OCDE NEWSROOM
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COVID-19 update: OCDE reopening recommendations promote social distancing, face coverings |
OCDE and local school districts continue to track the latest developments related to the COVID-19 respiratory illness while following guidance from the Orange County Health Care Agency, the California Department of Public Health and the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Below is our running digest, with newer stories posted at the top.
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https://newsroom.ocde.us/coronavirus-update/ |
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ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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Wagner, Chau back away from controversial Orange County School Board recommendation |
Supervisor Don Wagner and acting county health officer Clayton Chau issued a statement Wednesday that put some distance between themselves and a controversial recommendation from the Orange County Board of Education that students should return to school, in class, without masks, during the pandemic. While Wagner and Chau wrote that they “applaud the efforts” of the Board of Education to “bring children back to school,” they also pointedly noted that they did not “write, edit or review” the report.
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https://www.ocregister.com/2020/07/15/wagner-chau-back-away-from-controversial-school-board-recommendation/ |
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Irvine schools will offer menu of online, in-person and hybrid options this fall |
With the new school year set to start in about a month, Irvine students are expected to be able to decide whether they want to spent at least part of their time in the classroom or do all their learning virtually. With the coronavirus outbreak expected to last into the fall, the district is offering several options so families can pick what will suit their kids best: all online or in-person instruction, or a mix of both, for students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade; and for middle and high school students, either all online courses, or two days a week at their neighborhood school, or a schedule that blends one of those two options with courses from other campuses and programs.
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https://www.ocregister.com/2020/07/15/irvine-schools-will-offer-menu-of-online-in-person-and-hybrid-options-this-fall/ |
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Newport Mesa school district reopening plan has on-campus elementary learning option if safe |
Along with possibly having to continue virtual learning, officials at Newport-Mesa Unified School District have crafted a reopening plan for elementary school students with options for a modified version of on-campus learning and a return to a more typical school day. The school board on Tuesday, July 14, unanimously approved the three-level approach with scenarios that will be put in place depending on what the health climate is at the start of the school year. District officials will decide which level to open schools at two weeks before the Aug. 24 first day of classes.
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https://www.ocregister.com/2020/07/15/newport-mesa-school-district-reopening-plan-has-on-campus-elementary-learning-option-if-safe/ |
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
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L.A. Latino, Black students suffered deep disparities in online learning, records show |
More than 50,000 Black and Latino middle and high school students in Los Angeles did not regularly participate in the school system’s main platform for virtual classrooms after campuses closed in March, a reflection of the deep disparities faced by students of color amid the COVID-19 pandemic and of the difficulties ahead as L.A. Unified prepares for continued online learning. The numbers, reflected in a first-of-its-kind report by Los Angeles Unified School District analysts examining student engagement during campus closures, paint a stark picture of students in the nation’s second largest school district struggling under the new pressures of online learning.
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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-16/latino-and-black-students-hard-hit-with-disparities-in-their-struggle-with-online-learning |
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VOICE OF OC
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Panel Experts Walk Away From Controversial OC Board of Education Reopening Guidelines |
Earlier this week, when Orange County’s Board of Education came under intense national scrutiny for guidelines calling on kids to return to school this fall without masks or social distancing, board members largely defended the guidelines by noting they were formulated by a panel of experts. But in the days since the reopening report’s release, it’s clear that panel members had no say in the final recommendations that were made to the board.
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https://voiceofoc.org/2020/07/panel-experts-walk-away-from-controversial-oc-board-of-education-school-reopening-guidelines/ |
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VOICE OF SAN DIEGO
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School Leaders Can’t Suspend the Discipline Discussion Any Longer |
In San Diego Unified – the largest school district in the county – Black students are almost four times more likely to be suspended than White students. That’s even more disproportionate than the county as a whole. Countywide, Black students are nearly three times more likely than Whites to be suspended. Put another way: Black students make up less than 8 percent of the total population, but they make up more than 21 percent of total suspensions in San Diego Unified.
The problem is nothing new.
