10 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
AUGUST 2021
NEWS
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
COVID CONSEQUENCES L
by kevin fitzgerald
uis Valentino is the brand-new Coachella Valley Unified School District superintendent. When he accepted the position after spending 3 1/2 years as the chief academic officer at Portland Public Schools, it meant he could finally come home to his family. “When we left Albuquerque, (N.M., in 2015), I had become a consultant here in California, primarily. We knew we were going to come back to California; we just didn’t know where,” he said. “That summer, we needed some vacation down time, and as we were driving through, we ended up staying here for a couple of days in a hotel. Then, because we had a time share, we stayed in Indio for a month. Even as hot as it was, we actually enjoyed it. Our son needed to students would not immediately return to enroll in school, so we were on our way to live in-person learning, because the district’s in Long Beach—but, as we’d started to enjoy survey of families had not yet been finalized. it here, one thing led to another, and before “That’s something that we should have we knew it, we enrolled him in school here. already begun to put in place, but we “The plan was to stake some roots here will,” Valentino said. “I (recently) had a and become part of the Coachella Valley, but conversation with one of our directors who soon, the superintendent in Portland asked is working on registration and enrollment. me to do some consulting work for him. So, I asked her if we are seeing more or fewer thinking I’d be there for a month or two, the families than expected enrolling their plan was always to stay here. Then he invited me to stay and work for him—and I was there students in the school district. She said that, surprisingly, it’s been very positive.” for 3 1/2 years. Still, there was no plan to Valentino conceded that the Delta variant uproot my family. So, for me, getting this job and the resulting rise in COVID-19 cases may was a blessing, as you can imagine.” change some families’ minds. In a recent phone interview, Valentino “We know that there are going to be some discussed the challenges being faced by the families who are going to want independent east valley school district, as all CVUSD (schooling), especially if we can’t demonstrate schools get set to welcome students back on to them that we’re going to keep their child Aug. 12—for what will surely be a unique and safe,” he said. “That makes sense. That’s why challenging school year. He said that he plans it’s so important for me to get a safety plan to do a lot of observing and learning to start. that will help ensure that families who are “In looking at the practical aspects, we nervous will see when they come on campus have to get back to school,” Valentino said. that we are doing everything we can to keep “We have to re-enter—and then how are we their child safe.” going to address the academic slide that took It’s possible the Delta variant may result place during this whole period? All districts were impacted, including this one, so we can’t in stricter county and state guidelines for schools. shy away from the fact that there’s a lot of “Right now, we’re following the latest news, work ahead in getting students back on track, and then accelerating their learning. And how and we’re building off of that,” Valentino said. “… For our school district, that puts us in the are we going to do it in a way that keeps studifficult position of not being able to finalize dents safe?” any policy (regarding masks, social distancing, Valentino said the district also needs to etc.). School principals need to speak to meet the needs of students whose families their staff, and to the parents, and they decide it’s best for them to continue distancedon’t want us to be wishy-washy about what learning from home, due to the ongoing we’re sharing. They want us to really know pandemic. what we’re talking about. So my concern is “Also, how are we going to address the that we might not have the (COVID safety) trauma that everyone faced, whether it information soon, which means will have to was a student, a teacher or a central office postpone our final decisions.” (staffer)?” Valentino said. “In CVUSD, the Valentino said the district is also weighing district lost people, and there’s emotion whether or not to require that students 12 attached to that. How are we going to years and older be vaccinated for COVID-19 return to some level of normalcy around the in order to attend school in person—and emotional aspects? How are we going to help what exceptions would be allowed to such a people get whole again?” policy if it were enacted. Valentino said he did not yet know, as “Our board members are really thinking of our mid-July conversation, how many CVIndependent.com
Luis Valentino, the new CVUSD Superintendent, talks about the challenges the district faces in 2021-2022 and beyond
hard about that question,” Valentino said. It’s also unclear whether sports will fully return to “normalcy” once school starts in August. “I don’t have a definitive answer for that, but I do have hopes and expectations,” Valentino said. “That’s because in my previous district, Portland Public Schools, I supervised athletics as well. We were the first ones out of the gate to bring students back (to athletics), because what we found is that the students who came back to participate in extracurricular activities saw their social and emotional well-being improve. We had a lot of challenges with depression and suicide ideation, so we needed to find a way to bring some of those students back … If we can keep our athletes safe here, then I believe, personally, that they would benefit greatly from being able to participate in athletic events.” Valentino said he anticipates it will take more than a one-year plan for students to make up for the learning that was lost during the pandemic closures. “Part of the first year (of recovery) included the summer-school programs. I was really pleased that in California—and actually in most states—there was more-robust summerschool programming than there has been in the past,” he said. “This district had a lot more students participating, which is great. … So we already have some data to start us off in understanding how severe the academic slide was. Also, when we return, we need to assess the social and emotional well-being of our students. … (We’ll be) learning more and building out a short-term, a mid-term and a long-term plan. Interventions are going to be a part of this work throughout the school year. I know that CVUSD has both afterschool programs and Saturday school.” Since a substantial segment of the CVUSD student body may not return to in-classroom learning right away, I asked Valentino what was being done to bridge the “digital divide”—a lack of internet access suffered by some families within the district. “One of the things that this pandemic magnified has to do with internet access and the divide that exists,” Valentino said. “Actually, some communities have zero (internet access). They rely on the school. So, the role of the school will be expanding access at the school. Also, we can work with the community and the service providers. My understanding is that Verizon has
CVUSD Superintendent Luis Valentino, on bridging the “digital divide”: “The permanent fix, quite frankly, is for the school district to plan for owning its own network.”
been a good partner here, especially in the eastern-most part of the valley, where the digital divide is magnified even more. So, (we need) to identify how free and low-cost services could be made available. I know we have portable Wi-Fi (hotspots) that enable students to gain access, and that was put in place early on in the pandemic. We need to expand that option.” Valentino said he hopes a permanent fix to internet-access issues will come one day in the not-too-distant future. “The permanent fix, quite frankly, is for the school district to plan for owning its own network,” Valentino said. “The state of California has made quite a large amount of money available—and the federal government has, too—to help districts, especially those with rural communities within boundaries, build out networks. … Is there a way where we can actually create community-based access? That’s possible, especially now. CVUSD has been thinking about this for over a year.”