Sonoma County schools not anticipated to be affected by expected shelter-in-place order

Looming expectation that Gov. Gavin Newsom will issue a stay-at-home order as coronavirus cases continue to soar in California will not change preparations to return Sonoma County students to their classrooms or cancel programs currently allowed at schools under existing public health guidelines, county Superintendent of Schools Steve Herrington said Wednesday.

State guidelines specifically addressed the so-called whiplash that students, teachers and parents may experience if on-campus programs only recently given permission to resume were suddenly shuttered again.

“The guidance from the state is whatever you are currently operating, you will maintain,” Herrington said. “What they didn’t want was us panicking when they went this route or reversed course.”

That means small cohort programs for special-needs students, including English-language learners and special education students, can continue.

"All of those things are still operational and approved. As long as you are maintaining county health guidance, nothing will change,“ Herrington said.

Nine private schools in Sonoma County that obtained a waiver from the state to offer modified in-person instruction for transitional kindergarten through sixth grade students will also be allowed to continue, Herrington said.

While programs already given the green light can go ahead, no additional waivers are being considered currently, according to Adam Radtke, a deputy county counsel.

“The state has been clear that they are recommending against any further school reopening if the seven-day average cases per 100,000 is at 14 or above, which we currently are,” he said. “Which is why we notified schools that have applied for waivers that the waiver application process is currently on hold.”

Although it will not change the status quo, officials acknowledged the latest announcement from Sacramento will likely dispirit community members anxious to see campuses reopen and students return to class. The vast majority of Sonoma County’s 70,000 students have not had face-to-face instruction since mid-March.

Herrington said district officials throughout the county continue to prepare for classrooms to reopen when Sonoma County advances from the purple tier, the most restrictive in the state’s coronavirus reopening plan, into the red tier. Schools can reopen campuses without waivers in counties placed in the red tier, which indicates substantial, but not widespread, virus spread.

“Districts are going to stay the course,” he said. “We are still preparing to go for red.”

“The county is working … on the school template for safety,” he said. “All of that is continuing behind the scenes. We are anticipating that we will eventually qualify for red.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.