On Wednesday, district superintendent Don Austin announced that schools would not reopen for the rest of the academic year. “We empathize with students who were holding out hope for a return this year,” Austin wrote in a message to the community. “Most people knew that reopening this year was unlikely given the challenges facing our nation and a virus still spreading rapidly.” 

The announcement was preceded by a series of successive events throughout the week in response to the escalating public health crisis with the novel coronavirus. In Santa Clara County, there are currently more than 1000 cases of the COVID-19 disease; worldwide, the number has topped one million. On Monday, the Bay Area shelter-in-place order was extended to May 1 to continue the community efforts to “flatten the curve.” 

Following that, California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond suggested in a letter sent to county officials on Tuesday that the current health safety crisis might prevent school campuses from opening in the near future. 

While Austin did not release an official statement the same day, the previous events culminated in a decision to keep schools closed for the remainder of the semester. Classes and clubs will have no more in-person meetings, and a number of events from second semester will not take place. On Thursday, athletic director Curtis Johansen further clarified via Schoology that all spring athletics are cancelled for the rest of the 2020 season. 

District to move into “Phase 3” of online learning after spring break

In a March 20 interview, Austin confirmed that if schools would be closed through the rest of the school year, the district would be moving toward “Phase 3” of online learning, in which work will be graded. “After spring break, it’s going to start looking a whole lot like we are a virtual school, to the best of our ability,” he said. “It’s going to take us some time, but I’d say after spring break, it’s going to look like this is where we’re settling—trying to replicate instruction to the best of our ability.”

Goals and changes for Phase 3 include more regular contact with teachers, higher expectations for student work, accessible mental health and counseling services and the establishment of a special education system.

College Board releases new details regarding AP tests

On Friday morning, the College Board released new details about this year’s modified AP tests, which are shortened, open book and designed to be taken at home. Additionally, the tests will only contain free-response questions. See the full list of details here.

Graphic by Jocelyn Wang; photos by Jessica Wang and Joshua Yang.

Gunn Oracle: What primarily will drive your decision to resume school on April 13?

Superintendent Don Austin: At this point, we’re taking opening and not opening orders from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and the governor of the state of California. We certainly can’t step out in front of either of those two agencies. 

GO: What might factor into a decision to not open school?

DA: We’re not even sure that we’re in the peak of virus outbreaks yet. The peak may still be ahead. If there’s a second outbreak that starts in time in the near future, that will pretty much end school for the year.

GO: We heard that instructional minutes have been waived. Can you confirm that? [Education advocacy group Capitol Advisors Group informed the school board on Tuesday that the state of California has waived instructional minute requirements for the remainder of the school year.]

DA: Yes, instructional minutes have been waived. There’ll be no extension of the school year.

GO: Right now, for PAUSD, is the plan to just finish off the school year as is and pick up in the fall? In other words, will there be school in the summer?

DA: There will not be mandatory school in the summer. We’re trying to decide now if we’re going to have a summer school. Of course, that would depend on the governor allowing students to come back. We could do a virtual summer school not unlike what we’re trying to put together now for the rest of this year. 

GO: At the beginning of the decisions about school closures, how did you choose to use flexible learning options over online instruction?

DA: The reality is, we wanted to make sure we could deliver whatever we said we were going to do. While a lot of school districts said they were ready to go straight to online learning, they had no plan for it.  Even today, Los Angeles Unified [School District], which had said that they were going to go to online learning, pulled back. The first school district in Washington that made a big deal about saying how prepared they were got their program shut down by the state. A lot of districts around the area said that they were going to online learning, which was really PDF files downloaded from a website, or really poorly planned Zoom meetings. We’re trying to go slower and do it better. People think we’re behind for the first two weeks. I’m totally okay with that, because we’re going to do a better job in the long run.

GO: How do you plan to restructure the curriculum?

DA: The good news is that we have an army of instructional leads, and they’re working together tirelessly. We also set aside time, from 9 o’clock to 10 o’clock every day of the week for faculty-staff collaboration. We’re trying to provide tools, and they’re going to provide the curriculum.

GO: On the subject of flexible learning options, will flexible learning options remain optional? 

DA: Probably through spring break. On the back end, we’re going to have to figure out a system to start awarding credit. There’s a chance that our schools won’t come back at all this year, so we can’t make the rest of the year optional. Right now, what we’re encouraging students to do is to keep up their studies. If they don’t, it’s going to be harder to pick it back up.

GO: Let’s say that school remains closed for the rest of the year. If so, what is your process for building up from flexible online learning options to just pure online learning?

