Moving quickly to avoid possible COVID-related state restrictions, the Denair Unified School District decided Thursday night to begin a phased reopening of all school campuses after more than six months of distance learning only.

The unanimously approved change came after a special Board of Trustees meeting at which Superintendent Terry Metzger outlined the district’s comprehensive reopening plan and stressed the urgency of enacting it immediately.

That’s because Stanislaus County is on the verge of being downgraded Tuesday from “red” to “purple” on the state’s color-coded COVID watch list, denoting worsening health conditions in the county because of the pandemic. Schools that reopen while the county is still in the red tier may stay open even if the county reverts to the purple tier, where it was until Oct. 13. But campuses that are not reopen by that time cannot do so until the county has been in the red tier for at least two more weeks.

If Denair doesn’t reopen by Monday and the county slides into purple status, it could be well after the first of the year before students could return to in-person classes. All students have been distance learning since mid-March.

Denair students may be away from campus in a distance-learning environment, but they still will commemorate Red Ribbon Week next week, just like they have for years. Red Ribbon Week began in 1985 as a way to discourage drug use among children while promoting healthy behaviors.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan was one of the original proponents of Red Ribbon Week. It is a tribute to former Drug Enforcement Agency agent Enrique Camarena, who was killed during an undercover assignment in Mexico.

Though the COVID pandemic has forced students and staff into a virtual world since mid-March, each campus in the Denair Unified School District has planned a number of events starting Monday. All are being coordinated by staff as well as student members of the PHAST (Protecting Health and Slamming Tobacco) Clubs. This year’s theme is “Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free.”

Thursday is the deadline for parents of students in the Denair Unified School District to let officials know whether they want their children to transition to a hybrid learning model or remain with 100% distance learning.

Denair students at all grade levels have been taught using distance learning since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because health conditions in Stanislaus County have improved recently, Denair is now able to plan to bring some students back to its campuses for limited face-to-face instruction. No date has been set, but it is likely to be in November.

Parents received electronic and mailed letters last week from Superintendent Terry Metzger asking them to choose from two models.

Projections of future deficit spending by the Denair Unified School District caught the eye of state and county officials, who worry such a scenario is the slippery slope that could return Denair to the precarious financial situation it was in eight years ago.

School districts pass budgets in June that govern fiscal years that begin July 1. Each budget anticipates spending not only for that year, but for two years into the future. In Denair’s case, the balanced budget school trustees approved June 4 also projects the district will spend $151,593 more that it receives in state and other funding in 2021-22. The district’s plan would be to dip into its reserves that year to make up the difference.

Caution, uncertainty and strong desire to return students to the classroom without compromising their health or that of their teachers were among the emotions that permeated a lengthy discussion by Denair Unified School District trustees Thursday night about what it will take to reopen campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bottom line: It may be December or January before school officials, employees and parents feel confident that a limited amount of on-campus instruction each week can replace the distance-learning format Denair and hundreds of other California districts have used since March.

“These are not easy decisions,” said Trustee Carmen Wilson. “It’s the logistics of them. If we say yes, it takes a lot of resources to execute and can we do that?”

Before trustees weighed in with their opinions, Superintendent Terry Metzger presented an outline of the health situation in Stanislaus County, which strongly influences what schools can and can’t do. Today, the county remains in Purple tier denoting “widespread” COVID cases. It is expected to move into the Red (“substantial”) tier as soon as next week.

Elementary campuses only may apply for a waiver and open under the Purple tier. Denair has not yet sought a waiver for Denair Elementary Charter Academy, but that may be moot. Once any county has been in the Red tier for 14 consecutive days, all campuses theoretically could open under a hybrid model that blends two days of on-campus instruction with three days of distance learning. Rules would limit how many students can be in class together and numerous safety precautions would be required.