Robert Meszaros with the Superintendent of Schools was excited to hear Tuesday that Kern County moved up into the red tier, which will allow some students to return to the classroom as early as October 28th.
However, Meszaros says this will be done in a measured and incremental approach. "There shouldn’t be an expectation that we're just going to open the flood gates and allow every student back onto campus."
Meszaros says all the districts are currently in the process of fine-tuning their reopening plans, but students will start to return in phases or small cohorts. He says, "really with a focus on prioritizing those students who are most vulnerable to learning loss. Those students include students like those with disabilities, students who are still learning English, homeless and foster youth."
Meszaros adds that many districts will likely bring back their younger students first. He says, "they start with the TK and K, and move up from there.”
Tehachapi Unified, one of many districts announcing their plans to reopen schools through a zoom meeting Tuesday night. The district's first cohort will be students with moderate to severe disabilities. They will return at the end of the month.
The second cohort will include homeless or foster students, along with English learner students. Their tentative start date is November 9th. Those with moderate to mild learning disabilities would start November 30th and any other student groups impacted by distance learning would start December 7th. And each cohort would be separated and limited to the amount of students.
And Tehachapi, along with all other 46 school districts in Kern County, are asked to follow all health protocols and guidelines given by the local and state public health departments.