DA: We broke [our plan] into two phases. Phase One was this week, which was “let’s get our feet under us and give you guys some stuff to look at.”

GO: You’re buying time through Phase One, basically. 

DA: Yeah, exactly. That’s exactly what it is. [During] Phase Two, we’re easing in and getting our feet wet. We’re getting the students used to finding some time to connect with teachers during their office hours. I’m sure we’re going to start trying some group instruction through Zoom and trying some different things. After spring break, it’s gonna start looking a whole lot like we are a virtual school, to the best of our ability. It’s gonna take us some time, but I’d say after spring break, it’s going to look like this is where we’re settling—trying to replicate instruction to the best of our ability.

GO: So the main goal of the process is to eventually be able to fully transition into a virtual school.

DA: I’d say fully transition with reasonable expectations.

GO: Will teachers be allowed to use Zoom as we go forward in the next few weeks?

DA: Yes, teachers are not only allowed to use Zoom, but we also pushed out guidelines and training modules for teachers to be able to use it effectively. 

GO: How will AP courses work for the next few weeks or months? [On Friday morning, Collegeboard announced AP tests would be reduced to a shortened at-home test; AP tests will not test content covered after March.]

DA: I’ll be very surprised if you ever take an AP test this year. I would hope that there’s a way to mitigate this for AP students who took a class with the expectation of receiving college credit. But until it happens, it’s gonna be tough. It’s pretty clear that the gathering rules are going to make it impossible to test on school sites. If they can come up with an online version, that’s great, but I don’t think that’s a done deal yet. As of the information we have right this minute, there is not a good alternative to in-person testing. Trying [to have at-home AP tests] and implementing it are two different things. I’d be hopeful, but it would make sense if the College Board can’t do it. 

Update, 3/23: In light of College Board offering shortened AP tests online, Austin said that he was “both surprised and pleased to see that the College Board has created an avenue for AP testing.” The district will shortly be sending out a letter explaining the new process for testing, according to Austin. 

GO: What about the CAASPP testing now that federal standardized testing has been canceled? [On Friday morning, President Trump announced the Department of Education would not be enforcing federal requirements for standardized testing.]

DA: At the end of the day, it just didn’t make any sense to push forward with CAASPP testing this year. It’s not an editorial comment about the validity of the test. I’m a huge supporter of assessments to drive instruction to measure progress, but this year, that’s about the least important thing we should be worried about.

GO: You mentioned in some of your updates at the start of the process that you’re having some issues with communicating to the community. What are your plans for communication going forward?

DA: It’s a combination of posting and pushing information. But pretty soon, that’s going to shift from the district level to school sites. We had to answer a million questions in the beginning. But as we shift into what we’re calling Phase Two, which is the next two weeks, and then Phase Three, which is anytime after spring break, [communication is] going to be coming much more from principals and teachers.

GO: How do you plan on using the powers granted to you through the emergency resolution passed by the board a couple of days ago?

DA: If I need to do a contract with somebody to expand services, I can just do it now. It helps me to clarify and define work days for employees. Who knows what’s going to show up that’s unforeseen? There could be something that pops up that we would have never imagined. Instead of having to call a meeting, there could be something so important that I have to make a decision on the spot. The board has granted me that authority.

GO: How will the district handle cases of students testing positive for COVID-19?

DA: The reality is, we’re not reporting individual cases at this point. That’s at the direction of the county; they’re not reporting either. The guidance from the county is for everyone to assume that you’ve been exposed, or you’re going to be exposed. We should expect lots of cases across the state. That’s just the nature of this virus.

GO: What’s the system for free and reduced lunches now? And will you continue to use the same system in the coming weeks? [Currently, PAUSD distributes lunches at three different school sites in a drive-through delivery system.]

DA: Those rules are changing pretty rapidly. We’d like to be able to set up a volunteer delivery system. Right now that’s not allowed by the federal regulations, and we get a lot of trouble [if we violate] that. So I think [the situation] is going to keep evolving, but our Food Service program is up and operational. We’re doing about 600 meals a day—that might go up with time. 

GO: How are we accommodating students with Individualized Education Program (IEP) plans or 504 plans?

DA: We’re putting plans in place right now. The students that had the toughest time accessing material in the first place didn’t suddenly develop an ability to access it better remotely. We’re trying to find ways to support those students at home. We’re probably about a week out from being able to push out the services that we’re hoping to.

