At its first in-person board meeting since schools shut down last March, the district board unanimously approved a plan to move high-priority students back to the classroom in small cohorts 8 to 10 students for in-person learning, skipping over its phase two plan of providing just in-person tutorials.

An April 12 reopening date, after spring break, was established to accommodate for the complete immunization of teachers receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Principal Cheryl Lawton has already introduced a plan for phase three, targeting specifically academically struggling freshmen, English learners and students with disabilities. Each school site was tasked with providing a rollout specific to their school and needs.

Lawton said one in eight freshman students was already at risk of not graduating, with 55 earning D or F grades in four or more of their classes last semester. Additionally, to accommodate for in-person learning, teachers who taught the same classes during the same period would team up. For example, one teacher teaching a small cohort of 10 students in-person, with the other teaching the rest of their students online.

Outside the district office, parents and some of their children protested for a more complete reopening of the school by April 12, with signs voicing their opposition to “Zoom school.”

Lani Albert, a Leigh High School parent, was among them.

“My son has started saying that school doesn’t even matter anymore. And he used to be a straight-A student,” she said.

Teachers have said that they are working hard, if not harder, to make learning equitable in a Zoom environment, despite calls from parents that they are not doing enough.

In a public comment, Del Mar High School science teacher James Lucas said he was able to host more than 50 students for a recent physics review session one evening. He said that it’s dangerous for the district and teachers to be on opposing sides.

“It’s a zero sum game pitting parents and the district against teachers, and it has no winners,” he said.

We will have a more complete explainer of what school will look like next week.