Our local school districts need parents to fill out this survey before in-person learning resumes

All three of our local school districts are asking parents to fill out a survey indicating whether or not they want their children to return to school once in-person learning resumes. 

As of now, all three of our local school districts are continuing distance learning from home. 

But they are beginning to make preparations for when the county gives them the green light to transition into hybrid learning -- meaning a combination of online and in-person instruction.

“We’re deep in preparations we will do everything we can to make certain that our children continue to receive the best education,” said Mary Perry, Public Information Officer for Desert Sands Unified School District. 

In order to calculate the resources needed to safely allow students to return to school campuses, our districts say they need parents to fill out a survey indicating their preference as soon as possible. 

“If we know we have a certain percentage of students that are going to stay on distance learning that helps us plan how many students we can fit into each classroom,” said Anne Kalisek, Executive Director of Student Learning at Palm Springs Unified School District. 

The best way to complete the survey for your child’s district is to look out for emails with the survey from your child’s school, make sure they have your correct email address on file or simply go to your child’s district’s website. 

You can also find the surveys directly here: 

PSUSD: click here

DSUSD: click here

CVUSD: click here

Districts say they understand some parents will want to keep their students home for the rest of the school year regardless. “Every situation is different. There might be people in the home that have compromised immune systems so they can’t risk sending their children. Around here we also have a lot of elderly, so people might be taking care of their elderly parents,” said Kalisek. 

Even if you indicate in the survey that you want to keep your child home, it’s not a binding decision. Districts say you can change your preference in the future, although there might be a waiting period if you make this change. 

All three districts are also assuring parents that when the time comes, they’ll be doing everything they can to ensure the transition back into in-person instruction is done so safely.  

“We follow every message, every word that comes out from the county and from the state,” said Perry.