Twenty-one schools in Santa Barbara County have earned waivers to start in-person classes, and several have already welcomed students back to campus.
School reopening plans are reviewed by the state and county public health departments, and only K-6 schools are allowed to apply.
The county is on track to move into a less-restrictive tier under the state’s COVID-19 reopening system, in which case all local schools would be allowed to hold in-person classes in mid-October.
At Cold Spring School, nearly 90 percent of students have returned to campus for in-person instruction, while the rest of the student population is continuing with modified remote instruction, Principal Amy Alzina said.
Cold Spring School students had their first day back on campus on Tuesday, and Alzina said she stood out front to greet returning families.
“It’s been absolutely amazing seeing our students on our campus happy and learning again. Parents are happy to see that their kid has a smile on their face again,” she said. “Students are hungry for social-emotional support, and for many of our kids this is lifesaving.”
About 40 parents headed to the campus last weekend to prepare for the students’ return, Alzina said, and other volunteers have been building outdoor classroom spaces, including whiteboards, industrial tents, and new and refurbished furniture.
While the school year started Aug. 18 for remote learning, teachers already had their indoor classrooms set up. That allowed staff and parents to focus on creating an outdoor learning space once their waiver was approved, Alzina said.
“We wanted our students to see that this is not forever and that we were still planning to open up,” she said. “This is our opportunity as educators and leaders to really reinvent education. We can take this challenge as a negative, or we can choose to turn it into a positive.”
At Cold Spring School, one of the only local public schools to apply for a waiver so far, students receive temperature checks as they come to class every day, and masks are required for every student. The school hired additional cleaning staff to make sure that everything is sanitized and disinfected as students leave for the day.
Providence School began its staggered reopening on Monday, with kindergarten classes coming in first, and other classes coming back to campus one grade per day. By next Wednesday, all K-6 classes will be back on campus.
“This staggered reopening will allow students and staff sufficient time to become familiar with the new procedures,” said Elaine Rottman, Providence’s director of strategic communications.
When students arrive at the Providence campus each day, they will be screened for temperatures and COVID-19 symptoms in their cars. To ensure there are no large gatherings, most classes were split into two, Rottman said. The school added another classroom and hired an additional teacher.
Students will stay with their small cohorts throughout the entire day, Rottman said, and there are three lunch times so that students aren’t mingling with others outside their cohort.
Other schools have received approved waivers and are preparing to reopen soon.
Crane Country Day School had its written re-entry plan ready to go even before the county started accepting reopening waivers, according to Debbie Williams, the school’s director of development. The school applied for the waiver as soon as it was possible, and got approved last week.
Crane Country Day School plans to reopen Thursday for kindergarten through second grade. Third through fifth grades are expected to come back by Oct. 12, Williams said.
After the waiver was approved, school leaders sent parents a survey through which they could indicate whether they wanted their child to return to school. Parents are allowed to vote on that every quarter, according to Williams, so that students can still return later in the year if the parents start to feel more comfortable with COVID-19 conditions.
“We want to give parents that flexibility so that they are able to choose what’s best for their student. Our two key words for the year are flexibility and fluidity,” she said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. You really have to consider your constituents and the people that make up your community.”
Montecito Union School has been working on a comprehensive reopening plan for months, according to Superintendent Anthony Ranii, and that included consulting with staff members, parents and community members.
Montecito Union had its waiver approved Sept. 15 and will reopen to all grades on Monday.
Ranii said 94 percent of parents are planning to send their students back to school next week, and the rest are waiting for general COVID-19 conditions to get better.
The school planned to start the year with 21 classes, but it now has 26 to keep class sizes down. All 26 classes have outdoor areas as well as indoor classrooms to follow safety precautions.
“We put out lots of tables, benches and structures so that every class has an outdoor learning area,” Ranii said. “We want to spend as much time learning outside as possible because that’s what’s safer for our students.”
The campus will be closed to visitors, including parents, to make sure the small cohorts do not mix, Ranii said.
As of Friday, the schools approved for reopening waivers include:
» The Howard School in Carpinteria
» The Knox School of Santa Barbara
» Laguna Blanca Lower School
» Waldorf School of Santa Barbara
» Coastline Christian Academy
» Pacific Christian Elementary School
» Santa Ynez Valley Family School
» Santa Ynez Valley Christian Academy
» Valley Christian Academy
» St. Mary of the Assumption School
» St. Raphael School
» Crane Country Day School
» Montessori Center School
» Marymount School
» Providence School
» Montecito Union School District
» Cold Spring Elementary School District
» Notre Dame School
» Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
» Dunn School (sixth grade only)
» St. Louis de Montfort
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.