By Kayla Hoang & Karen Phan
Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) announced Monday, July 27 that all HBUHSD students will engage in distance learning at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, beginning Sept. 2.
The decision to engage in online learning follows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s mandate that counties on the COVID-19 California watchlist need to keep school districts closed to prevent further risk of spreading infection.
“As of today, Orange County remains on the [California Department of Public Health’s] monitoring list. Therefore, the Huntington Beach Union High School District will begin the 2020-21 school year with online instruction only,” HBUHSD Superintendent Clint Harwick and Board President Susan Henry wrote in a letter.
The two instructional models that will be offered are a virtual learning academy and hybrid instructional model, according to the letter.
The virtual instructional model is 100% online learning, and virtual learning students will continue distance learning throughout the fall semester.
Hybrid learning will be a blend of in-person classroom attendance and online learning. Students who register for hybrid learning will pivot to in-person instruction when “we are cleared by the Orange County Health Care Agency to return” on campus, Harwick and Henry wrote.
More information about these models, such as how cohorts for the hybrid learning model will be formed, and how to register for them will be finalized and released in the coming weeks.
“Personally, I’m really sad that we won’t get to return to school this upcoming year,” FVHS rising sophomore Emily Hoang said. “But I know that it’s the necessary step we need to take to guarantee student and staff safety. If we’re lucky, Orange County will move out of the monitoring list and we can at least move towards hybrid learning.”
Other HBUHSD parents and students share the same disappointment as Hoang and had been hoping to be back on campus this September.
“I’m honestly heartbroken,” FVHS rising sophomore Rhegan Crosby wrote in a message. “Learning virtual is extremely difficult and mentally draining.”
In a reopening survey that HBUHSD conducted in late June, 51.5% of 9,498 respondents stated they prefer a traditional instructional model when we return to school in the fall. Approximately 35% of respondents preferred hybrid learning and 13% preferred virtual learning.
Harwick and Henry assured HBUHSD families that online learning for the 2020-2021 “will look and feel different” than the spring 2020 emergency shift to distance learning.
Distance learning for both models will include: “attendance accountability in each class, daily live instruction and interaction with students, rigorous and engaging assignments, traditional grading for all students, regular communication with students and parents [and] academic and social-emotional support,” according to their letter.
Some families also have concerns regarding how HBUHSD will keep teachers, staff and students safe when it is time for hybrid learning students to transition to in-person instruction.
“As a parent, I’d like to know how you plan on social distancing within the classroom,” HBUHSD parent Michelle Jimenez wrote in a message. “I’d like to know how you plan on sanitizing after each period/bathrooms.”
FVHS rising junior Isabella Galiteva had similar questions as Jimenez over how hybrid instruction will be executed, adding that HBUHSD’s reopening announcement was “vague and unclear” due to the lack of information on both learning models.
“We are tired of updates that say a whole lot of nothing, and that stress and confuse us further, leaving us with more questions in the aftermath,” Galiteva wrote in a message.
Camelia Heins, Emily Doan and Ariana Rathan contributed to this article.
Monday, July 27, 7:33 p.m. update: updated to include Hoang’s quote.
Tuesday, July 28, 3:45 p.m. update: updated to include data from HBUHSD’s reopening survey and Galiteva’s quote.
Tuesday, July 28, 4:08 p.m. update: updated to include Jimenez’s quote.
Tuesday, July 28, 9:05 p.m. update: updated to include Crosby’s quote.
