CVUSD conduct parent survey to help decide whether in-person classes should return

The return in-person classes for students in the Coachella Valley Unified School District remains up in the air as the district seeks parental input on the major decision.

The district has made the survey available from March 16 to March 21. It can be found in the parent portal section at CVUSD.us.

CVUSD officials were planning for in-person instruction to return on April 19 and even submitted its plan to Riverside County on Monday. However, last week, district board members began to express some concerns over bringing back students and changing their schedules and teachers with just 33 days left in the school year.

Check out CVUSD's "Return to In-Person Instruction Update (3/11/21)

The survey was launched out of board members' desire to have parents voice their opinion on the decision. The board will review the survey results during their March 25 meeting.

CVUSD's plan as it stands would have students PreK through 6th grade return under the hybrid learning model. This means that students will be separated into to two groups. Students will have two days of in-person instruction and three days of distance learning.

One of the questions in CVUSD's parent survey asks whether they want their child to return under the hybrid learning plan.

CVUSD conducted a similar survey back in December 2020. The results of that survey showed that parents who responded overwhelmigly did not want their child to return to campus.

74% of parents who answered wanted their child to remain in distance-learning for the remainder of the school year. That was out of 17,062 surveys submitted.

At the time, Riverside County and California was going through the post-Thanksgiving surge of cases. However, a parent survey from October 2020 also showed that parents leaned more towards not bringing students back into classrooms.

In the Oct. 2020 survey, 49% of parents who responded said they don't intend to send their children to school in person with a hybrid model. 30% of parents said they do agree with the return of in-person learning.

It remains to be seen how parents' responses could be changed now that other local school districts have either returned to in-person instruction or have plans set to do so soon.

Check out our coverage for PSUSD and DSUSD's reopening plans:

• DSUSD students Pre-K through 5th grade return to campus after year of distance learning
  PSUSD approves plan to bring pre-K to 2nd grade students back into classrooms

Another major issues facing CVUSD as it makes a decision is the availability of state grants.

Schools across California have to start in-person instruction between April 1 and May 15 in order to receive the "In-person Instruction Support Grant." Eligible funds from the grants would be reduced by 1% for each day of instruction between April 1 and May 15 that a local education agency doesn't provide in-person instruction.

The district would not get the grant if they do not start by May 15. The expanding learning funding is available until 2022.

As the decision over what to do this school-year continues to loom over CVUSD, the district has taken steps to prepare for a return.

The district is set to bring in a small cohort group of students back into classrooms. The students selected to take part in this well be those who are particularly struggling with distance learning. The program is set to begin on March 18.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates on local school reopenings.