Newport-Mesa Unified weighs option of returning TK-6 students to full-day instruction on April 19

For Newport-Mesa Unified School District parents and students longing for a return to a traditional school schedule after more than a year of distanced and hybrid learning, a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon this week.

District officials announced Monday they are considering the possibility of returning elementary school students to full-day instruction upon the resumption of classes following spring break. If that plan is seen through, some 9,247 children could go back to their regular schedules as soon as April 19.

In an email to parents and teachers, Supt. Russell Lee-Sung made no guarantees but said the district has been working to increase in-person instruction at TK-6 schools before the end of the school year.

“Due to the improving circumstances, we are considering full-day instruction to commence after spring recess,” Lee-Sung wrote. “There is much work to be done to make this transition.”

The superintendent promised to update the school community in the coming weeks and emphasized the district’s middle and high schools would remain under a hybrid mix of in-person and remote learning for the time being.

Newport Beach resident Kevin Fairfax, father of a second-grader at Mariners Elementary School and an Ensign Intermediate School seventh-grader, had mixed reactions to Monday’s announcement.

“I noticed there were a lot of caveats in the email, so I’m not sure how for sure the 19^th will be,” Fairfax said of the possible return date. “[But] it would be great to get six or seven weeks of ‘real’ school for the first time in 13 months.”

The news comes days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a $6.6-billion school reopening plan designed to incentivize school districts to reopen elementary school campuses, in part, by offering to fund COVID-19 testing efforts.

Newport-Mesa reopened elementary school campuses under a hybrid learning model in late September and brought secondary schools back in early November, before briefly returning them to full distance learning for three weeks in January during a post-holiday coronavirus spike observed throughout Orange County.

NMUSD spokeswoman Annette Franco said Wednesday logistics were still too complicated at this time to consider a return to full-day learning for middle and high school campuses.

“There are so many complexities at the secondary level, especially with students changing classes multiple times a day,” she said. “So right now, our focus is on the youngest and neediest kids and trying to get them more in-person instructional time.”

Newport-Mesa officials are also assuring families that, barring any state prohibitions that might come down the pike, they have every intention of providing full-day instruction for all TK-12 students in fall of 2021.

A 100% virtual Cloud Campus, currently attended by about 1,700 students, will continue to remain open for the time being for families who prefer to continue remote instruction.

“Having our students back in classrooms full time provides many benefits, and we believe that these positive improvements with COVID-19 will give us the ability to make this a reality for our students,” Lee-Sung said in Monday’s email.

Orange County health officials on Wednesday reported 56 new coronavirus infections countywide, a figure drastically lower than the 4,204 cases reported just one month ago.

An online coronavirus dashboard maintained by Newport-Mesa Unified on Wednesday showed 29 cases among the district’s 31 school campuses, compared to 185 cases reported on Jan. 15.

Franco said an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations may be contributing to the downward trend. While NMUSD teachers are not required to get vaccinated, she added, the district is working with the county’s Department of Education to ensure every employee has the opportunity to do so.

“Whoever wants it, we’re going to see that they get it,” Franco said.

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