SACRAMENTO - Sacramento City Unified today announced that it will be ready to welcome students back to in-person learning by April 8. The district is moving forward with its reopening Return Together plan and has reached agreement with the Sacramento City Teachers Association, after months of negotiations. The agreement includes a number of modifications to the district’s current plan, including bringing secondary students back earlier than previously projected. 

“Every day that our students are not on our campuses is time many are not getting the support that they need,” said Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. “We are happy that our students will not have to wait any longer. The students in Sac City Unified, like all other students in our region, deserve in-person instruction to support their academic, social, and emotional learning and growth. 

We have implemented extensive protocols to ensure our schools are safe. Over half of our families are choosing to send their students back to in-person learning. It is time to honor their decisions.” 

Sacramento City Unified’s Return Together plan includes a phased-in return to in-person teaching and learning. 

• Students in PreK – grade 3, and K-6 Special Day Classes will return on April 8; 
• Students in grades 4-6 will return on April 15; and
• Students in grades 7-12 will return on April 22. This is sooner than the district had previously announced, and will allow Sac City Unified to begin supporting secondary students two weeks earlier.

Sacramento City Unified will be one of the last districts in the region to return to in-person instruction. The district is also one of the most diverse in the region, with 70 percent of Sac City Unified students designated as low income, foster youth, homeless, or English learners.   

Students in the district have the choice to return to an in-person / concurrent instruction model or stay in distance learning for the rest of the school year. More than half (53 percent) of the district’s families have indicated they will be sending their students back to in-person learning. 

As part of its Return Together plan, the district has implemented extensive protocols to protect the health and safety of students and staff, meeting conditions that go above and beyond state and county health requirements, and beyond CDC recommendations for reopening. These protocols and changes are detailed in the district’s Return Together Reopening Dashboard. The district also produced a video to give students and families an idea of what coming back to school will be like. 

The district’s agreement with SCTA mirrors the learning models and in-person learning schedule that many other districts within the Sacramento region have already implemented. In addition to strict Health and Safety Protocols as outlined in Sac City Unified’s Return to Health Plan, the agreement includes the following:

• Students will return to schools:
  • April 8 – PreK-3 and K-6 Special Day Classes
  • April 15 – Grades 4-6
  • April 22 – Grades 7-12.
• An interactive process for employees with medical conditions 
• The opportunity for SCTA members with childcare issues to bring their school-aged children to work
• Additional professional development on technology, serving students in a concurrent model, and health and safety protocols 
• Extra pay for teachers providing technical assistance on the new technology which will be available in classrooms, including a three-in-one camera that helps ensure the most engaging experience for students, both at home and in-person
• Site-based bell schedules to be announced by March 25
• A collaborative process between the district and the union to potentially phase in additional days for Special Day Class students 
• Continued discussion on child development services

The MOU also includes language that allows the parties to meet and confer to discuss revising the terms as state and federal guidance changes. 

For a copy of the MOU, please view the document here.