They finally discussed how that waiver works and what it means for the bay area. State superintendent tony thurman. So good to have you with us again. Thank you, kristen. Thanks for having me on. Our timing could not be better because, you know, the state just issued the guidelines for that waiver process last night. Literally, we are all just diving into the details now. And before we get into which schools should or should not apply for a waiver based on that, whats the idea behind the waiver . Why give an exception to Elementary Schools . The department of Public Health put out this guidance and the notion is you could create small centers of students on campus and that really provides for support for parents that have to go to work and students do better with inperson instruction. Our schools struggle with space demand, so its hard to maintain physical distance but if you can accommodate safely that you can some students on campus in small numbers, that does create an important option for our students and for our were sorting through the guidance. We want to make sure we understand it and be supportive to schools and parents as they learn more details about it. So tell us about the key points under these guidelines and as you express, this was drafted by the department of Public Health and you too are now just digesting what this all means, but which schools, as you understand, could or could not apply for a waiver based on the covid numbers in their county and other criteria . I think almost any school could apply for the waiver. Younger children tend to not carry covid and i think thats not a settled science. I think its important that we keep an eye on those data as its becoming available, but the idea is that there could be ways for them to be small numbers of students on campus and populari important for Young Students who cant be in front of a computer all day every day. This is a hybrid model that really most School Districts were thinking about anyway before we saw the Distance Learning. This is going back to San Francisco unified, theyve been thinking about this hybrid model where they might use Community Centers with small numbers of students on campus, or at least inperson instruction. Well see how this plays out in the next few days. Our office will be among those putting out some updates and sharing information with schools to help them understand interpret the new guidance it said you shouldnt even apply in a county if the cases are, i think, 200 cases per 100,000 people. Thats double the threshold to get you on the state watch list, which is only 100 cases per 100,000 people. Now, i think most bay area counties are just over the threshold, like between 100 and 120 cases per 100,000 people, so that does mean if they want to, if they want to, those Elementary Schools could apply for the waiver to open in person to their counties. Doesnt mean the county has to approve. But im wondering if you have a personal opinion on that, just because you could, does that mean you should . I think the decision, the question about how to answer should really, at the end of the day, should really depend on looking at the amount of cases in the county and having the conversation with those county health officers. I want to commend our county health officers. They have been invaluable and the manner in which theyve linked up with educational leaders and parent groups to really think this through carefully has been so helpful. Theres no other way to really do this. The California Department of Public Health has put out, i think, broad guidelines to think, theyre overworked and just doing so much nonstop. At the end of the day, the rubber hits the road at the county level. Im grateful for those to lean in at School Boards and think about, is this safe or not . What i appreciate about this state guidance sit gives a metric to think about when things are not safe, including what they put out just a few weeks ago. If you havent been off of the monitoring list for 14 days, thats a real signal that you need to think about, is it really safe to open . In many cases, its not. Distance learning, while complicated, is the best option. I think we need to put safety first in all considerations and the top priority on when inperson instruction will happen again. Tony, you mentioned the partnership between the different stake holders. Were talking about parents, teachers, students, the community. These guidelines, and i pored over them because im a parent myself as well as a journalist but they say consult with Teachers Unions and parents. What does consult really mean . What qualifies as consultation . Do you need the full support, for example, of your particular Teachers Union to say, lets go ahead and apply for this waiver or can a district just unilaterally say, well do it. Consult in, as in we checked in with you but well do it anyway. Do you know what the definition is . I could tell you what ive been told as weve asked some of the same questions. Again, this is the health area where the Health Departments in the state have written this guidance. Our office is focused more on guidance that has to do with how you strengthen Distance Learning, but weve asked the question because we get the question from School Districts. As i understand it, the language that says consulting means that, i think its encouraging School Districts to consult with all stakeholders, with teacher and classified unions, all the employees, with parent groups and students, but at the end of the day, it does not say required approval. That means that districts can make plans to move forward even if after consulting with employee groups, theres not agreement. The reality is oftentimes, employee groups negotiate through bargaining agreements, conditions related to when they work in the calendar. So some of the things, even with the state department of health has written, it does not take precedent over any agreements that local educator groups have. Even when theres disagreement, theres still lots of conversation taking place between School District officials and their staff. At the end of the day, the bottom line is doing whats best for students. I want to emphasize that, even though people are talking about language. I want to make sure that everyones thinking about whats in the best interest of students, first and foremost, and of course, the educators who care for them but thats the bottom line. Weve got to figure out how to keep everyone safe at this time. Yeah, and you did mention that, you know, you talked to San Francisco and we did as well. I dont think theyre planning to apply for waivers even if they could, and i think oakland unified told us the same thing. So, looking at whos saying possibly, like santa clara county, they told us they got over 80 inquiries from schools that may want to apply, contra costa county, inquiries from private schools. Im trying to figure out if theres an incentive for the private schools to get these waivers and do inperson. Whats the difference between the public and private schools its certainly something i need to look into. Ive not had much contact with the private schools. With the thousands of public School Districts across the state, were trying to figure out Distance Learning. Were about to make announcements about partners we have in the tech sector ready to make Computing Devices available to our students. Weve got a Million Students in the state who need a computing device. Thats where weve been leaning in. How do we make sure that our teachers get more training for Distance Learning . How do we make more