By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Summer School Classes In Session For Students
SS riv high
Riverbank High School students were in groups during a math lesson given by new Bruin football coach and math teacher Joseph Pirillo this past week during summer school. VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS

Although it is summertime, Riverbank Unified School District (RUSD) has continued education for students that are attending summer school. The summer school courses offered by the district will help students get back on track for the next school year, which will begin on Aug. 5.

RUSD Superintendent Christine Facella explained that currently the school guidelines require all students, teachers, and employees to wear masks indoors on campus and continue social distancing. If students are playing outside they do not have to wear a mask. They will not take temperatures and will remove the plastic barriers around the desks.

She said, “There will still be some contact tracing that we will have to do for classes and if somebody is sick we will have to offer them a (COVID) test.”

Normally the district offers online learning for credit recovery and one English Class and one Math Class on campus. This summer, Riverbank High School has three English classes, three math classes, and one World History class. There are about 150 students taking advantage of summer school at the high school. There are two sessions of summer school and the first session ends this week. Students can still participate in summer school for the second session which begins on Monday, June 28 through July 15 to recover credits.

“We have some kids that are doing online learning that are not on campus but it was important to offer the in-person for the high school kids to recoup their credits because it is the best way for them to learn,” stated Facella. “At the high school every teacher that is teaching summer school is one of our teachers. The same is true for CMS (Cardozo Middle School) and almost 100 percent at the elementary. It is strong extended learning. It is the best you can get.”

This year summer school is also being offered at both California Avenue Elementary and Mesa Verde Elementary.

The students going into seventh and eighth grades had the option to attend summer school at Cardozo Middle School. There are only about 50 students taking advantage of the project-based learning during summer school at Cardozo.

For both the junior high and elementary schools summer school is held five days a week for four weeks with the final day on July 2.

The district received COVID relief funds that they have used to help with learning recovery by hiring several new employees. They hired an additional assistant superintendent of Education Services that is going to focus on learning recovery and will supervise 10 new teachers. The district hired three new teachers for Cardozo, three new teachers for the high school, and two new teachers at each of the elementary schools to support learning recovery.

“Those people are going to be working with those kids that have gaps in their learning,” added Facella. “So we will be doing diagnostic assessments to determine where the holes are and we will build a list of kids that need to fill those holes. So they can get back to their grade level. All of our leveraging of those funds will help to really support the kids and get them back where they need to be as soon as possible.”

The newly added English and math teachers at the high school will be available for a ‘zero period’ for those students that need to make up credits during the new school year.

They have a district nurse and have contracted with another company to get another nurse to be prepared for the new school year.

The district is hopeful that the social distancing on buses will be eliminated which has been a big challenge for them as it limits the amount of students that can ride the bus.

They had a shortage of bus drivers and although they are still taking applications they have hired two new people who should be ready when school starts.

Facella anticipates that there will be new school guidance coming out prior to the start of the new school year and the sooner they know the guidelines the better they can prepare.

“The plan right now is for everybody to open on regular hours,” remarked Facella. “The guidance will determine how that will roll out but our goal is to get everyone back to regular hours for the new school year. We will still follow whatever guidance but get everybody to school like they should be.” 

Cal Ave Student 1
Summer school is in session at California Avenue Elementary where students in RAME (Riverbank Academy of Multilingual Education) class were focused. VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS
Cal Ave student 2
California Avenue Elementary has summer school in session. VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS
CMS 1
Students in Ms. Emily Crane’s class during summer school at Cardozo Middle School were creating a class poetry anthology. VIRGINIA STILL/THE NEWS
RHS summer school
Photo By Virginia Still