Santa Monica Schools Inch Towards Reopening

SANTA MONICA, CA — The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District announced Friday that it will cautiously begin on-campus learning for special education students. At the same time, the district is going back to the drawing board to figure out the best way to reopen all its campuses for all its students as county infection rates continue to soar.

Since Oct. 22, Los Angeles County schools have been allowed to let back 25 percent of students with disabilities. Unlike nearby Las Virgenes Unified School District, which allowed 198 students with disabilities to attend in morning and afternoon cohorts back in early October, SMMUSD is rolling out the process very slowly. In a letter sent to parents Friday, the district announced that it will divide its first set of reopenings into different phases, separated by performance reviews that will determine if the district can move forward with the next phase.

Families that wish to continue Distance Learning will be able to do so.

Starting this week, children of staff, students attending special education preschool, adult transition classes, and English language learners at select Santa Monica locations will be able to attend starting on different days, and at different times. The first reopenings, which the district says are subject to change, are as follows:

After these select openings, the district will conduct one of four reviews to determine how well the schools were able to follow strict LA County reopening protocols. "If we find that we need more time to prepare for the next phase - this could have to do with safety protocols, staffing, and possibly a change in guidance by [LA County Department of Public Health], we would delay the next phase until [it] can be rolled out with confidence," said district spokesperson Gail Pinsker.

If the first review, which will take place at a date yet to be determined, is successful, students in two pre-academic classes at Grant Elementary School will be able to return either on Mondays and Wednesdays, or Tuesdays and Thursdays three to five days later:

Three to five days after a second review, students at Franklin Elementary School, Santa Monica High School, Muir Elementary School, and Malibu Elementary School taking "Specialized Academic Instruction" courses will be able to return during yet-to-determined chunks of time:

After the third review, SAI classes with different instructors at Malibu Elementary School, McKinley Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Malibu Middle/High School, Roosevelt Elementary School, John Adams Middle School, and Santa Monica High School will return at yet-to be determined times:

After a final review, SAI students and students in the Structured Therapeutic Education program will return at times yet to be determined.

The district also says that it has applied for a waiver to allow TK-2 students back on campus, which requires a thorough inspection from the Department of Public Health and consent from parents and teachers. So far, mostly private schools have been granted waivers, though the Las Virgenes Unified School District contained the first public schools in the county to be granted waivers.

The district is still planning how exactly it wants to plan for its general reopening. At the onset of winter and case rates climbing, LA County appears likely to remain in the most restrictive tier for the foreseeable future. According to Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati announced that meetings with staff and parents have revealed a wide range of opinions on the district's current approach, which involves giving families an option to remain in distance learning, or send their students back in morning and afternoon cohorts.

Drati wrote in a letter that he wants to organize a series of meetings over the next two weeks between parents, staff, and principals to debate new plans. Each school in the district will invite its principal, two parent leaders, two teachers, service union representative, teachers union representative, English language learner representative, and special education reps to weigh in on critical questions regarding scheduling, technology, accommodating students who don't wish to return to class, and ways teachers could collaborate to improve learning.

After the meetings, staff, parents, and secondary students will fill out a survey outlining their opinions on the best way to reopen, which will be presented to the school board Dec. 17.