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https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/school-leaders-cant-suspend-the-discipline-discussion-any-longer/ |
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USA TODAY
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A parent's guide to online school: 9 questions to ask to vet your back-to-school choices |
A parent's guide to online school: 9 questions to ask to vet your back-to-school choices
In Brandon Wislocki's fifth-grade class this spring in California, daily virtual classes were an experiment in creativity. The Zoom sessions featured guitar playing, group discussions about literature, live math lessons, checks for understanding through Zoom's chat function, and silly games, such as Oreo-stacking and household scavenger hunts. Wislocki's students at Stonegate Elementary in Irvine, California, still covered the core math and English standards that otherwise would have been taught in-person between mid-March and the end of the year.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/07/16/back-to-school-reopening-online-parents-guide/5416528002/ |
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NEW YORK TIMES
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Citing Educational Risks, Scientific Panel Urges That Schools Reopen |
Wading into the contentious debate over reopening schools, an influential committee of scientists and educators on Wednesday recommended that, wherever possible, younger children and those with special needs should attend school in person. Their report — issued by the prestigious National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which advises the nation on issues related to science — is less prescriptive for middle and high schools, but offered a framework for school districts to decide whether and how to open, with help from public health experts, families and teachers.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/health/coronavirus-schools-reopening.html |
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SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
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For Bay Area schools, pressure mounts against bringing kids back to classroom |
When schools shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic let out for summer after months of often dismal efforts to teach students online at home, most assumed they’d welcome the kids back for the new school year with face masks, social distancing and lots of sanitizing. But as COVID-19 surges across the state, major districts from Los Angeles and San Diego to Oakland are announcing plans to bring kids back to their home computers instead of the campus, and worried teachers are forcing others like San Jose to reconsider a return to the classroom.
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https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/15/for-bay-area-schools-pressure-mounts-against-bringing-kids-back-to-classroom/ |
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EDSOURCE
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Parents must have a say in districts’ distance learning plans under new California law |
Dissatisfied with the uneven quality of distance learning among school districts after they closed in March, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature established minimum requirements for the next school year in legislation accompanying the 2020-21 budget. For many districts, the school year will begin next month. With Covid-19 infection rates and deaths rising, some districts, including the state’s largest, announced this week they’ll open solely with remote learning or hybrid instruction, with some in-person and some remote teaching.
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https://edsource.org/2020/parents-must-have-a-say-in-districts-distance-learning-plans-under-new-california-law/636182 |
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NPR
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Is School Safe? Will Districts Test For COVID-19? Answering Back-To-School Questions |
Parents, teachers and students across the country are gearing up for the new school year. But what school will look like is still a mystery. Some districts, like the Los Angeles Unified School District, have announced plans to teach remotely for the start of the school year. President Trump told CBS News that's "a terrible decision." But many educators remain hesitant to return to in-person classes without adequate safety measures in place.
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https://www.npr.org/2020/07/15/891598558/is-school-safe-will-districts-test-for-covid-19-answering-back-to-school-questio |
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HuffPost
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Schools Should Prioritize Reopening, But They Need A Lot More Money: New Report |
Schools should try to reopen if they think they can do so safely, prioritizing students with disabilities and children in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to a report released Wednesday. However, schools likely won’t be able to take all the necessary precautions without an injection of resources from states and the federal government.
The new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which compiles months of research from education and medical experts, offers one of the most comprehensive looks at the costs and benefits of U.S. schools reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-reopening-report_n_5f0f020cc5b6df6cc0b3fea7 |
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OTHER NEWS OUTLETS
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LA teachers demand better technology ahead of remote school year |
After being told to return to remote education in the fall (autumn), Los Angeles teachers are demanding greater technology support to avoid the chaos they say they faced when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to abruptly switch to online learning in March.
The nation's second-largest school district and the union representing its 30,000 teachers were due to open negotiations on Thursday to hammer out work rules governing instruction for some 700,000 children at home.
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/la-teachers-demand-technology-remote-school-year-200715144638962.html |
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