Newport-Mesa Unified trustees may hold off on reopening secondary schools until January
With thousands of secondary students poised to return to Costa Mesa and Newport Beach public schools next week, Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials have called a special meeting to discuss delaying reopening campuses until the spring semester.
Board members will meet Thursday at 2 p.m. to discuss whether to keep students in seventh through 12th grades attending school using a distance learning model through Dec. 17.
The news comes days before the district had planned to return students to class. A hybrid schedule that would divide learners into smaller cohorts spread throughout the week was set to begin Monday. Elementary school and special education students returned to campuses in a limited capacity last week.
District officials said the return Tuesday to in-person classes went smoothly. But teachers still negotiating with NMUSD over a reopening plan are seeking an injunction that, if approved, could reclose the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa campuses.
“With the input from all secondary site principals and the need to further assess the support structures for student learning and instruction while in-person and at home via distance learning within the Level 2 Hybrid model, a delay in the secondary school start date is necessary,” stated a summary in the special meeting agenda.
NMUSD is negotiating with two employee unions — the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers and California School Employee Assn. — over working conditions related to the hybrid model but hasn’t yet reached an agreement with either.
“The district continues to negotiate and meet regularly with employee associations ... on the transition to reopening schools,” spokeswoman Annette Franco said in a statement Wednesday. “These efforts will continue as we adapt our efforts to support the best possible learning and working environment.”
Last week, unionized teachers circulated signed letters throughout the school community enumerating what they say are still unresolved issues pertaining to safety measures, equipment and potential instructional loss of student-teacher time in the new model.
NMFT President Tamara Fairbanks said while teachers have decided to hold off on seeking an injunction to stop Newport-Mesa schools from reopening, members are still actively advocating for a delayed reopening at secondary schools.
“Hopefully, if they do approve this, that would give us more time to put more measures in place, so there would be a smoother transition,” Fairbanks said. “Delaying a full semester — academically, as a teacher, that makes sense to me. It’s less disruptive to their learning.”
The Laguna Beach Unified School District welcomed elementary school students back for in-person learning this week. But what about the city’s middle school and high school students? They have to wait until late November.
Meanwhile classified employees maintain Newport-Mesa has still not implemented all the promised safety measures on campuses. CSEA President Pam Saunders told board members Tuesday classified employees are bringing their own supplies to work.
“We were promised that we wouldn’t start in-person instruction until it was safe to do so and all safety precautions were in place for students and staff,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately, that is not the case.”
In a regular meeting Tuesday, trustees approved a tentative agreement with CSEA for the 2020-21 school year. District officials estimated the terms of the agreement will cost Newport-Mesa $1,161,051.
It calls for a one-time payment equivalent to 1% of employees’ base salaries and a $500 stipend for full-time employees to support the increased use of personal technology equipment and materials (part-time faculty stipends will be pro-rated).
Employee contributions to health and welfare benefits will remain consistent with last school year, and language regarding professional growth has been clarified.
Leona Olson, the Newport-Mesa assistant superintendent of human resources, clarified the agreement excludes still-ongoing talks regarding school reopening.
“We have had some really difficult conversations,” she said, “[and] we continue to work very, very hard on the negotiations on reopening. I really appreciate the dialogue we have with both teams.”
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