Clovis Unified schools pilot simultaneous teaching

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Clovis Unified is working to slowly and safely bring more students back to campus.

For computer science teacher Vincent Oraze, teaching in 2020 means not one but four monitors.

"I want attendance up. I want whatever program I'm using up," explained Oraze. "I have to have the teacher Zoom up, then a student Zoom, so I can get a student's perspective of what are my students seeing."

At Kastner Intermediate, the staff is testing out simultaneous teaching. This involves working with students, both in-person and online at the same time.

"Everything's got to be pre-loaded, so planning is everything," said Oraze. "We spend four hours planning each week."

A small cohort of students are back in the classroom and following social distancing guidelines, but most are still learning online.

RELATED: Clovis Unified campuses remain open for students

"We need our kids in class, we need kids here, it's hard to read whether they understand something or not from Zoom," continued Oraze.

The pilot program, working with both students in person and online at the same time, began in October but getting this far wasn't easy.

"We were very strategic about that. We wanted to make sure when we pilot this it'll be successful," explained Principal May Moua. "We tried it out. The first week was tough, challenging because it was new. We'd never done it before."

The plan is to bring more students to campus next semester, with half the kids in the classroom and the other half continuing to learn online.

"It's going to be a challenge, but it's what we need to do to get the students back in class," said Oraze.

While the district is continuing with their reopening plans, for now, they tell action news they're monitoring the local health conditions and will adapt their plans as needed during this pandemic.

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