What’s new for Orange County students as school resumes

Esmeralda Ramirez showed up for her first day of school feeling a bit nervous. But at least she was well rested.

Like other high school students across California, the Anaheim High senior got “just a little bit of extra sleep” thanks to a new state law that calls for later start times in secondary schools.

The new law requires middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no sooner than 8:30 a.m.

That’s just one of the changes taking place in Orange County schools, where half of the districts will welcome students in the 2022-23 year the week of Aug. 15. Other local schools either have already started or will open their doors by September.

As students and teachers return to school, they’ll find that campus looks much like it did during pre-pandemic life, even though variants of COVID-19 continue to spread.

California lifted its face mask mandate last spring and face coverings remain optional. Gone are the lines marking where students should stand to ensure social distancing. Sanitizing stations in classrooms remain among the few physical reminders of the ongoing pandemic.

Santa Ana Unified, the only Orange County school district to mandate weekly COVID-19 testing last year, is doing away with the requirement when its students return Monday, Aug. 15. Across Orange County, schools are offering students and staff take-home COVID-19 testing kits when requested.

Meanwhile, in elementary schools, younger students are enrolling this year as California ushers in universal transitional kindergarten for 4-year-olds who turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Feb. 2. And some school districts, like Garden Grove Unified, have opted to enroll even younger students.

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Educators continue to grapple with the learning loss students experienced when schools shut down in 2020. Additional ongoing struggles for some school districts include a dearth of substitute teachers and bus drivers.

But districts have also benefited from a huge jump in funding, including COVID-19 relief money and a historic $128 billion budget for education in California. Beginning last school year, the additional funding meant more counselors and aides, with a focus on addressing students’ social-emotional learning. This year, there will be more money for a plethora of other things, such as transitional kindergarten, improved free lunches and breakfasts for all students, extended before and after-school programs, with additional funding for programs geared toward lower-income students and English learners.

Later school start times

For many older students, the big change this school year is when they need to show up.

In 2019, California legislators passed a law that required high schools to begin classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m. It’s been touted as the first of its kind in the nation. Numerous studies and experts — and parents who will attest to this — say teenagers don’t get the recommended 10 hours of sleep their bodies need, posing numerous health risks. The law’s goal is to give sleep-deprived kids some extra snooze time so they can be more alert to absorb early morning lessons and less likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, and other health problems.

For students at Anaheim Union High School, this isn’t a new change this year. The district didn’t wait for the law to become effective July 1; it implemented the changes last year.

“It’s been really interesting. Different kids have responded differently,” said Alison Konrad, Anaheim High’s assistant principal.

Many kids benefited from the later start time, she said, not just with more rest but more time to help with younger siblings. “We have a lot of students who help siblings get to school. Our blessing has been they can walk their siblings to their elementary school or busing and then get on time to classes.”

Other students are early risers who prefer to begin learning sooner in the day.

For those who like their early morning classes, districts have what are known as “zero period” classes, which begin about an hour before the first bell rings. Students who also are enrolled at a local community college can take those college classes first thing in the morning on the high school campus, Konrad said.

But for some students, it was a welcomed change. Ramirez, the Anaheim High senior, said she got to sleep a little extra most days and felt more energized in the morning.

“It’s wonderful,” she said on her first day of school Wednesday, Aug. 10.

In the Capistrano Unified School District, Orange County’s largest with nearly 50,000 students, middle schools already started their schedules after 8 a.m, with some starting at 8:45 a.m. But high schools adjusted their bell schedule to comply with the new law, and all now start at 8:30 a.m. — except Mondays when most of the high schools begin between 9 to 9:12 a.m.

In addition to zero periods, Garden Grove Unified is offering early start programs for high school students who arrive on campus before the bell rings and are not in zero period classes.

Those early risers can head to the library for free tutoring from college mentors and instructional aides, either one-on-one or in small groups, and will also be able to attend sessions on art, fitness, mindfulness, and other topics that address their social-emotional needs. Down the road, there will be special four-to-six-week sessions taught by teachers who recognize students struggling in a particular area.

