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OCDE NEWSROOM
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California Department of Education unveils student assessment tool for educators |
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State education officials have developed a new online resource to help schools assess student learning levels when classes resume. The California Department of Education’s Guidance on Diagnostic and Formative Assessments offers tools and best practices for educators to determine how far along students are in key content areas. Officials stressed that none of the assessments are required.
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https://newsroom.ocde.us/state-department-of-education-unveils-new-student-assessment-tool-for-educators/ |
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VOICE OF OC
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OC Board of Education Panel Calls for a Fall Return to Classes with No Masks or Distancing |
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The Orange County Board of Education is hosting a special meeting Monday, July 13, where officials are expected to recommend that schools return in the fall — without implementing the use of face masks, social distancing or reduced class sizes. The board of education panel recommendations apply for all ages between kindergarten and 12th grade, and state that children represent the lowest risk and that as a result, major changes will not be implemented.
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https://voiceofoc.org/2020/07/oc-board-of-education-considers-schools-returning-with-no-masks-or-distancing/ |
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Confusion Still Remains Following Orange County’s Suspension of Youth Sports |
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There’s a lot of confusion in Orange County about youth sports right now, prompted in part by unclear reopening guidelines in June followed by an abrupt suspension by the County of Orange a few days ago, with no real public guidance, in a late afternoon press release. Orange County officials announced the suspension of youth sports practices across the county Wednesday after allowing them to resume on June 15.
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https://voiceofoc.org/2020/07/confusion-still-remains-following-orange-countys-suspension-of-youth-sports/ |
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DAILY NEWS LOS ANGELES
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Coronavirus unlikely to be spread by children, research suggests |
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As schools contemplate reopening amid rising COVID-19 cases, an awkward truth is emerging: We’re the problem, not our kids. For months, we’ve kept children carefully isolated, pleading with them to behave, wear masks, wipe their boogers and not hug Gram and Grandpa. We’ve assumed this new virus acts just like the flu and common cold — so classrooms full of kids would create one giant cootie colony. But a growing body of research suggests young children aren’t responsible for most viral transmission. Adults are.
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https://www.dailynews.com/2020/07/10/coronavirus-why-kids-arent-the-germbags-and-grownups-are/ |
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SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
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Some San Diego charter schools received millions of dollars in paycheck protection loans |
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Charter schools are collecting millions of dollars in federal paycheck protection loans, even though they are not expected to lose state funding, federal data shows.
Like all California public schools, charter schools — which operate independently of school districts — were told they will be spared state budget cuts last school year and this year. Unlike district public schools, charter schools are allowed to apply for the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, which is meant to help keep small businesses and nonprofits from laying off their staff.
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https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-07-12/some-san-diego-charter-schools-benefit-from-ppp-loans |
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USA TODAY
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'Like a pawn in a political game': Contradictory school reopening plans leave teachers, parents reeling |
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On the same week the president tweeted out an all-caps demand that schools reopen in the fall, an Iowa school district shifted its summer school to online learning only.
After just two days of in-person learning, school officials had sent home eight of the 60 kids in the program because they had temperatures of 100.4 degrees or higher.
The same week, two states with surging numbers of COVID-19 infections pushed for in-person instruction every day, while a school district in another state with spiking numbers declared its 86,000 students would start the year learning at home.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/07/10/covid-19-chaotic-school-reopening-plans-scary-teachers-parents/5412066002/ |
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Online school? In-person? How parents are making their own fall 2020 decisions as COVID-19 squabbles continue |
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As officials play political football with K-12 school re-openings, parents such as Johanne Davis are formulating their own game plans for the fall. “To exercise an abundance of caution, I’d like to keep my kids home with me where they’ll study online,” says Davis, a mother of three from Indian Land, South Carolina, one of countless states where COVID-19 cases have spiked in recent weeks. “Health is the issue, not just for my children, but also school workers," says Davis. "Teachers shouldn’t have to be frontline soldiers in this pandemic.”
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/07/13/schools-reopening-online-classes-covid/5416268002/ |
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SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
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Reopen Bay Are schools? Online learning was a fail, coronavirus is surging, time’s running out |
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Like many parents, Radhika Parakala is eyeing the calendar with mounting unease over what’s in store for her daughters when their San Jose schools are back in session next month. The online-only learning thrust upon them in mid-March to ease the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic went poorly. Her district’s plans to combine in-class and online instruction in the fall are lacking in detail, and were thrown into further question Friday evening when news broke that teachers were refusing to return to the classroom.
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https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/12/reopen-schools-online-learning-was-a-fail-coronavirus-is-surging-times-running-out/ |
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PRESS-ENTERPRISE
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Coronavirus crisis forces San Bernardino schools to postpone searches for new leaders |
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Two San Bernardino school districts are set to begin the upcoming academic year with interim leaders after the coronavirus pandemic halted their respective searches for new top officials this spring. Before the public health crisis reached full bloom in March, San Bernardino City Unified and the San Bernardino Community College District were in the midst of recruiting successors to former Superintendent Dale Marsden and Chancellor Bruce Baron, respectively.