Family Engagements so families dont get left behind if they dont have all the tools . Well look into the question with the private schools. Im just not familiar because ive been focused on public schools. We want all kids to be safe and look into it to see if theres anything we can learn from the private schools how theyre approaching this opening question. Yes, your realm is quite big and big enough already. I do appreciate that, im glad you brought up the Digital Divide issue. Were going to take a short break on the air and when we come back, we do want to tackle how youre getting kids ready, no matter their socioeconomic background for Distance Learning and talk more about the ethnic studies curriculum that youve been diving int well many people have such a misunderstanding as to how a reverse mortgage works. People think that the bank takes your home, but that is not true. Thats absolutely 100 wrong. The home is ours. We can sell it if we want to at any time. I like the flexibility of not having a payment, but i can make the payment if i want to. Youre responsible for keeping up your property taxes and youre responsible for paying your insurance on the property. For us, it was a security blanket. The value of our house, was to fund our longterm health care. These are just a few uses of reverse mortgages. Or go online to request your free information kit. Without a doubt, one of the best financial tools ive learned about. 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Funding is not tied at all to inperson or Distance Learning . Weve actually gone the other way where weve guaranteed funding for all schools, even if they open in Distance Learning and quite frankly, i think those who threatened to slash funding are being irresponsible and reckless. I have to call it what it is. We all have to open safely and im coming the you today from one of the schools we run for students who are deaf, a fabulous school in riverside in fremont and we open our schools in Distance Learning and were going to monitor to make sure things are safe before we revolve back to inperson instruction. I think its better to be safe. Making threats to take funding of a school irregardless of Health Conditions is dangerous and i think we need to go in a different direction. Remote, safety first. Even though we know its important to have inperson instruction. Arent there threats of taking away funding for free lunches for kids . There have, and again, weve gone the other way. Right now, theres a proposal in washington, dc that needs to be renewed that makes it easy for families to get lunches during this time. In california, during Distance Learning, we know that our students and families got meals at 5,000 locations across the state. The need is incredible. And so ive been in contact with the u. S. Department of agriculture through letters, reaching out to congress to say, please renew these programs to give our families maximum flexibility. This is not a time when californians need less. This is a time when we need more. We need the federal government to support our local businesses, local economies and our local schools and Food Insecurity is a real issue. Make sure our kids can get a meal and do so safely. Also, child care is an issue though and i know as you balance advice and guidance for the School Districts, if parents can send their kids to school, some cannot work. So given that Distance Learning is going to be the way we start in most schools here in california, what is being done to support the parents who have Child Care Needs because they have to go to work and cant sit at home as their child learns from their computer . Even during this pandemic, many Child Care Centers remained open and guidance is written through the department of Public Health and department of social services, aided by our team at the department of education, much of it does envision Child Care Centers remaining open and make sure they have a lot of personal protective equipment to keep people safe. Im happy to say through the Government Office and emergency services, we sent personal protective equipment to more than 10,000 schools in the state. Face coverings, face shields, touchless thermometers, sanitizer. Take the temperature of your children at home. If you see any symptoms, keep them at home. And then temperatures get checked again at the child care center. Our Child Care Centers have done a great job of using the whole campus, including the outdoor space to broaden the footprint of the campus so its more ways to accommodate physical distancing. And so, again, i want to just tip my hat to our Child Care Centers. We know parents need these to work and thats why youre seeing the push from the Governors Office and others to create these kind of waivers when School Districts can open and have small pods of students on campus because they recognize parents need to get back to work and were trying to balance that but make sure the safety remains paramount. Well, if were talking about Distance Learning, as is the reality for most schools now, what are the standards . Im talking about uniform state standards in terms of how districts approach it, because in the spring, you had such different experiences where some kids, you know, checked in and thats it and then did packets. Whereas other kids did Distance Learning said i had daily engagement with teachers and small group discussions. It just doesnt seem like we want there to be that much variance in the level of engagement. You know, youre absolutely right. We know that, first of all, students need to be able to see their teachers and staff, so to the degree theres Distance Learning and Remote Learning and Online Learning, there needs to be some direct contact. It cant all be through a platform students go to. Were working with our School Districts to think about the balance of how much live instruction there needs to be for our students. We recognize there are multiple ways for students to be supported, but our students look forward to seeing their teachers. They look forward to seeing their one on one aid, if theyre a student with disabilities whos supported in that way. So were working hard with our School Districts and many of our School Districts are providing training to educators how to maximize Distance Learning. Lets face it. When we went into Distance Learning, it was the first time for most californians. And guess what . We did what we needed to do to keep everybody safe, but there were some bumps along the way and now we need to make sure we learn from that and move forward with the best practice in Distance Learning. Thats one of the things our office is leaning in on. Working with teachers in School Districts to make sure were acting on the best practices in Distance Learning. I want to bring back the issue of closing the Digital Divide. I would like to know, at this point, with two weeks to go before most schools start, are you satisfied almost all California Kids have access to internet at home and have laptops, chrome books and whats your role in assisting to make sure that happens . Kristen, were racing against the clock to help more than a Million Students without a computes device. Many without access to internet. Its a difficult process but weve seen some things that are really helpful. Internet Companies Made internet available, sometimes for free, and in many cases, low cost internet all across the state. Weve insisted on it and now we have that. If nicanyone needs it, they can that without giving Social Security number or financial information. What im excited about tomorro