Student schedules lead to questions, frustration in Conejo Valley Unified School District

Conejo Valley Unified School District leaders devised a split schedule to work in remote and hybrid learning models, which frustrated parents and trustees alike at Tuesday's school board meeting.  

The response to the district's remote scheduling comes just days before the first day of school on Aug. 19. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, district officials were forced to create the new learning model.  

"I will tell you it's not perfect," said Superintendent Mark McLaughlin. "I don't know if any schedule out there is perfect in any district."

All Conejo Valley Unified schedules will be split into morning and afternoon cohorts to help achieve small class sizes and create an easy transition into a hybrid model with in-person and online sessions later in the school year.

Students are scheduled for two hours and 30 minutes of class time, including a mix of live instruction, breaks and a 90-minute lunch. To meet the the state's required instructional time, students will also have independent work outside of class.

By law, schools are required to have three hours of instruction time for kindergarten, three hours and 50 minutes for grades one to three and four hours for grades four to 12 per day. 

Conejo Valley Unified middle school students will take six periods as usual over a period of 10 days. High school students will take three classes per quarter instead of six per semester. 

Surveys and lottery results

Based on a July survey, the district reported 11,160 families requested a morning cohort compared to 4,875 for the afternoon cohort.

When only 719 families volunteered to move from morning to afternoon, the district announced a lottery system for student placement in an effort to be "fair and equitable. The lottery results were expected to be sent to parents starting Wednesday.

Trustee Sandee Everett said Tuesday she heard from several working parents about their cohort worries.

"I don't think we should expect parents to have to quit their jobs in order to be home to help their child get onto the computer," she said.

Christina Martinez said during public comment that she and her husband, parents to a second-grader, are both full-time essential employees. They made plans assuming their child would be in the morning cohort — and then, they were informed of the lottery. 

"Here we are one week before the start of the school, and we still have no idea when our child will need to be online for class," said Martinez Tuesday before learning her child's schedule. "This gives working parents less than seven days to figure out how to make arrangements. It's not acceptable."

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Everett stressed that the district should send another survey to collect input from families. Trustee Jenny Fitzgerald also had concerns about the lack feedback from parents, teachers and students on the latest remote plan.

Fitzgerald said the schedule focused too heavily on a potential move to hybrid learning instead of the current remote learning model.

McLaughlin pointed out that Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting a lot of pressure about elementary school waivers, a potential way for state schools to reopen in the fall.

Lisa Miller, assistant superintendent of student services, explained the district's current learning model takes into account students' mental health needs as they learn in a home environment.

Addie Craig, the student board representative, said students had a positive reaction to having three classes per quarter. The schedule allows them to avoid anxiety that comes with taking a regular course load remotely, she explained. 

After about four hours of discussion on student scheduling, the Conejo Valley school board had not decided on concrete solutions or suggestions. 

Although Everett and Fitzgerald expressed interest in meeting sooner than the board's planned Aug. 25, the board ultimately agreed to meet as planned.

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On Thursday, McLaughlin said district staff has since looked at potential tweaks to the schedules, including adjusting the middle school schedule, offering evening Advanced Placement classes for high schoolers and potentially bringing the two morning/afternoon cohorts together in one section.

McLaughlin said it would be difficult to make large scale adjustments once school started, but minor tweaks were common, even in previous years, and easier to do.

What other districts are doing

Fitzgerald, echoing comments made by public speakers, asked why the district couldn't offer a schedule similar to that of Oak Park or Las Virgenes unified school districts.

Oak Park has different schedules for the elementary, middle and high school levels.

The elementary grades will have at least one hour and 40 minutes of live learning mixed with independent work and pre-recorded lessons Mondays through Thursdays, 8:20 a.m. - 2:56 p.m.

Middle and high school have a block schedule, meaning three classes plus a short period for advising and support Monday through Thursday.

They will have 20 to 30 minutes of live instruction per class, depending on grade level, in a full day of instruction.

At all levels, Friday serves as a day for dedicated work time, specialist classes, outdoor activities and/or teacher office hours.

Las Virgenes Unified is taking a similar full day of learning approach using block scheduling.

The approach for remote learning is different from its plan for hybrid learning, which would involve morning and afternoon cohorts similar to Conejo Valley's current model.

Shivani Patel covers education for The Star as a Report for America corps member. Reach her at shivani.patel@vcstar.com or 805-603-6573. She is also on Twitter at @shivaaanip.