Parents hold rally calling for Riverside County schools to reopen

People gathered outside of Palm Desert High School Friday afternoon to hold a rally urging officials to safely reopen Riverside County schools.

There were about twenty parents holding signs calling for students to return into the classrooms. The parents say their children's mental health, social development, and primary education are at stake.

"The root of my concern is that children are home isolated on zoom not getting the education they deserve. There's a lot of mental health challenges among these kids, especially the teenagers. They're not getting what they need and what they get in the classroom," said Leslie Kantor, the organizer of the rally. "Open our schools, there's a majority of us teachers and parents that want to get our kids back in the classroom and really next week should be the opening day."

Riverside County has been in the "red" tier of reopening for a week and a half. Once we've been in the red tier for two weeks, as we likely will be starting next Tuesday, schools can reopen in-person classes.

The Palm Springs Unified and Desert Sands Unified school districts discussed their plans for when students return to classrooms.

PSUSD could have a small group of students return later this month. The current plan would see students return in January under the hybrid model, which would limit campus capacity to 50%.

Details: PSUSD outlines 'hybrid plan' for the possible return of in-person learning

DSUSD's possible timeline for the return of students could kick off by November.

Proposed DSUSD Timeline:

• October 19- Small group return and athletic conditioning of highschool sports
• November 9 - Elementary students return with hybrid learning
• January 4, 2021 - Middle and High School students return with hybrid learning

A survey of DSUSD parents revealed that 40% of parents who answered want to stick with distance, while 60% wanted the hybrid model. A teacher survey showed that 67% of teachers who answered want hybrid learning, 32% want to stay with distance learning.

Details: DSUSD discusses possible plan to bring students back into classrooms

Both districts will continue to meet to finalize their plans. The Coachella Valley Unified School District could also return under the hybrid model, but nothing has been decided at this time.

A survey of CVUSD parents shows during the Sept. 24 board meeting revealed that 49% of parents would not attend school in-person if the district moved to a hybrid model.

The CVUSD Board of Education will unveil the final results of the survey during the next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.