School district, COE out of sync in response — Letter to Editor Published March 27, 2020 — Tracy Press

As the parent of two TUSD high school students: I was disappointed in the leadership of our schools last Thursday, March 12th, when we simultaneously received an “everything is fine” letter from the district, and notification from our city leadership, with a genuine video conveying the state of the city, and the actions being taken to protect it; closing non-essential services. Our mayor and city leadership took swift action to protect city employees, and the continuity of services. Meanwhile schools opened the next day, and school district leadership was caught flat-footed with no contingency plan when the county office of education closed the schools. Following this: Many teachers were reaching out and providing engagement, when they were apparently informed to not provide education during this closure, presumably because of technology inequity. The district knew this was coming. On the 19th we received a letter offering optional homework packets, akin to what substitute teachers would work on when a teacher was out unexpectedly…

District & COE: Get your act together, get services ready and deploy them. These kids are disengaged, and you’re doing nothing. The teachers are sitting home just like our kids. It would take less than a week to deploy laptops which you already have to those that don’t have it, internet services (which T-Mobile has offered to schools free or very cheaply), and deploy Zoom or Skype to these educators. I am shaking my head and worried about the coming school year, already.