The Los Angeles Unified School District is aiming to reopen middle and high schools in late April under a timetable announced Monday by Supt. Austin Beutner. Under L.A. County health rules, local secondary schools could be eligible to open as soon as next week.
Several sticking points, however, could affect the plans, including the time it would take to get teachers and school staff fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the ability of the district and its teachers union to reach an agreement about school day schedules and working conditions.
On the second front, there has been ramped-up activity: Negotiators met most days last week and over the weekend — and were scheduled to meet Monday as well. Sources from both sides said an agreement appeared to be within reach. And the agreement, they said, would encompass learning conditions for the full grade span — transitional kindergarten through 12th grade.
An agreement would lift a fog of uncertainty over the remainder of the school year in the nation’s second-largest school system. It also would allow the district to present parents with their options for the remainder of the year and then plan around those preferences.
Elementary campuses in L.A. County became eligible to reopen Feb. 16 — and, last week, L.A. Unified officials said they expected them to open in mid-April, stepping back slightly from an original target of April 9. Under county health guidelines, they could have opened last month. But in public statements, Beutner and school board members have largely been in agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles, which has demanded that employees receive access to vaccines as well as enough time for maximum immunity to take effect before being required to return to campus.
“We’re making progress in our plans to reopen schools,” Beutner said in his weekly Monday broadcast. “The target remains mid-April for preschool and elementary school students, as well as students with learning difficulties and disabilities, and the end of April for secondary schools. Our goal is to do this as soon as possible and in the safest way possible. Not in any way possible, the safest way possible.”
Last week, the union leadership reiterated that it would oppose a return to campus if it concluded that conditions were not safe enough for employees, students and their families. The union also held a referendum in which it asked members to support its negotiating position.
In a mailing to members, union leaders said a “no” vote — against the union’s position — “means you are willing to physically return to your school or place of work under unsafe conditions.” In the referendum, 91% of those casting ballots said they supported the union’s stand.
Union President Cecily Myart-Cruz announced the results in a broadcast with two supportive parents.
Lois Tryk, who has one child at Micheltorena Elementary in Silver Lake and another at Irving Middle School in Glassell Park, said she trusted teachers to tell her when it was safe enough to return, adding that one additional death from COVID-19 due to a reopened campus is unacceptable.
Alicia Baltazar, who has a child at Fries Elementary in Wilmington, challenged the idea that students have suffered from significant learning loss.
“So our children are not learning what you think they should be learning right now, but they are making leaps and bounds when it comes to technology,” Baltazar said, referring to ongoing online schooling. In addition, “they are learning social ways right now, like for instance, they’re learning how to budget, as they’re seeing their families go through...financial situations at home, due to job losses and things like that.” And students are learning “survival,” she said, by going with their parents to pick up free meals being provided to the needy.
L.A. Unified is among the school systems that have fallen behind the more rapid reopening plans of many other districts. Some, including Long Beach, were able to obtain access to vaccines sooner. Others, mostly in more affluent areas, were able to open campuses without full access to vaccines for employees. State and federal guidelines permit schools to open without vaccines for employees, provided that strict safety protocols are followed.
“While other cities in California, like Long Beach, got a head start when local health authorities there started with vaccinations for school staff back in January, we’re working as hard as we can to make up for lost time,” Beutner said.
The district has estimated that 25,000 employees would need to be vaccinated to reopen elementary schools. The district is on track for that goal, Beutner said.
So far, “35,000 of them have received their first dose of the vaccine, are making appointments to do so or have decided they don’t wish to receive the vaccination at this time,” Beutner said. “The further good news is, so far, only about 10% of employees have told us they don’t want to be vaccinated at this time.”
In his remarks, Beutner also sought to build public confidence that campuses are fully prepared right now to operate safely. His broadcast included a video visit to Panorama High School in Pacoima: “I would wager it’s the cleanest school in the nation.”
The schools chief said the district is doubling cleaning staff, at a cost “upwards of $60 million” and already has spent more than $25 million on personal protective equipment and nearly $10 million to upgrade air-filtration systems.
Officials are trying to persuade both parents and employees that schools will be safe. In many districts around the nation fewer than half of students returned when campuses reopened. Staying in distance learning will remain an option for students and parents reluctant to return.
Union leaders have listed safe operating procedures as another condition for the return of their members.
"and" - Google News
March 09, 2021 at 12:00AM
https://ift.tt/3ruSvm6
LAUSD aims to reopen middle and high schools in late April - Los Angeles Times
"and" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35sHtDV
https://ift.tt/2ycZSIP
And
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "LAUSD aims to reopen middle and high schools in late April - Los Angeles Times"
Post a Comment