Category: COVID

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) is continuing with in-person instruction despite major student and staff absences as the highly contagious Omicron variant rages across the nation. 

The district’s Reopening Dashboard shows that SCUSD has 322 active COVID cases among students and staff as of Tuesday, January 11 at 8:45 a.m. However, these numbers do not reflect positive tests taken at home, nor do they reflect positive tests taken outside of district testing sites. 

If SCUSD were to shift to online learning, it would be a district-level decision under guidance from the County Office of Education and the state, explained C.K. McClatchy Principal Andrea Egan.

“As you can imagine, most educators are earnestly working to keep school doors open as we recognize the impact school closures had on student mental health and learning loss students suffered due to prolonged closures. It’s unclear if our area will reach the full tipping point that might necessitate temporary closures due to staffing challenges,” Egan said. 

Sacramento County has not yet responded to inquiries by The Prospector about when the county would consider closing schools. The county has passed 200,000 confirmed cases of COVID. About 28,000 of those cases have come in the past two weeks. As of Tuesday, 464 are hospitalized, compared to 267 last week and 165 two weeks ago, said Sacramento Bee reporter Mike McGough. 

According to social studies teacher Lori Jablonski, McClatchy currently has about a 50 to 55 percent attendance rate. Multiple teachers are absent but the school has been fortunate to receive a decent number of substitutes to cover classes. In some cases, teachers are using their prep periods to fill in for missing teachers.

In an effort to combat staffing shortages, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Tuesday that loosens state barriers that delay the hire of qualified short-term substitutes. 

McClatchy’s on-site testing room has been averaging about 400 tests a day. Students are now required to receive a pass from a teacher in order to test. Those who are experiencing symptoms are also required to wait in the pool area until they receive their test result. 

In order to accommodate absent students and teachers, McClatchy has completely adjusted its finals week schedule. Typically, first semester finals take place during the last week of January and consist of three days of two two-hour exams. However, instead of hours-long exams, the school will be using the last week of the semester to focus on mental health and social emotional learning. 

“As COVID cases have increased along with student and staff absences, a site level agreement has been made to minimize traditional comprehensive final exams this semester. Our site level concern is students having missed important instruction to prepare for a cumulative final and/or they may be absent during finals week due to illness or quarantine,” Egan said in an update on Tuesday, January 12. 

Some teachers may still choose to give unit tests or modified final tests, but for the most part traditional finals will not be administered.

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

As the Sacramento City Unified School District assesses its Omicron cases, teacher shortages are posing another major challenge for students and the district alike.

On Wednesday, January 5 a whopping 490 teachers in SCUSD were absent, according to a data request made by the Sacramento City Teachers Association. 345 substitute teachers were able to fill in for missing teachers, but there weren’t enough substitutes. 145 absent teachers had no substitutes covering their classes. 

Using this data, nearly 30 percent of teacher absences on Wednesday weren’t filled in by substitutes. The previous day, about 25 percent of teacher absences weren’t covered. 

Schools experiencing both teacher absences and substitute shortages are faced with an unfortunate situation. At C.K. McClatchy, classes with no teacher or substitute are sent to the library, gym, or auditorium. 

These staffing shortages come as tens of thousands of students return to school as Omicron cases rapidly increase across the county. 

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

As of January 3 the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) had about 500 reported COVID cases, according to Communications Manager Al Goldberg. Those who tested positive are now in quarantine.

The district supplied around 38,000 take-home tests to staff and students before and during winter break. Elementary schools were prioritized in distribution to ensure that younger students ineligible for the vaccine received tests. Some high schools like C.K. McClatchy did not receive enough tests to supply its entire student population. 

Approximately 20,000 test results were submitted to the Primary Health website portal. Considering these numbers, 1 in every 40 reported test results were positive. 

Students and families may access the district’s “Reopening Dashboard” website, which provides information and graphics about the district’s overall vaccination rates among students and staff, as well as breakdowns by grade level and school site. The “COVID-19 Dashboard” section of the website (the third section) provides information on positive tests and quarantines in the district and by school. However it does not reflect the number of students and staff who tested positive over winter break and stayed home to quarantine – it only reflects those who came to school and tested positive. 

SCUSD has currently made no indication that its schools will return to online learning. When asked if the district may consider virtual learning amidst the Omicron surge, Goldberg stated “SCUSD and our schools are working hard to provide testing, vaccine clinics, and contact tracing so we can keep our schools open for in-person instruction. We continue to monitor our case rates and public health guidance to be sure that we are operating safely as possible.”

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) experienced a shortage in take-home COVID testing kits to provide to students after the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) didn’t meet the district’s requests for test kits. According to SCUSD Student Support and Health Services Director Victoria Flores, the CDPH offered to provide take-home tests to the district for students and staff to use over winter break. It was a grant-funded program through CDPH. 

In total, SCUSD received around 38,000 test kits. The district prioritized elementary schools first. Only 1,260 test kits were sent to McClatchy, whose student population is over 2,200. According to Principal Andrea Egan, McClatchy “did not receive near enough for all students.” McClatchy athletes who are required to test regularly were provided with kits to continue sports practices throughout the break, but the majority of students did not receive any. 

Flores explained that SCUSD worked to obtain more test kits after initially receiving fewer than requested, but shipping delays impacted kit delivery. “We are hopeful to get more this week and continue providing these resources to our community,” Flores said. 

The testing complications occurred as the highly contagious COVID variant, Omicron, spreads rapidly across the country – among vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike. Tens of thousands of SCUSD students will return to in-person learning on Monday, January 3 after winter break. 

The district has sent out multiple alerts to its families and students requesting that all students who received a take-home test submit their test results. It asks students who have been exposed, live with someone who has tested positive, or are showing symptoms to stay home and immediately get tested. “If you did not receive a home test, you may also access testing at school tomorrow in the Care room. Remain masked and distanced as possible from others until you get a negative test,” the alert reads. 

According to Flores, all district schools have daily onsite testing. Testing is also available Monday through Friday at the Serna Center from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and at Albert Einstein Middle School from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. On McClatchy’s campus, testing is available in the pool room. McClatchy will not be requiring its students to get tested upon return from break, despite being unable to distribute take-home tests to most of its students.

SCUSD also hosts a number of vaccine clinics, and encourages its community members to get vaccinated. Children aged 12 and older are now eligible for a booster shot if they are six months past their second dose of the vaccine. More information about vaccine clinics can be found here. 

Update: January 3, 9 a.m.

The Sacramento County Department of Education stated that it had not received a shipment of 248,000 tests it was expecting from the CDPH, according to KCRA 3. California ordered six million at-home tests from the federal government to distribute throughout the state. The shortage in tests has affected many school districts, including SCUSD.

This is an ongoing story that The Prospector will continue covering.