The Santa Barbara Unified school board meets 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and will give an update on its hybrid learning plan.
During the last meeting, the board unanimously voted to delay secondary students’ return to campus until January. Board members were concerned that the district didn’t have a comprehensive plan, and administrators expressed a need for more classified employees.
According to slides posted on the board’s agenda, the district still needs 62 employees to reopen under a hybrid plan. Applications for substitute teachers, paraprofessionals (both special education and general settings), floater custodians and playground supervisors are available on the district’s website, sbunified.org.
Only three candidates have applied to be a playground supervisor, and 11 are needed. The position pays $13.96 per hour and is scheduled three to five hours per day. California’s minimum wage is $13 per hour and set to increase to $14 Jan. 1.
Currently, the district is educating parents on the options for second-semester learning. Parents will choose their students’ program next week.
The two options are hybrid learning, which has two days on campus, or remote learning from home.
Elementary students check in with a teacher every day, even when learning remotely. Middle and high school students have time to meet with peers when they’re not on campus with teachers.
Those who opt out of the hybrid plan and continue remotely have a dedicated teacher which may or may not be their current teacher. Elementary has daily lessons live on Zoom, and it’s unclear how many days per week secondary students have live instruction remotely.
Online students will have scheduled times to log on and participate, though they’ll also be expected to work independently as well.
After the school day is over, students have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities on campus. Students enrolled in the hybrid or the online plan are all permitted to attend.
If few elementary students enroll in the online program, grade levels might be grouped into one online class.
Specialized classes, like art and physical education, are taught while the students are home. Middle school students start the day with a short gym class and log their independent exercise in a journal online.
Students’ schedules will be finalized by Dec. 14, according to the drafted plan. The district plans to provide hybrid-plan orientations Jan. 4-15 to prepare families for the return to campus.
email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
