Wine Country Times

After months of waiting, Sonoma County is moving to reopen in-person instruction in their schools, which is crucial for mental, emotional, social and educational development of students.

Chair Supervisor Lynda Hopkins was joined by Supervisor of the Sonoma County Office of Education Dr. Steve Herrington and Supervisor Susan Gorin to discuss the steps to reopen as seamlessly as possible, now that the state as a whole is beginning to reopen.

Being in the red tier, Gorin said, “makes it easier for our schools with K-6 students to reopen for in-person instruction and also makes it possible for middle and high school students to reopen for grades 7 through 12. Most of our schools with transitional kindergarten to sixth grade students have already submitted reopening plans to the county department of health and the state, and plans from 13 districts and a total of 47 schools have been approved as of today.”

The plans, Gorin explained, address in detail, the measures that schools will take to ensure safety of all individuals. These include testing protocol, student drop-off details, and contact tracing. As the vaccine is released, schools are encouraging students to receive the vaccination to protect as many people as possible. 

“While we're pleased to finally be in the red tier, we want to maintain our momentum and move toward the orange and yellow tiers of the state's blueprint for a safer economy,” Dr. Umila Shende said. “Our adjusted average caseload is now 6.8 per 100,000; we need to be at four to get into the orange tier so we have some work to do but we're moving in the right direction.”

Shende explained that the school system is working closely with Blue Shield and expects to be able to make vaccines more accessible in a timely manner. 

“We are doing our last call for educators this week and next week to finish this up but that puts us in a very good position for reopening schools we are ensured safety of our teachers and our faculty and our school staff who've been providing daily service, so I'm very proud of the volunteers who ran that clinic they were school nurses and LVNs and district school nurses and LVNs all of whom get dedicated their service to make that happen and so on behalf of the county office on behalf of everyone, I want to thank all of the volunteers and community volunteers who made that happen,” Herrington said.

School officials are remaining vigilant as they seek to reopen schools quickly, as the county’s K-4th graders have not yet had a full academic year, as the state was fighting fires and power outages.

The pandemic has shown that extended time away from the classroom can result in negative outcomes for children, as they depend on social engagement with peers.

Sonoma County’s education system is working alongside parents to get the classrooms back up and running in a timely manner in order to support families who need multiple incomes to stay afloat.