The Reed Union School District has abruptly dropped its long-term distance-learning program just one week into the 2020-2021 school year after discovering several of the platform’s lessons contained “inappropriate content expressing racism or sexism,” according to district Superintendent Nancy Lynch. Lynch said the district late last week began hearing reports and seeing social-media posts from educators and parents across the country highlighting offensive content within the curriculum of the Acellus Learning Accelerator. 

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Reed Union School District Superintendent Nancy Lynch confirmed late last week the district will not immediately seek a state waiver that would speed up students’ return to the classroom. In an Aug. 14 email to parents, Lynch said a preliminary survey showed there was not agreement among parents and teachers in favor of applying for the waiver; county and state public-health officials have said consensus among parent, labor and community groups is necessary for a waiver to be approved. Lynch said she sent a survey out to district parents and staff on Aug. 10. Of the 593 parents who responded to the survey, about 60 percent wanted the district to apply for a waiver. Of the 94 employees who responded, only about 12 percent were in favor of applying. 

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There’s a race after all in the Reed Union School District board election. In a deadline surprise, Tiburon residents Chuck Hornbrook, who currently serves on the Tiburon Parks, Open Space and Trails Commission, and Jacqueline Jaffee, executive director of Adopt A Family of Marin, filed their nomination papers on Aug. 12 — the final day for nonincumbent challengers to get their names on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot.

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The Reed Union School District is moving forward with a five-phase plan designed to safely bring students back to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and a majority of the district board has now encouraged the district to apply for a waiver that would allow in-person classes to resume even as Marin remains on the state’s coronavirus watch list. The board at its Aug. 6 teleconference meeting voted unanimously to approve the phased-in approach to the 2020-2021 school year, which is now set to begin Aug. 24, four days later than originally planned, after the board also unanimously approved a change to the school calendar.

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Amid rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across Marin, public-health officials are now reversing course and asking schools to delay the start of in-person instruction until Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day. The county will have to meet strict new state guidelines if it wants campuses to reopen even by that date, but on the Tiburon Peninsula, some parents are petitioning to reopen on schedule Aug. 20. The new county guidance, issued July 15 with the Marin Office of Education, calls for schools to adopt a phased-in approach to the school year that focuses on distance learning to start but allows for small in-person groups on campus in August to give teachers and students time to get used to new safety precautions that will be in place to help limit the spread of COVID-19.

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