Despite COVID peak, local schools stick to in-person learning

Local school officials today assured parents that although in-person services have been suspended in some parts of the community, school districts do not plan to return to virtual learning at this time.

“On behalf of the MUSD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Root, we want to inform you that we are committed to remaining in in-person instruction at this time,” MUSD stated on its Facebook page.” We are seeing other organizations and businesses returning to virtual settings, but we are doing all we can do to remain in-person instruction for our children and the community.”

Betti Cadmus, public information officer for MUSD, said there “has been some confusion” about the status of local schools following Tuesday’s announcement that Menifee City Hall would be closing for in-person services through the end of the month. She also reported that MUSD experienced an overall absence rate of 15 percent on Tuesday, compared to a pre-COVID average of about 5 percent.

The websites for MUSD, Romoland School District, Perris Union High School District and Santa Rosa Academy include “COVID Dashboards” with updated numbers of COVID-19 case rates at local schools. All schools remain open for in-person instruction.

Anecdotally, schools continue to experience severe shortages of substitutes to fill in for absent teachers, leading to combined classes in some cases. Last fall, administrators in all districts reported filling in for teachers, including superintendents Grant Bennett of PUHSD and Root of MUSD.

“We returned to school last week, on Jan. 5, and are planning on having kids in the classroom for as long as we can,” said Andrea Pasolini, public information officer at Santa Rosa Academy. “Our staff has been fantastic, doing whatever it takes to ensure our students can learn, eat, and participate in sports as safely as possible.”

COVID-19 has had an impact on high school sports, with several events cancelled this week. Ryan Sharp, Paloma Valley athletic director, said two boys basketball games and one girls basketball game were cancelled this week. Liberty High AD Scott Moore said Bison teams have also experienced cancellations due to COVID-19 cases either at his school or the opponents’ school.

Heritage AD Brandon Jones has been in quarantine with COVID-19 and just returned to school today. He said his teams also have experienced cancellations recently.

CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod has announced that teams will be allowed to play on Sundays – normally not an allowed competition day – to increase flexibility in rescheduling. So far, postseason calendars have not been greatly affected, but it’s a fluid situation.

Mt. San Jacinto College announced that most classes will be held online when spring semester begins Jan. 18.