This is a continuation of successive Board Meeting updates.

The Oct. 28 board meeting relinquished some hope given to students at the previous Oct. 14 board meeting. It was originally said that students would most likely have the opportunity to return to campus following the week long Thanksgiving break at the start of the second trimester. But after consideration, the board decided to push the opening date back to Jan, 5, 2021.

This change in school opening is the third time the board has moved the date. The first being in late Jan., the second being the start of December, and now what many hope to be the final date, Jan. 5. 

The push back of the opening date has caused many students to lose hope in their promised return to school. Madison Blankenhorn, a senior at Sage Creek and a Carlsbad Unified School District Champion has the honor of sharing opinions and suggestions on behalf of the student body and shared her personal thoughts on the new decision. 

“I consider that sad myself, because I really wanted to go back but at least they have a decision now so there is progress being made,” Blankenhorn shared.

Blankenhorn is not happy with the decision that was made because she feels that the social and emotional component of school is extremely important especially in times like this, but gains hope in a set date to re-open. 

“Also being at home there are a lot more cases of abuse and neglect and all of that, so that’s definitely a really scary thing when kids aren’t at school and don’t have that kind of accessibility that you have at school,” stated Blankenhorn.

Abuse, violence, and mental health disorders have surged since the beginning of the pandemic. With citizens trapped in homes, self isolated, or isolated with harmful family members, these cases seem to only worsen. In a recent survey, 40.9% of participants stated that they were experiencing some sort of mental illness brought on by the pandemic. Sage Creek also has a school psychologist, Bob Boeckman, that is currently available through email if needed by students.

Due to these issues, it is extremely important to get students back into the classroom, but it is even more important to do it safely. 

Right before the board meeting, hundreds of teachers from the district and supporters rallied at Sage Creek to express their opinions. Teachers were trying to communicate the fact that they are not ready to bring students back to campus. 

The proper medical equipment has not been properly installed or tested yet, their lesson plans have not been thoughtfully planned for the new arrangement yet, and new technology for teachers, such as live-streaming has not yet been tested. With these uncertainties, teachers felt that the reopening date of Nov. 30 posed by the board at the Oct. 14 board meeting (re-opening right after Thanksgiving) would be unwise and extremely rushed. 

Rachel Merino-Ott, the AP literature and composition teacher, yearbook advisor, and one of the heads of the teachers union for CUSD, expressed some of the difficulties she was running into. 

“We didn’t have all of the necessary things ordered. It takes longer than a month to order anything more complicated than paper and pencils.” Merino-Ott stated.

In order to truly be prepared for this new phase of school, and to protect the health of her students, she felt that the possible Nov. 30 opening date was seemingly impossible.

Taking this information into consideration the board decided to push the opening date to Jan. 5, 2021 in an act  of caution for both students and staff. 

As of now, Sage Creek is doing everything they can to make this a safe and easy transition back to school. 

Some of the changes that are being made to Sage Creek were given to us by Principal Jesse Schuveiller. 

“The deployment of a mobile app to confirm symptom and temperature screening on a daily basis…facial covering requirements for any person on campus, a continuation of hand sanitizing and hand washing protocols on campus…the goal of six feet of physical distancing between students in the classroom…additional custodial staff for enhanced cleaning and  disinfection…installation of plexiglass barriers between teachers and students…addition of HEPA air filtration units…adjusting pedestrian flow to alleviate or mitigate congregation…[and] increased campus safety monitors,” Schuveiller stated.

Despite the overwhelming amount of changes being made to campus, staff is working diligently to make the adjusted school day feel as similar to one pre-pandemic. 

“I think students once they’re back in that in-person hybrid model that it’ll feel, I think, maybe a little bit different, but I think it will come close to feeling like a normal school day,” Schuveiller said. 

To many, this statement comes as a great relief. Students are stressed that nothing in their life seems to be normal, but with the reassurance that every staff member is working to create as much normalcy as possible, students can be reassured that there will finally be a level of stability that they can rely on.