Dear Fontana Community:

This past week has been a whirlwind for all of us. For those who are providing essential services such as doctors, nurses, hospital staff, first responders (police, fire, EMT’s), pharmacists, delivery drivers, grocery store employees, restaurant & fast-food workers, truck drivers, and my fellow educators who are providing free lunch, sanitizing facilities, educating our scholars virtually, and providing child care, and many other essential workers, a BIG THANK YOU to all of you!  We will get through this by uniting and coming together.  By putting aside our differences and collaborating for the greater good.

With that being said, I promised in an earlier blog to provide an update on special education services as guidance became available.  On March 21^st, the U.S. Department of Education provided this guidance (here) on how to best serve our children with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. The guidance, in my opinion, is still not the clearest, but it does encourage us all (parents, teachers, administrators, advocates, and stakeholders) flexibility to innovate during this time of crisis.

For example, the guidance notes that students with disabilities still must be provided services in new and innovative ways.  We are in a “unique and ever-changing environment” and may require services to be provided through distance instruction provided virtually, online, or telephonically.  “The Department understands that, during this national emergency, schools may not be able to provide all services in the same manner they are typically provided. While some schools might choose to safely, and in accordance with state law, provide certain IEP services to some students in-person, it may be unfeasible or unsafe for some institutions, during current emergency school closures, to provide hands-on physical therapy, occupational therapy, or tactile sign language educational services.”

One thing for sure, the guidance does say that how a student’s free and appropriate public education (FAPE) is provided will require as I said earlier for ALL of us to collaborate creatively to continue to meet the needs of our students with disabilities.  We are in an unprecedented situation, and some flexibility (including with special education law timelines) will be needed as we all continue to serve students with special needs.  This is no time to be adversarial with each other and come together to serve our scholars to the best of our abilities.

May you all continue to stay healthy physically and mentally!

In partnership,

Mars Serna
Vice President
Fontana USD Board of Education

Dear FUSD Community:

Fontana Unified School District and all other school districts in San Bernardino County have decided to continue closures of all K-12 schools to students through May 1. This is a joint effort with San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and County of San Bernardino Department of Public Health to help slow the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in our county.

Also, Governor Newsom announced that California is on a “stay at home” order effective March 19, 2020. At this time, the order does NOT change or impact our educational role as we are still considered essential, and we will have to continue innovative ways to carry out the following essential services:

• Meals being prepared and delivered to students.
• Any function associated with keeping the continuity of learning moving forward.

Please see the link for the full announcement and Executive Order from the Governor at https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/

For additional guidance on essential functions, and furthermore, our role as essential employees, please see information at https://www.cisa.gov/government-facilities-sector

The Education Facilities Subsector covers pre-kindergarten through grade 12 schools, institutions of higher education, and business and trade schools. The subsector includes facilities that are owned by both government and private sector entities.

I truly hope these blogs are helping answer a few questions you all may have.  Stay well and safe!

In partnership,

Mars Serna
Vice President
Fontana Board of Education

Dear FUSD Community:

One thing that this crisis has shown us is how resilient we are in our varying roles. This crisis has made us use our critical thinking skills much more than ever.  School staffs across this state and country have had to change the way we educate our scholars within a few days if not hours.  In FUSD, you have been asked to teach and serve over 33,000 students through distance learning, providing free breakfast and lunch, cleaning and sanitizing, communicating with families, and a myriad of other duties while keeping equity in the forefront and balancing caring for yourself and your own families.

As your board member, I have fielded minimal complaints and have found that many who have connected with me have suggested solutions on how we should move forward collectively. Through this venue, it is my goal to give some updates from a macro (State, Federal & County) and micro (FUSD) level.  Here are a few things that I have learned from participating in various discussions in the past day:

State Testing

Governor Newsom has canceled all required assessments for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, pending the approval of a federal waiver. “This time is stressful enough for students, families, and educators without the additional burden of annual testing,” Newsom said. “This is an unprecedented time, and our main focus is on supporting the mental and socioemotional health of students while continuing to provide educational opportunities such as distance learning.”

Distance Learning

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and some of his CDE staff held a webinar yesterday regarding clarification of the recent Executive Order from Governor Newsom related to education during school closures. Of particular interest to me were the guidelines provided for distance/online learning and special education services. I know in FUSD, our administrators, teachers, and support staff have been working hard and have developed many learning opportunities for our scholars. Everyone wants to get this right for your child and all of our community’s children. I can say that many parents have realized how hard our teachers work to develop lesson plans and deliver various curricular tools.