GO: Right now, a lot of students are understandably confused or anxious about the future. Is there anything you’d like to say to students right now?

DA: Have some faith in the people who have invested in you since you were here in kindergarten. The same teachers still care about you; in fact, I’m watching the work that they’re doing. It’s impressive, and it’s amazing.

We need to remember that three weeks ago, teachers weren’t thinking about shifting all of their instruction online. It’s going to take some time to do it well. Just like teachers have been understanding when students are trying to learn new material, we’re hoping that our students and families can be just as understanding while our teachers try to learn a very, very different way of providing instruction. 

For more answers to FAQs, check out Dr. Austin’s Plain Talk page on the PAUSD website: https://www.pausd.org/coronavirus/plain-talk-faq

Monday, March 16, 1:40p.m

Following the closure of Santa Clara County public schools on Friday, Bay Area health and administration officials ordered citizens in seven Bay Area counties—Santa Clara County included—to shelter themselves at home in a Monday press conference. “I recognize that this [order] is unprecedented, and if I thought last Friday’s announcement was hard, this one is exponentially harder,” Santa Clara County public health officer Sara Cody said. “We know we need to do this and we know we need a regional approach. We all must do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

According to officials, citizens may leave their residences for activities such as grocery shopping or taking walks outside; however, when outside, citizens must stay at least six feet away from each other. 

Friday, March 13, 8:30p.m.

In a Friday press conference, Santa Clara County health and administration officials announced the imminent and mandatory closure of all public schools from March 16 through April 3. Schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) will not reopen until Monday, April 13 at the earliest due to the prescheduled spring break. 

This move to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus comes after the number of COVID-19 cases in Santa Clara County has tripled in the past week, rising to a total of 79 infections. Santa Clara County public health officer Sara Cody cited the ever-increasing spread of COVID-19 as a reason to enact more aggressive measures in slowing the impact of the virus. “We anticipate many, many more cases in the days to come,” she said in a press conference on Friday. 

The lack of physical classrooms and in-person lessons place curriculum at a standstill. For now, all departments plan to release a series of flexible learning options through Schoology and other online platforms by Monday. Each course can provide up to one hour of work or lessons per week, according to principal Kathie Laurence. 

“We are not going to do online learning; we are going to provide some flexible learning options for students,” Laurence said. “When [school] resumes we’ll get back into the swing of things.”

The main goal of such options is to make resources available to students. “The idea of the flexible learning options is to just provide something for kids to remain connected to the subject,” social studies department instructional lead Jeff Patrick said. 

Teachers in the language department hope to keep online content consistent. “I’ve asked the instructors in my department to have things that are based on these four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, and [in] three modes: interpersonal, presentational and interpretive,” language department instructional lead Liz Matchett said. “[By] adding vocabulary and culture, the kids would be doing things that they would normally be doing in class.”

Despite the difficulties produced by the sudden change, superintendent Don Austin supported the decision to protect the entire community. “While children have not been shown to be a high-risk group for serious illness from COVID-19, they are still able to transmit the virus to populations who are most vulnerable to serious illness, such as older adults and those with compromised immune systems,” he wrote in an update following the announcement. 

Early changes to prevent this effect involved cancelling all gatherings involving more than 100 people in close proximity, a decision enacted on Monday; affected events included school dances, field trips and large assemblies. All athletic competitions were later suspended by the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League on Thursday. 

Such decisions incited mixed reactions from the community. On Monday evening, a newly-created Facebook messenger group with over 250 student members served as the platform to voice complaints over the postponement—and subsequent cancellation—of prom. More expressed disappointment at the loss of highly-anticipated field trips. 

Others respected the district’s decisions. “I think the district is doing a great job,” choir teacher Bill Liberatore said. “What are they supposed to do? These are huge questions with huge ramifications. And [the district is] being thoughtful; they’re being methodical. They’re not panicking.”

Teachers faced uncertainty prior to the cancellation of school, leaving their next steps unclear. “We’ve been mentally preparing, but not preparing online,” science department instructional lead Laurie Pennington said. “Personally, I haven’t been preparing online because I didn’t know what I would need to do or what the scope was.”

While some students might anticipate settling in for a long break, Austin stressed that the cancellation of schools would only be effective if students refrained from exposure to public settings, including malls, movie theaters and other indoor spaces. He closed with an appreciative message for the community. “We understand that implementing these changes with such limited notice is challenging and may be disruptive; we appreciate your patience and cooperation,” he wrote. “We are grateful to community members throughout our county for their tremendous efforts during these unprecedented times.”