“We see this as an opportunity to offer programs for students that can address learning loss, social-emotional learning, and offer enrichment opportunities,” said Terri Shook, a teacher on special assignment who is overseeing after-school programs and the expanded early morning learning opportunities at Garden Grove Unified.

Pandemic protocols

One new potential rule for this school year was postponed: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate for older students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In October, California became the first state in the nation to require the vaccinations for all school-age children, starting with students in grades 7th through 12th grade. But the California Department of Public Health announced in April it would hold off on that mandate until at least July 1, 2023 “to ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new vaccine requirements.”

A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for children has proven controversial, with many parents objecting to the mandate.

Teachers and school staff in California, however, must either be vaccinated against the virus or test weekly for it.

Other mandates from the prior school year — mainly face coverings — are now optional, although state health officials still recommend masking.

In Orange County, face mask rules led to testy exchanges at school board meetings in some districts and a few local lawsuits. Parents of a Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified student filed a lawsuit against the district, and the Orange County Board of Education has taken legal actions against Newsom.

While a hot topic at Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified and a handful of other districts, it was rarely brought up in districts like Santa Ana Unified, where the community was hard hit during the pandemic.

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At Las Lomas Elementary in the La Habra City School District, principal Pam Cunningham saw most students sticking with their masks when they first became optional. But as time went by, fewer students kept them on all the time.

“This year, it’s optional. I’m anticipating there will still be children who will keep it on,” Cunningham said. “I’m just really excited for the kids to come back.”

Transitional kindergarten

Among those who may be the most jittery coming to school are the youngest students to ever enroll.

This year is the first of a three-year rollout for universal transitional kindergarten, which will allow every 4-year-old to be enrolled by 2025-26. While the first year calls for 4-year-olds who turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Feb. 2 to enroll, districts can extend the date. And Garden Grove Unified did just that, opening enrollment to children who will turn 5 before April 2.

“Our community is excited to have their children start sooner rather than later,” said Michelle Pinchot, a principal on special assignment who is coordinating transitional kindergarten classes for the district.

Last year, Garden Grove Unified had some 400 TK students. When school starts on Monday, Aug. 15, district officials are expecting about 1,000. The district is reassigning existing teachers and reducing TK-kindergarten combos to accommodate the students. (The new law calls for the student-to-teacher ratio in TK to be 12-to-1 this year, and 10-to-1 in 2025-26.)

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The number of new little ones entering school varies from district to district.

At Capistrano Unified, the district has enrolled about 700 students, up from 450 last year, a district spokesman said. Administrators doubled the number of transitional kindergarten classes to 30 and hired 14 teachers for the new classrooms.

At the smaller Magnolia School District in Anaheim, administrators expect about 240 4-year-olds when schools reopen on Aug. 29; that district added one TK class each at Mattie Lou Marshall and Dr. Peter Marshall elementary schools and hired nine additional paraeducators to help with the classes.

The good and the bad

School districts in Orange County, like others across the state, have seen a huge boost to their coffers.

That’s allowed districts like Los Alamitos Unified to add a full-time psychologist at every elementary school this year and “to invest significant resources in mental health and wellness to support our students socially and emotionally,” said district spokeswoman Nichole Pichardo.

At the Magnolia School District, “state and federal dollars aimed at learning loss also are allowing districts to offer more extensive after-school programs, and school districts continue to make the mental health of their students a top priority,” said Superintendent Frank Donavan said. That includes the addition of an expanded learning program providing free afterschool programs.

But there have also been challenges.

“We continue to face a severe substitute teacher shortage,” Donavan said.

Just as administrators did in Cypress School District last year, Magnolia district officials hired nine in-house substitute teachers to travel from school to school as needed.

“That has helped but not resolved this problem,” said Donavan. “We also have substitute shortages in other areas such as paraeducators and bus drivers.”

On the first day of school, though, such worries take a back seat. The more immediate concern is to get students to their classes.

That’s how it went last week at Anaheim High, where principal Ruben Calleros was busy directing students to their first period.