Milpitas Unified faculties are transferring to on-line studying till mid-January
In line with other Bay Area school districts that have been forced to close schools after facing staff shortages, low test availability and high COVID-19 case rates this week, Milpitas schools will open for most students from Monday through mid-January go back online temporarily.
The Education Committee of the Milpitas Unified School District voted on Thursday evening to send children back to virtual learning healthy to school by January 18.
“This week we had an exorbitant number of positive student and employee cases, which led to even more students and employees being quarantined,” said a letter from the school management to the school community. “In view of the number of cases, the possibility of being in close contact with a positive case has increased.”
The district is also struggling with a lack of teachers and staff. The district had 167 substitute teacher positions and 107 auxiliary positions that week, leaving administrative staff to teach instead of the teachers who stayed at home.
In Oakland, an organized teacher outage Friday caused the Oakland Unified School district to close at least 11 schools for the day. Teachers are calling for better safety measures for students, staff and teachers, and encouraging the district to teach online instead of face-to-face for two weeks.
In Milpitas, parents are required to sign an independent study contract so that their children can virtually go to school while the school is closed. The district also offers parents who have to work or whose household has insufficient internet connection the possibility of sending their children to school, where they can take part in classes virtually on the laptops provided by the district. All students enrolled in the classroom option will be mentored, said Scott Forstner, a district spokesman.
West Contra Costa schools and some private and charter schools are also temporarily closing, and others in the Bay Area are making efforts to keep classrooms open amid testing and staff shortages.
