Why Didn't Carlsbad USD Reopen?
September 29, 2020
In June, the CUSD Board of Trustees presented 2 learning options for students in the Fall:
1) a Full In-Person Model for full-time, in-person classes 5 days per week, or
2) a Virtual Model for online-only study via Carlsbad Seaside Academy.
A Hybrid "contingency plan" Model for partial online and partial in-person school was also created as an alternative to the Full In-Person Model "in the case that public health changes the requirements for physical distancing and/or
gathering size."
Parents selected their option in July and eagerly awaited a full return to school. By September, in spite of having complete approval from the State and County for reopening with the Full In-Person Model, CUSD never considered, discussed or voted on this plan. Despite taking a 2nd parent survey where 82% favored the Full In-Person Model, the Board ignored parent preference and forced elementary students into the Hybrid Model - after initially selecting a High-Flex Hybrid Model that was so universally opposed by parents and teachers the Board called a Special Meeting to change their vote to the original Hybrid.
For middle and high schools, the District said that their own Hybrid Model was so poor that the Board's only option was to keep all secondary schools in Distance Learning...INDEFINITELY. The District never even asked the middle and high school parents for their preference, likely worried that - like the elementary parents - they would overwhelmingly choose the Full In-Person Model that the Board had originally proposed but now had no intention of offering.
Worse yet, the Board & District have NO PLAN to return students to full-time learning. They've thrown in the towel!
Tragic reports continue to mount that distance learning is failing our students - causing rapid declines in learning skills and exacerbating inequities mainly due to the consequences of keeping students at home in poor learning environments and with inadequate technology. When coupled with the mounting evidence of suicides, abuse, hunger, depression and other physical and mental health issues, it is nonsensical to think it is better for children to be kept out of schools.
The actions by the Board have denied CUSD students their fundamental right to an equal education under the California Constitution, and as other school districts across the country go back to school, CUSD students will fall even further behind than they already have. We cannot sit by and watch while the Board does nothing to get our students back into the classroom.
Please join us and write the Board to tell them you want our schools opened up now!