DSUSD parents set to choose between distance learning and hybrid model next week
Parents in Desert Sands Unified School District are gearing up to decide whether they want their children to remain in distance learning the rest of the year, or return to in-person classes.
"It's really a coin flip – it's a hard decision parents have to make," said Rhea Hoffman. She said her family is split over the choice of sending her kids back into the classroom or keeping them learning at home.
"One of my children enjoys the distance learning – we'll continue that," Hoffman said. "My other child is probably going to return to hybrid."
It's a decision the parents of the 28,000 DSUSD students must make by next Tuesday, Nov. 10.
DSUSD wouldn't start hybrid learning until Jan. 19, if Riverside County is out of the purple tier by then. But Hoffman points out the district needs to plan and must hear from parents about what they'll want to do.
"We don't know what teachers need to stay in classrooms if we don't know what students are going back to classrooms," she said.
Among the factors playing in: the amount of live instruction time students will receive. Hoffman said students will be face-to-face with a teacher less in the hybrid learning model than if they were at home.
"Currently in the distance learning, children are receiving 46 percent live instruction. When they move to hybrid that number will drop to 33 percent," Hoffman said.
And then of course – coronavirus precautions.
Last month, Hoffman and a group of parents protested outside the DSUSD offices in La Quinta, pushing for more coronavirus safety precautions in schools' reopening plans.
"Most of those boxes have been checked," Hoffman said. She said the district approved new HEPA filters at schools, plexiglass barriers at desks, and masks required for students grades TK through 12.
Now, she's urging parents to be educated before making their decision for their student. "Know as much as you can to make the best decision you can for your family," Hoffman said.
