Mill Valley School District parents, teachers, staff and trustees are split over the best way to reopen Mill Valley Middle School for in-person learning.
The district, which is set to return students at its five elementary schools to campuses in a hybrid model on Nov. 30, is still not in consensus on a similar return date at Mill Valley Middle School. In particular, parents are opposed to the extended distance learning model for middle school students who are medically compromised and cannot attend in person.
The district’s option, an online independent study program, does not include a Zoom program for students who need to stay home — or for those who might have to be quarantined and learning from home for up to two weeks, parent Jennifer Lin Cornwell said in an email.
“The option, to date, that the district is offering to students for whom it is not safe to attend school in person is, frankly, discriminatory,” Cornwell said. “No clear answer from the district as to why they are unable or unwilling to endorse and move forward with a plan that allows for synchronous (i.e., real-time) cohorts of students to attend classes.”
Cornwell is co-author of an online petition signed by more than 400 people demanding that the district postpone the Nov. 30 reopening date for the middle school until January. By then, the petition says, the district could “provide better options.”
Other parents said they agree the district needs the Zoom option, but they don’t want to delay the reopening for a second time. The district had originally planned to reopen for in-person instruction in October, but postponed it until Nov. 30 after issues with staffing the distance learning model.
“Every single day that our kids are not in school is creating harm and learning loss,” middle school parent Courtney Murphy said in an email. “The longer our schools are closed, the bigger this problem is going to be.”
Murphy said she fears that coronavirus numbers, increasing in Marin and the Bay Area in recent weeks, might result in schools having to close in January.
“We’re just missing our window,” she said Wednesday. “This was our window this fall while numbers are low.”
District administrator Nicole Reyherme said that she and other staff are exploring the Zoom options, but that the process has been stalled over issues such as muffled sound quality if teachers wear face masks. Other aspects of the Zoom technology are finding ways to make it easier for teachers to give attention to two different groups of students at the same time.
Board chair Marco Pardi said the benefits of Zoom might outweigh the difficulties.
“This could be a game-changer for students who need to be home,” Pardi said at a board workshop on Tuesday.
Trustee Todd May agreed.
“The separation of the EDL students doesn’t make sense to me, when we can have them Zoom in,” he said, referring to extended distance learning. “From a social standpoint, it’s kind of a non-starter.”
The district trustees will resume discussion on the Mill Valley Middle School issues at their regular public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday. After that, parents will need to make a choice by Friday on whether to send their children back for in-person learning or keep them in distance learning, said district spokesperson Amanda Finlaw.
In addition to the extended distance learning model, Mill Valley parents and teachers are at odds over which hybrid instructional model to use at the Mill Valley Middle School. Two options are under discussion:
• a “3-by-3” model of three 70-minute classes for three days, with the other two days using distance learning.
• a “4-by-4” model of six periods per day of 40-minute classes for four days, with the fifth day being all distance learning. On the days of six class periods, half the students would attend the first three periods in person on campus, while the other half are in distance learning at home. After lunch, the two groups would switch.
Teachers at Tuesday’s board workshop said they preferred the 3-by-3 model because it gave them more time to delve into topics and more flexibility to work one-on-one with students. They said the 4-by-4 model was too rushed to provide effective teaching time.
“The number one priority is content,” said math teacher Evan Lloyd.
English and drama teacher Trish Manwaring said the 70-minute class, which includes 10 minutes of check-in time, would offer a more cohesive student experience than splitting kids up into morning and afternoon cohorts.
“As a teacher, I like the idea of having a community, knowing we’re all in it together for an hour,” she said.
Parents, however, said they are opposed to the 3-by-3 model because they said it does not have sufficient instructional minutes and it skips over one of the four core academic topics in each six-week semester. They say the 4-by-4 model is more academically rigorous and thus more desirable.
“The hybrid in-person/virtual instruction model offers a steep reduction in live teaching time as well as cutting in half the number of courses students will take at any given time,” parent Angela Miller, a co-author of the petition, said in an email, referring to the district’s initial plan of the 3-by-3 model and the independent online learning program.
At least two Marin school districts — Larkspur-Corte Madera and Nicasio — are using Zoom to teach in-person students and offsite students simultaneously. Earlier this month, a group of Reed Union parents sent a letter to teachers in the district urging them to lobby the district’s board of trustees to purchase the Zoom technology.
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November 12, 2020 at 07:38AM
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Mill Valley factions debate middle school reopening - Marin Independent Journal
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