While summer school is set to proceed in California in just a few weeks, things will look a little different this year.
California's summer school will be a total of 20 days starting July 6 and continuing through July 31. At the elementary school, half the students will be coming during the first ten days and the other half will be coming during the last ten days. This was decided to ensure class sizes were kept down to a 10-1 ratio to keep social distancing standards in check. When students are not in the building with a teacher, they will be sent learning packets to complete at home and communicate virtually like they did when the schools shut down during the spring semester.
The middle and high schools are taking a slightly different approach by meeting every other day. The students who are attending, for the most part, are there to make up what they didn't accomplish during the social distancing learning time earlier this year. They will be doing a combination of face-to-face and virtual learning in order to turn their incomplete into a complete.
California's schools will also be taking precautions when it comes to cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting the schools to keep students and faculty safe.
"We have a partnership with Hillyard Cleaning Supply Company, so we've got some sanitizer that we spray on hard surfaces and leave for at least 10 minutes and that disinfects everything, and then we come back and wipe everything back down so that will ensure that things are disinfected between each day," superintendent Dwight Sanders said.
Another thing that will be slightly different is there will be no bus transportation at this time. Sanders said this will be a topic of conservation in the fall, as well.
"That will be a factor when we come back in the fall, what the bus service will look like and how we can make that work and provide some social distancing. So we'll have to see what things look like when we return in August," Sanders said.
Sanders also noted students are being asked to bring their own water bottles to school with them, so not everyone is touching the water fountains. The schools are equipped with bottle fillers that have a sensor, making it easy and germless for students to get a drink.
If you have not signed up for summer school yet and would like to, call or email the principal or counselor at your student's respective school.