By Mackenzie Mays for POLITICO 08/25/2020 07:05 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Schools are not allowed to operate in the vast majority of the state, but California issued guidelines Tuesday that would enable some programs in any county to open — including special education and learning hubs — with small cohorts in person.
The California Department of Public Health issued new guidance on Tuesday that requires no more than 14 children and two adults to gather as cohorts in “controlled, supervised, and indoor environments” operated by schools and nonprofits, public or private. Those include day camps, youth groups and after school and recreational programs.
The guidance does not override school reopening rules currently mandated by the state, where more than 90 percent of campuses are unable to open after a summer surge landed their counties on the state watch list. Tuesday’s guidelines apply to schools that cannot currently reopen but may operate some limited programs, California Health and Human Services spokesperson Rodger Butler said.
The rules provide the only path for a California school to provide in-person instruction without obtaining a waiver from a county health officer or avoiding the state watch list.
The changes give flexibility to students considered most at risk from distance learning. Those include children needing occupational therapy, speech and language services and behavioral services. It also includes students vulnerable to abuse or neglect or whose family is homeless. English learners and students at “higher risk of further learning loss or not participating in distance learning” are also eligible for in-person instruction through small groups.
Students and teachers must stay with only one cohort, and they should not physically interact with other cohorts, according to the guidance. Adults and students must use face coverings at all times, as well as maintain social distance.
The state says that approach limits potential exposure and allows for more efficient contact tracing and quarantining should a student or teacher become infected.
In issuing the guidelines, Newsom officials appear willing to allow schools to accept some level of risk in exchange for serving students who would suffer harm from prolonged isolation through distance learning. Special education families expressed concerns in the spring that their students’ needs were going unmet and that parents were incapable of providing the specialized care they needed. Children’s advocates have warned that many students rely on school not just for education, but to detect child abuse, provide meals and ensure social and emotional support they do not receive at home.
Some cities, counties and nonprofits have launched learning hubs that provide child care while helping students complete their virtual lessons, helping working parents who cannot watch their children all day.
Butler said the new rules aren’t intended to allow small private schools to reopen entirely because previous guidance on full campus reopening remains in effect. But private schools can open “for the purpose of providing specialized services, targeted services and support for students while schools are otherwise closed for in-person instruction.”
