Claudia Rossi says county office is helping support and train educators

By Marty Cheek

Claudia Rossi

When she was selected by fellow trustees to serve a year-long term as president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education, Claudia Rossi had no idea she would be leading students through the challenges of a global pandemic.

“Imagine being a teacher and all of a sudden being charged with continuing to provide instruction, but to do so using distance learning in front of a computer,” she said.

Teachers now have to manage the best they can to set curriculum for students who are in their homes and have class meetings over video-conferencing services such as Zoom. Staff at the county office has been diligent in working with public school districts to make sure all of students have the digital tools they need to access distance learning resources, she said. The county office has provided support to help train educators to offer that distance learning.

For example, San Jose Unified has 30,000 students, many who might not live in homes with Internet service. The county has endeavored to bring them the tools they need to access distance learning.

The other thing that the county has been doing is coordinating with all the districts for the meal distribution program, Rossi said.

“For so many students, the only time they are able to get consistent meals has been through the school system,” she said. “When schools close down, that food certainty students expect was lost. So the county office has been coordinating with all the districts to support the meal distribution programs.”

Offering childcare to the families where a mother or father is a first responder or healthcare worker is another task the county education office has taken on with the coronavirus crisis. The Morgan Hill Unified School District helped to pilot this program with childcare options at Barrett Elementary School.

“I really have to compliment the work of Morgan Hill Unified because they were able to get that up and running in partnership with the YMCA and to provide that childcare for essential workers,” Rossi said.

The decision to close the schools to prevent the spread of coronavirus was a difficult but necessary one because it impacted working parents.

“We had a situation where there were members of the community who were very concerned about the school closures because their parents still go to their jobs,” she said.

A particular challenge during the COVID-19 situation is the needs of special education students who had access to different support such as speech therapy and occupational therapy in addition to their instruction. The county office has to offer support in guiding the staff that provides special ed services to the most vulnerable students. This is especially hard on low-income family that might not have the technology at home to open the doors to distance learning.

“That’s a big concern,” Rossi said. “No matter how much effort is put forward, there is that divide to families who don’t have Internet and so they’re not able to connect to the education resources.”