District plans to begin reopening schools with Phase 3A and Phase 3B

With almost 1,000 students currently participating in on-campus cohort activities across Los Gatos High School and Saratoga High School, the district plans to move into Phase 3A of the reopening plan, according to an email sent out to families on Feb. 23 on behalf of Superintendent Mike Grove and district board president David Guidry. The district’s current Phase 2 has all students doing distance learning with targeted groups in cohorts for on-campus activities, while Phase 3 will be a hybrid model.

Phase 3 of reopening has been split into two parts: Phase 3A and Phase 3B, both of which give students the choice to opt in. In Phase 3A, which principal Greg Louie said the district hopes will be put in place on March 24, students will be split into two cohorts that will return for one hour classes on either Wednesday morning or afternoon. 

Phase 3B, which is currently planned to start April 12, will move into a hybrid learning model where two cohorts of students will be on campus, each returning for two days a week while other students stream classes from home. 

The district sent out a commitment survey on Feb. 12. It found that 62 percent of families said their students will be returning for Phase 3A. 

Louie said he anticipates there will be a variety of challenges with the return, including social distancing, mask wearing and simulcasting classes. But, he said, “The benefits are that we are another step closer to returning to normalcy and that we may develop instructional practices that will be even better than what we were doing pre-pandemic.”

The district decided to have two parts to Phase 3 in hopes of reopening more gradually and safely with the least disruption to student learning. It will also allow the district to validate safety protocols and allow teachers the chance to learn how to simultaneously teach in-person and remote, superintendent Mike Grove said.

The district hopes to stay in the Phase 3A model for two weeks, then transition to Phase 3B after Spring Break (April 3 to April 11) so that the significant transition would be close to the beginning of a new grading period, Grove said.

As the county’s COVID-19 situation improves, the district will move into fully reopening schools for academic courses – starting with a cohorted system in Phase 3B and a cohort-free plan for Phase 4, whenever it occurs. The Phase 3 reopening may take place in either of two scenarios: The county enters the Orange Tier of the California COVID-19 tiers, or the county is in the Red Tier and all teachers have been vaccinated. 

The county entered the Red Tier on March 3 and educators became eligible for vaccination on Feb. 28. The district is hopeful the vaccination process for all educators who choose to do so will be completed by either late March or early April, setting the schools up to reopen. 

However, the district cannot predict when either of the two conditions will occur, as they are dependent on public health metrics out of the district’s control. Although the county entered the Red Tier, there is still a chance it will return back to the Purple Tier, slowing plans to move forward. 

The district is optimistic and planning for a normal reopening next fall, and will only revert to a hybrid model if required, Grove said.

Despite the challenges to overcome, Louie said he looks forward to the reopening.

“I am excited for students and staff to return to campus.  Having been principal for Saratoga High School for about 20 months, I have spent nearly 12 of those months without students and staff on campus,” Louie said. “I am also excited for the possibilities of more and more traditional SHS events returning to campus.”