Oceanside Schools Fall Reopening - Update/Board Meeting

So… the fight continues.

A warning for you.  This is long.  It’s full of facts and numbers.  I feel it’s worth your time to read through it so  you have a good idea of what the current situation is, but that’s up to you.

As we saw in the Board Meeting this week, the District is proceeding full steam ahead on it’s plans for distance learning this year.  That is a good thing given that’s the path we’re on, but as we’ve said all along that does not prevent the District from preparing and presenting a plan for in-person learning that is safe for everyone – kids and teachers.

We appreciate the effort they are putting in to making sure their distance learning plans are the best they can be, but need to point out they have not yet done what parents asked them to do in early June - provide a realistic plan for a safe reopening, when that is once again allowable.  658 parents signed our petition, but no action has been taken.

Now, as we saw in the news this week, there is another option.  The Governor has created a “waiver” process, where K-6 schools can request an exception to the rules to allow limited in-person instruction.

That instruction needs to be based on a plan that is considered safe for both kids and teachers (of course), and needs to be based on consultation with the parents and teachers at that school.

In Oceanside, one of the hurdles we have to opening in a way that is safe for all is the distancing needed to do that.  Earlier this summer we saw a “hybrid plan” proposal introduced by the District that solved this by splitting the kids into two groups and having them attend class on different days – which would cut the class size in half.

If cutting the class size in half is part of what would make both kids and teachers safe, we think that’s a good idea.  Let’s do that.

We know that distance learning is hard at all grades – for some kids more than others – and has inequities built into it, particularly for special needs kids, families that don’t have access to the right technology, or families that have work obligations making it difficult for them to deal with having their kids at home all day.  But I think we would all agree that elementary school kids have the most difficulty and are suffering the most from this shutdown. 

To paraphrase Board Member Joyce in the last meeting, “how do you teach a kindergartner to read when you can’t sit down with them one-on-one to do that”?

We  feel that Oceanside should move forward to look at what could be done to take advantage of the waiver process for those most-vulnerable kids, if it is possible to do in a way that is safe for kids and teachers.

Finding the space for proper distancing is the first hurdle, but there are ways that could be done. 

A recent facility study done by OUSD shows their elementary schools are at 66% capacity as is.  If we assume that the 15% of parents who indicated they prefer full time distance learning are going to do that, this reduces that number to 56%.

That is barely over half already, almost getting us to the goal for proper distancing.

Some elementaries are already there – Laurel, Santa Margarita, and Stuart Mesa are near or below 50% capacity already.  If we assume we lose 15% of attendance to distance learners, Foussat, Libby, and North Terrace could be added to the “possible” list.

Since the waiver only applies to K-6, the K-8’s would not have 7th and 8th graders in class, which means those could easily accommodate the distancing needed.  Our middle schools – Chavez, Jefferson, King, and Lincoln – could easily open with just the 6th grade on site, making it simple to spread them out properly.

And since the upper grades in middle schools are not there and El Camino and Oceanside High are both completely shut down, perhaps the elementaries that don’t have the space to accommodate proper distancing at their site temporarily moved some classes to those locations?

Palmquist and Ivey are the schools closest to maximum capacity, at about 89%.  If both moved their 4th and 5th grades to their nearby middle or high schools, that would give them the proper space to do this.

In theory, using this method we could request waivers to open all our elementaries, and do it in a way that the California Department of Education and County Office of Health have both determined is safe for our kids and our teachers.

How do we fund this? 

Yes, there would be costs.  Fortunately as we saw in this week’s board meeting the District is being given $14.9 million dollars in Learning Loss Mitigation Funding.  And that funding needs to be spent by the end of this year.

We saw a partial plan for return to in-person learning in July, that plan had a price tag of $12 million.  That plan itself was tremendously inflated, with no supporting data on what assumptions were made.  If examined I’m sure we could find ways to greatly reduce that cost.  But even if not, $12M is less than the $14.9M we’re being given.

What if we asked our District to spend that money on this – something that benefits the most vulnerable kids among us – rather than using it to fix their own budget problems they created by overspending well before Covid hit us?

What if we insisted they spend the money being given to us for our kids’ education on our kids?

If you want to join in this effort, there is a group of parents working on getting our schools reopened.  Go to http://openourschools.org, sign up for their email list, and, if you feel you’d like to see a waiver requested for your kids’ school, email a note on that to them at parents@openourschools.org.

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Lastly, I’m going to put in a campaign plug here – clearly identified, so if you don’t agree with me you can stop reading here.

I (Todd Maddison) am a candidate for school board this fall.  I have always been totally and 100% in support of parent involvement, particularly in making parent voices both heard and acted on in our District. 

Far too often we see the District “listening”, but not acting.  We need to act – in ways that put our kids first in our plans for education.

Last week my campaign hit a roadblock…  My opponent was endorsed by the Oceanside Teacher’s Association – the teachers union. 

I don’t understand this – I have spent many years standing in front of the Board advocating for the same things that teachers want – smaller class sizes, better enrichment programs, support for disadvantaged kids, better instructional materials, even higher pay for starting teachers.

And, while I’ve been doing this, my opponent has sat across from me and said nothing in agreement with any of that.  Not a word. 

And while voting “yes” on things like cutting extra teaching positions, cutting support, cutting bus services, etc, he has also voted “yes” to giving District admin extra raises.  Last December, for instance, he voted “yes” to giving administrative employees an extra raise – on top of their normal annual increases.  This is a group of people whose total compensation in 2019 was about $157,000/year.  And that vote came shortly after voting “yes” to cut bus service to the poor kids in Crown Heights.

Why the union would support that over my continued advocacy for the things they say they believe in over the years is beyond me.  I suspect many in the union membership may disagree with that.

Regardless, what this means is that there will be cash flowing into my opponents campaign.  A lot of it. 

In 2019 Oceanside Teachers gave close to $1 million in dues to their union.  That gives them a lot of money to use – to oppose those of us who would prefer to see our money spent on our kids rather than on the District’s own priorities.

In 2019, the administration of OUSD was paid a total of almost $8 million, collectively.  That gives them a lot of resources to push their agendas, which sometimes seem to center on what benefits the District rather than our kids.

How much are parents given to push their own side? 

Zero.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.

We get time in three minute chunks, at Board Meetings, usually once a month.

All we have is the time that dedicated parents like you and me volunteer to do that – in between working, taking care of our kids, and volunteering for other worthy causes.

And we need to buy the Little Caesar's pizzas for some of that volunteering as well!

If you’d like to help even out that balance, and perhaps give us a chance of having someone on the Board that will reflect our Kids First philosophy, perhaps a small donation might be possible?

If you want to find out more about me and perhaps help out to buy some signs, fund some mailers, and generally get the word out – go to http://www.todd4kids.com and check it out. 

Click the “Help Out!” button to donate, and be sure to sign up for the email distribution so I can keep you in the loop on things.  This Change.org thing will go away at some point.

You can also “like” my page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/todd4kids.

Now is the time for change in Oceanside.  Not "tomorrow".

Is it worth $20 to you to help take back the power in our District for parents, for their kids?

Thanks for your help and support!

Todd Maddison