Welcome to Buckeye Union School District.

Registration Packets are available at School Sites.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

REOPENING SCHOOLS AND DISTANCE LEARNING

Why is the District recommending delaying the student start date by 3 days?

August 10th is our first teacher workday of the new school year. Of course, many teachers have been engaged in professional development and planning over the summer on their own. This happens every summer. Additionally, teachers must prepare for the unique group of students teachers will receive in the new school year. In a typical year, it is a challenge to accomplish all that must be in place for students during the two work days prior to students beginning school. 

This year, we have an added need to calibrate Distance Learning practices among grade-level teams and provide training on the necessary digital tools to effectively deliver Distance Learning. Finally, most teachers will be working from sites during the Distance Learning and we must train everyone on the new workplace protocols as a result of COVID-19. 

Have clear standards for the delivery of Distance Learning been established?

Yes. Guiding Principles for Instruction during Distance Learning have been developed, in consultation with teachers, that recognizes that the essential elements of teaching the whole child hold true regardless of the learning model implemented. Our plan for distance learning will be guided by the following:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• Build connections between students, teacher, and each other
• Monitor student social-emotional well being with daily check-ins
• Utilize Trauma-Informed practices like brain breaks
• Maintain a classroom community with daily synchronous meetings

Behavioral

• Clearly communicate expectations for behavior during meetings
• Track attendance and participation (attendance is required for scheduled meetings)
• Remind families and students that this is school

Academic Learning

• Deliver on grade-level, standards-based instruction to all students
• Design lessons using the core principles of instruction
• Provide both synchronous and asynchronous instruction

Synchronous Instruction

• Students and teacher on line together during scheduled time for instruction, discussion, collaboration, presentation, break out rooms for small group instruction
• TK-5: 90-120 minutes of synchronous instruction daily
•  6-8: 40 minutes of synchronous instruction per block schedule period
• Attendance required
• Students will be provided with a set daily schedule

Asynchronous Instruction 

• Students completing work at their own time/pace.   This may include watching pre-recorded videos, reading articles, written work, projects

 Additional Expectations:

• Use district adopted curriculum
• Administer both formative and summative assessments
• Use common digital tools  across the district (Google Suite)
• Utilize collaborative planning structures to reduce individual teacher load (Collective Teacher Efficacy)
• Share grade level learning plans across the district

What is the difference between the Distance Learning School  and District-Wide Distance Learning?

The Distance Learning School was primarily developed in order to serve medically fragile children or families with unique medical risks who would not be able to return to classroom based instruction until a vaccine is developed. The program does not utilize the District’s adopted curriculum. In middle school, the 4 core subjects are taught by one teacher. Electives (e.g. Spanish) are taught via recorded modules and there is no real time interaction with a teacher. 

Will teachers establish office hours?

Yes. Teachers will be working a regular duty day and will make themselves available for virtual parent meetings.

What will need to occur for the District to determine that it’s okay to reopen?

It is being recommended to the Board that the schools would reopen when 1) the County Public Health Department’s capacity to test and obtain results for individuals suspected of having COVID-19 would only require approximately 24-48 hours. 2) the previous 14 day virus rate for the El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue regions, each, are below 100 per 100,000 people. 3) The El Dorado Public Health Officer can attest that the District’s reopening plans are in alignment with the California Department of Public Health’s current guidelines. 

How will you meet the needs of students with the most severe disabilities? 

In the event we cannot meet a student’s disability related needs via Distance Learning, then every effort will be made to provide students with classroom based instruction necessary to provide a free and appropriate public education and in an environment with all necessary precautionary measures in place. 

How will you address the needs of students in grades K-3 who are struggling with learning to read?

Teachers may identify individual and/or small groups of students who may be provided some classroom based reading instruction in an environment with all necessary precautionary measures in place.

How will students be assessed?

Students in the earliest grade levels may be assessed at their school site. All other students will be assessed online using the standard assessment tools used by the District in any other year.

Will intervention services be available?

Yes. Both special education and elementary reading and math intervention services will be available by teacher referral. 

Why not start the year in a hybrid model like Rescue?

The following question was recently submitted to the El Dorado County Public Health Officer. Her response follows. Opening under a hybrid model does not change the concerns. 

Q:  Is there any reason that the Buckeye Union School District should not reopen as it relates to the current ability of individuals with COVID-19 symptoms to obtain testing and results?

A:  Yes, there are a number of possible reasons as I have mentioned previously.  Examples include:

• not knowing yet whether we can arrange for volumes of timely test results in accordance with CDPH's recommendations for schools that offer in-person learning,
• district superintendents' assessments of their schools' abilities to address employees and students who arrive at school with symptoms,
• not knowing the future trajectory of COVID-19 case rates across the county or specific to the catchment areas of any individual school districts, and
• not knowing how well the community will adhere to preventive measures;  while schools may be controlled environments where the majority of the time students are being protected from exposure to COVID-19 by adherence to guidelines, it is difficult to predict how much compliance there will be among students and staff and the general public when they are not being guided and monitored by school staff.

In particular, opening without the required availability of testing and recognizing that the California Department of Public Health Guidelines call for school districts to quarantine individuals who exhibit COVID -19 like symptoms, many of which are similar to other frequently occurring ailments, we will be left no option other than to exclude large numbers of students from school for periods of 7-14 days, thus resulting in severe disruptions to student’s academic programs and parent work. This will create significant disruptions at every site.This would be true for both a full-time in-seat and a hybrid model. 

The El Dorado County of Public Health’s Dashboard has indicated that the virus rate per 100,000 in the District’s boundary regions have been in the moderate to high range. The trajectory has been higher over the past month. Opening in a hybrid with the factors listed above and the potential that virus rates will continue climbing remains a concern whether we open full-time in-seat or in a hybrid model. 

Will meals continue to be provided for socio-economically disadvantaged students?

Yes.  Further details will be provided to the community in the near future.  At this time, the federal waivers needed to run a program similar to that in place last year are not in place and we are waiting for additional information from the state and federal government regarding this matter. 

Distance Learning Questions and Answers

2020/21 Distance Learning Plan

The District Office is open for business.

WE ARE PRACTICING PHYSICAL DISTANCING

We are implementing the mandatory physical distancing protocols, as per the El Dorado County Public Health Order.

Please follow the Guidelines from the County Public Health Office.

• NO PUBLIC ENTRANCE INTO OFFICE WITHOUT A FACE COVERING

• AVOID ENTERING THE OFFICE IF YOU HAVE A COUGH OR FEVER

• MAINTAIN 6 FEET OF DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND OTHERS

• SNEEZE OR COUGH INTO A CLOTH OR TISSUE, IF NOT AVAILABLE, USE YOUR ELBOW.

• DO NOT SHAKE HANDS OR ENGAGE IN ANY UNNECESSARY PHYSICAL CONTACT.

Summer Food Distribution