PUSD Parents Push For New Virtual Option Amid Delta Variant

PLEASANTON, CA — A group of Pleasanton parents is pushing the Pleasanton Unified School District to expand its repertoire of virtual offerings as the highly transmissible delta variant continued to spread.

The district currently offers in-person classes and The Pleasanton Virtual Academy, which has a separate set of teachers, for remote students.

But the Parents of PUSD Students group circulated an online petition, now signed by 800 people as of Wednesday, that called for a second virtual option: Students currently assigned to in-person classrooms should be able to switch to remote learning if they wish and keep their current teacher or teachers. That means teachers would simultaneously offer in-person and online instruction.

That practice would defy state law, district spokesperson Patrick Gannon said. "While we understand these parents' concerns, we are not able to offer remote learning or provide concurrent instruction based on current law," he said in an email.

Gannon pointed to Assembly Bill 130, a wide-ranging education bill that the legislature passed in July. The bill paved the way for school districts and county education offices to establish independent study opportunities — such as Pleasanton's virtual academy — but bars school districts from offering remote learning as it did last school year, he said.

Some students returned to Pleasanton classrooms last year, but it wasn't a typical learning experience. Many in-person students participated with laptops on their desks, much like the students at home.

Even experienced educators found this method of teaching to be "an instructional nightmare" that made it difficult for teachers to effectively engage with either group of students, Chalkbeat reported.

Parents of PUSD Students said in its petition that it believes the district "is passively forcing [us] to choose in-person learning," since virtual academy is a form of home-schooling, and students need parental assistance.

"So if both parents are working, who will be teaching the kids?" parents said.

The group sent a letter Tuesday to Pleasanton's mayor, vice mayor, City Council and school district asking them to provide the secondary option for students to keep their teachers but learn at home because schooling "should be equitable and should not discriminate and segregate vulnerable students" who wish to stay home due to COVID-19 concerns.

Parents of PUSD Students also asked for schools to ensure social distancing and that additional safeguards are in place for in-person students. Kids are too close to one another, talking and eating without masks during lunchtime, the group said.

Gannon pointed to a statement from the California Department of Public Health, which declared that, in accordance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, students need not wear masks outdoors. Students do not need to maintain social distancing indoors, so long as they are masked, the state said.

"Our COVID-19 safety plan for PUSD schools goes beyond state and county requirements by requiring masks indoors and outdoors," Gannon said. "We continue to have air purifiers in each classroom and exceed air filtration requirements for classrooms and learning spaces at all schools."

Parents of PUSD Students noted in its letter that students have tested positive for COVID-19. Fifteen new COVID-19 cases were reported among the PUSD community from Aug. 7 to Friday, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard. In all, the school district is home to 14,000 students and more than 1,000 teachers.

Parents also expressed concern that families were not being notified in a timely manner of COVID-19 cases.

Gannon said the district continues to encourage families to immediately notify school officials of positive COVID-19 test results and requires all families to fill out a daily questionnaire asking about possible symptoms and exposures.

"Our ability to contact trace and notify close contacts and share general notices with the school community is reliant on the timely notification by parents/guardians," he said.

View a Q&A on school district COVID-19 protocols.