Fresno Unified provides update on students return to in-person learning

Thursday, November 19, 2020
FUSD provides update on students return to in-person learning
Now with the county back in purple, the district is not sure if students will be back in the classroom at all this school year.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County's purple tier status means Fresno Unified students won't be back in the classroom as soon as expected.

Fresno Unified is not setting a date but they are picking a color, saying students won't return to campus until the county enters the orange tier.

RELATED: Fresno, Kings, Merced counties pushed back to purple tier as COVID-19 cases rise

"The problem with the current scenario is that just delays when the orange tier may ever hit," said FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson.

Now with the county back in purple, the district is not sure if students will be back in the classroom at all this school year.

"The one thing we don't want to do is go back, come out, go back, come out," said Nelson. "People are still reeling from when we left in March and how jarring that was."

They've also decided when students return they'll be back for a full day at a time, but the specifics are still up in the air.

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"The AA BB is what the teachers want because they want to see every kid weekly," said Nelson. "The only issue is you need to make sure you can clean between the A series of day and the B series of days."

Fresno Unified has also discussed bringing back a small group of students sooner to help work through some of the new procedures.

"We want them to kind of pilot this new system, we want to talk about simulcasting lessons with some component locally and some component distance learning," said Nelson. "That's pretty tough. It's not anything we've ever done before."

For now, the district has plans to increase students' instructional minutes with teachers after the winter break. They'll discuss those changes and their plans for student returns in a press conference tomorrow.

You can watch the meeting at 6 pm here.

RELATED: Why some schools can reopen campuses even though Fresno County is back in 'purple tier'