Please sign below to tell the Sanger Unified School Board that the proposed hybrid schedule is going to disrupt students’ learning and will put student/staff health at risk.

This is not a question about a desire to physically return. Everyone wants to return. This is about the impact of trying to physically return when we’re already done with a majority of the semester. 

Instead of moving forward with this proposed hybrid plan, Sanger Unified should take a wholistic approach and remain in a distance learning format throughout the remainder of the first semester. 

Here is a summary of concerns about the proposed plan:

All of the risk and very little benefit. 

• Under the plan, students will continue with distance learning one day per week. On days when students are at school, students will receive the same amount of daily instructional time (2.5 hrs.) that they currently receive in a distance learning format. Yet, they would get all of the risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
• Class and instruction will not be the same. Even if students physically return, due to health guidelines, they will not be able to work in groups or participate in other typical instructional or play activities. 
• The hybrid plan will potentially disrupt family schedules and may actually cost families more money in child care.
• A majority of the semester will be complete when the proposed hybrid schedule brings students back to campus.
• Students will return in the middle of Fresno County’s flu season, exposing students to a multitude of viruses before traditional family gatherings.

This plan will disrupt student learning.

• If parents choose to keep their student safe by not physically returning to school, their student will have to leave their home class and teacher more than halfway through the semester. This is unfair to the students who have developed a normal distance learning routine with their teacher and class. 

Forcing parents to choose between the safety of their children and the disruption of education.

• Sanger Unified, under the guise of parent choice, is really making parents choose between the safety of their children and the disruption of their education. To make matters worse, they are asking parents to make this decision in less than one week, without providing or answering important details about the plan.

Lack of timely communication prior to making a decision. 

• The ideas of this hybrid plan was communicated to the school board on Wednesday, Oct. 13th and to the community on Thursday, Oct. 14th. Then with less than 24 hour notice, there was a poorly scheduled community town hall on the topic, on a Friday, October 16th at 5pm. Parents are forced to make a decision in less than a week. The poor communication planning is forcing parents to make an important decision without important information.

The poor communication plan leaves out our Spanish-speaking families. 

• The deadline to declare your intent is on Oct. 21st, yet the only Spanish speaking town hall on the topic is scheduled for Oct 22nd. 

Possible disruption of learning for the second semester.

• If parents choose to keep their students safe by keeping them in a distance learning format, they will have to switch to a new teacher immediately. Plus, there is a possibility that there is further disruption the following semester if the parent decides to return their student to the home school, with no guarantee the student will receive their original teacher.

Adds additional work and stress to our teachers. 

• We know that our teachers are working harder now than in past years. This schedule may be the breaking point for many as they will have to juggle online instruction, two separate physical instruction periods, and then provide additional online support every day. This is unfair to ask of our hard-working educators in the middle of the semester.