K-12 schools get ready to return to the classroom in a most unusual year.

After 16 months of either virtual or hybrid learning, Monterey County’s 75,000-plus K-12 students will start full-time, in-person in August.

Most school districts and charter schools will also offer independent study or virtual school options during the 2021-2022 school year for families who prefer to opt out from in-person learning. Offering independent studies this school year is a requirement that is part of Assembly Bill 130, signed into law on July 9 by Gov. Gavin Newsom. “It’s voluntary, so you can’t make a student sign up for independent study,” notes Deneen Guss, Monterey County Superintendent of Schools.

School districts have three options: to offer independent studies of their own, through a contract with the Monterey County Office of Education or through a contract with another school district (via an interdistrict transfer agreement).

Guss says larger districts are better equipped to offer their own programs, but it could be a financial burden for small ones. “It’s very difficult to find the staff, especially this late in the game—this legislation came out very late, which is a huge challenge,” she says.

Monterey Peninsula Unified, Salinas Union High and Salinas City Elementary school districts will offer their own programs.

Carmel Unified and Pacific Grove Unified school districts partnered with North Monterey County Unified School District, which has offered independent studies for students for several years and launched a virtual e-school option this year. Paul Behan, CUSD’s spokesperson, says partnering with North County is the best choice for Carmel: “It would take a long time for us to build that kind of program.”

NMCUSD’s e-school will offer weekly meetings between the student, teacher and parents to set students’ goals.

The independent studies models and teacher-student interaction will be based on the students’ age. K-3 will meet every day synchronously, while students in grades 4-12 will have daily interaction with a teacher and a weekly synchronous class. Guss says independent study will offer similar programs to those that are provided in-person. High school students, for example, will have access to classes they need to complete college entrance requirements.

School administrators expect most students will attend in-person learning. As of July 23, six students from Carmel Unified have enrolled in NMCUSD’s independent studies program.