this hybrid model. … That has been very helpful, but I also acknowledge that it’s not easy.”
But after more than a year at a distance, Garcia said having students back on campus in any capacity “feels amazing.”
“I spent time at all of our schools last week, walking around the campus and visiting multiple classrooms,” he said. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 6, 2021.