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https://www.pe.com/2020/07/10/coronavirus-crisis-forces-san-bernardino-schools-to-postpone-searches-for-new-leaders/ |
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INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN
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School names latest target in effort to account for racist legacies of historical figures |
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From slave owners to colonialists and Nazi sympathizers, activists are taking a closer look at the figures chosen as namesakes of educational institutions. From San Juan Capistrano, in south Orange County, to major Southern California cities such as Los Angeles and Long Beach – and even as far north as Berkeley – education officials have faced campaigns to rename schools dedicated to slaveholders, Spanish colonials and eugenicists.
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https://www.dailybulletin.com/2020/07/11/school-names-latest-target-in-effort-to-account-for-racist-legacies-of-historical-figures/ |
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SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SUN
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EDSOURCE
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Spike in coronavirus cases means some schools won’t open at all this fall |
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As coronavirus cases spike across California, some school districts are making the decision to keep campuses closed to most students and to educate them online next school year. Districts in Los Angeles County, which has more coronavirus cases than any county in the state, are preparing for the possibility of classes being completely online at the start of the school year. In neighboring San Bernardino County, its school district this week announced classes would resume next month online.
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https://edsource.org/2020/spike-in-coronavirus-cases-means-some-schools-wont-open-at-all-this-fall/635831 |
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State funding may be stagnant, but schools can still find money for mental health services |
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To meet the escalating mental health needs of California students, school districts need to look beyond their usual funding streams and find support from nonprofits, businesses and other government agencies, panelists told state education leaders on Friday. Hosted by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the panel included legislators, government health directors and executives from some of California’s largest foundations.
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https://edsource.org/2020/state-funding-may-be-stagnant-but-schools-can-still-find-money-for-mental-health-services/635820 |
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KPCC
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Nation's Pediatricians Walk Back Support For In-Person School |
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The American Academy of Pediatrics once again plunged into the growing debate over school reopening with a strong new statement Friday, making clear that while in-person school provides crucial benefits to children, "Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics." The statement also said that "science and community circumstances must guide decision-making." The AAP is changing tone from the guidance it issued just over two weeks ago.
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https://scpr.org/news/2020/07/10/93488/nation-s-pediatricians-walk-back-support-for-in-pe/ |
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LA Teachers' Union Overwhelmingly Votes Against Reopening Schools |
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In a poll taken on Friday, 83% of UTLA members said LAUSD should not physically reopen schools on Aug. 18. More than 18,000 of the union's 30,000-plus members responded to the informal poll. The poll indicates the rank-and-file members of the union agrees with the position of the UTLA Board of Directors and the team that is bargaining with the school district over reopening.
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https://laist.com/2020/07/11/utla-teachers-union-schools-reopening-poll.php |
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KPBS
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San Diego Unified Teachers Concerned About Current School Reopening Plans |
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The new school year is scheduled to start in less than two months, yet San Diego Unified School District teachers don’t feel ready to reopen campuses with COVID-19 cases surging. While the state’s second largest school district says it has a detailed plan for its scheduled reopening on August 31st, the teachers union claims the plan in its current form lacks some basic protections against the coronavirus.
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https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/jul/10/san-diego-unified-teachers-concerned-about-current/ |
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CALmatters
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Some California schools delay in-person classes as coronavirus surges |
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In California, surging coronavirus cases have jeopardized efforts to return students and teachers to school – a lynchpin for healing an economy, the world’s fifth-largest, battered by the pandemic. Achieving something resembling normalcy had already been a tenuous proposition before the landscape dramatically shifted over the last month. School districts received guidance from the state Department of Education on June 8 illustrating the drastic changes to school operations that would likely be made to reduce the virus’s spread. Local school and county health officers will be left to figure out the exact procedures for themselves.
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https://calmatters.org/education/2020/07/california-schools-distance-learning-coronavirus-suge/ |
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OTHER NEWS OUTLETS
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California teachers fight back against pressure to reopen schools |
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom insists schools need to make their best attempt to open this fall, warning of the educational and social-emotional impacts of keeping kids out of the classroom. He’s ordered a mountain of masks and other protective gear for schools to encourage safety amid a rash of new coronavirus outbreaks that have forced him to reinstate stay-at-home orders and shutter bars and restaurants that had barely reopened. But the California Teachers Association, one of the largest and most powerful unions in the country, says it’s still worried. The union is insisting on prolonging distance learning instead of forcing its army of more than 300,000 educators back into schools.
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https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/07/11/california-teachers-fight-back-against-sacrificial-pressure-to-reopen-schools-1299558 |
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