Special Education

Currently, the federal government has not waived the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but the federal government is allowing some flexibility.  Our state is also waiving some requirements.  Districts across the country will be trying different approaches to meet our scholar’s needs.  We will be learning innovative ways, but it will look different in all our communities.  

Labor Unions

Our local unions (FTA, USW 8599, & Fontana School Police) have been very patient through this process.  There have been many questions and challenges with collective bargaining issues.  I want to thank our local union leaders and administrative teams for working together through this process.  At the state level, our state Superintendent Tony Thurmond will be meeting with California labor leaders to help bring about guidance to help us to move in solidarity.

I understand that there is a lot of anxiety and stress, but if we continue to work together, we will get through this very difficult time.  Stay safe and remember to practice good personal hygiene to stay healthy. Again, thank you to all who are working hard to serve our scholars and their families!

In partnership,

Mars Serna
Vice President
Fontana USD Board of Education

Dear Fontana USD Team Members:

Thank you to all of you who have been serving our Fontana USD scholars, their families, and our entire community during these times of crisis and high need. I also want to thank community organizers, education advocates, and businesses who have quickly pulled resources together to help ease the impact during this fluid environment.  We are in unprecedented times. The health concerns caused by the Coronavirus have affected all of us in some way.  I am truly grateful to all of you who are “leading from the seats that you sit in” for acting diligently to reduce the incidence of the Coronavirus spread.

Over the past week, I have received many calls, texts, and emails from administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and community members regarding the process of closing schools, staffing essential services, and what is next.  I want to remind all of us that we are in unprecedented times. There are currently more questions than answers. Please be assured that whether it is at our local, state, or federal level, we are only getting information as quickly as it comes and disseminating it accordingly. We are in a very fluid situation that changes very quickly. As leaders, we do not have all the answers, but we hope to share what we know when it becomes available.

Although our schools are closed, we are still required to provide essential services to our school community.  Here’s some guidance given by the CDE that may help you all understand why some of you are possibly working during this crisis:

School Meal Guidance

• Schools that are approved to operate National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option or Summer Food Service Program can continue to serve meals during COVID-19 at school sites that are closed and offer shelf-stable meals for multiple days.
• To be eligible for federal reimbursement, meals can be served to all children where 50 percent or more of the children are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.  In communities with less than 50 percent free or reduced-priced meals, meal service must be focused on children who qualify.
• Schools do not need to distribute meals on-site and can distribute them at another site that is accessible and convenient to the community.  It is also recommended that meals are consumed offsite, but may be consumed onsite if social distancing and sanitation guidelines are followed.
• To ensure families are aware of the availability of meals, a wide range of communication in multiple languages should be considered, such as public announcements on radio or television.

Care and Supervision Guidance

• LEAs that have physically closed should develop a plan to ensure students are supervised during school hours.  Options include (1) using school sites as a pop-up childcare or (2) partnering with local resource and referral agencies to connect families with care, and providing families with a list of programs that remain open.

Distance Learning Guidance

The guidance is meant to assist LEAs in creating high-quality distance learning during the pandemic.  The ability of LEAs to create these programs will be challenged by the present circumstances.  However, to the extent the district can create these programs, a careful review of this section will help assist in this process.  Highlights include:

• A curated list of resources that will support educators and students with an online educational platform.
• Strategies to help teachers keep students engaged while learning remotely.  This includes being present as an instructor, encouraging group learning, and avoiding assigning long text passages or videos.
• It provides best practices to ensure resources are accessible for all students, specifically our students with disabilities, English learners, and economically disadvantaged pupils.

You can find additional information here: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/guidance.asp?utm_source=All+Member+031620&utm_campaign=9be221eaa1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_18_01_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7bab94cb24-9be221eaa1-276148845

There are other requirements in the area of Special Education, Social Emotional and Mental Health, along with other areas of focus that I hope to write about soon.

Please remember, that we are all going through this together. This will be a very bumpy ride. As 1/5 of your governance team, I truly understand your frustration. Many of you will be asked to serve our community. During a large-scale disaster or as we are in this COVID 19 crisis, we as public employees are by law disaster service workers.

I ask each of you to please not attack your administration or leadership teams. We are all going to try to get through this as best as we can. Please be patient through this process!

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding!

In partnership,

Mars Serna
Vice President
Fontana USD Board of Education