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Tuesday, March 16, 2021

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Many LAUSD parents don’t plan to send kids back to campus, early survey results find
About half of Los Angeles Unified students will not be returning to campus, based on early, partial results of a parent survey, with more wariness expressed in communities hit hard by COVID-19.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-15/parents-worry-kids-in-school-bad-la-covid-areas

DAILY NEWS LOS ANGELES

Beutner vows in-person graduations; survey indicates half of LAUSD parents OK with live classes
The Los Angeles Unified School District will have some form of in-person graduation this summer, after a year of online classes, its superintendent said Monday.
https://www.dailynews.com/2021/03/15/buetner-says-lausd-will-have-in-person-graduations-if-coronavirus-continues-to-wane/

SACRAMENTO BEE

Northern California’s largest school district is reopening campuses. How they did it
Just over one year after the Elk Grove Unified School District closed campuses – sending shock waves through the region as the COVID-19 pandemic began – students in Northern California’s largest district will begin returning to classrooms on Tuesday.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article249848643.html

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

San Diego Unified reaches deal with teachers on reopening schools
The number of days San Diego Unified students will be able to attend school in person once schools reopen the week of April 12 will depend on how many of their schoolmates also choose to return to school.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2021-03-15/san-diego-unified-reaches-deal-with-teachers-on-reopening-schools

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Oakland schools to reopen this month after striking tentative union deal
The first Oakland students would be back in classrooms by March 30, with all elementary and at least one middle or high school grade back in schools by April 19 under a tentative deal.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Oakland-strikes-deal-for-schools-to-reopen-16026759.php

EDSOURCE

'No one is sure what to expect': Schools, colleges add more counseling services to address student mental health
As students begin returning to the classroom as the pandemic eases, schools are bracing for an onslaught of serious mental health conditions that, for some students, may take years to overcome. In the year that campuses were closed due to Covid-19, students experienced waves of loneliness, fear, upheaval and grief. Some lost loved ones, others saw their parents lose their jobs and their families sink into poverty. Nearly all experienced a degree of depression from being apart from their friends and missing important milestones like proms, graduations and being on campus as college freshmen.
https://edsource.org/2021/schools-add-more-counseling-services-but-students-mental-health-impacts-may-linger-for-years/651272

San Francisco superintendent's resignation points to ongoing turnover in school leadership
School boards are appointing superintendents who have grown up in the communities their districts serve, or spent time there as teachers or administrators, in part as a way to curb the chronic turnover in the top position. A prime example is San Francisco, where Superintendent Vince Matthews was born, went to school, was a teacher and principal.
https://edsource.org/2021/san-francisco-superintendents-resignation-points-to-ongoing-turnover-in-school-leadership/650910

NPR

CDC Looks At Whether 3 Feet — Instead Of 6 — Is Safe For Schools' Social Distancing
How much social distance is necessary in the classroom? The answer (to that question) has huge consequences for how many students can safely fit into classrooms. Public schools in particular are finding it difficult to accommodate a full return if 6 feet of social distancing is required — a key factor behind many schools offering hybrid schedules that bring students back to the classroom just a few days a week.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/15/977564878/cdc-looks-at-whether-3-feet-instead-of-6-is-safe-for-schools-social-distanc

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS

California ethnic studies debate: Whose stories get told?
Race and ethnicity can be tricky topics to discuss, especially in the classroom. But the California Department of Education had no idea how heated the debate would get when it set out to draft a model ethnic studies curriculum for high schools statewide. The process took over two years, multiple versions, and drew nearly 100,000 public comments.
https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-education-california-d4e28bba7b0c54fcd446ec456fa38e14

Students Lead Movement to "Defund the Police" in LAUSD
Even if she never makes it back to campus, Dorsey High School senior Sarah Djato is leaving her mark on the second largest school district in the country. Between juggling college applications, classes, and exams, Djato was one of the students instrumental in a recent overhaul of campus police that will result in fewer cops on campuses and more money directed toward Black students.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/orange-county/public-safety/2021/03/15/students-lead-movement-to--defund-the-police--in-lausd

FAFSA applications fell after COVID — and for many incoming freshmen, they haven’t recovered
New research from California shows a sizable decline in applications for university financial aid during the first phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend among first-year college students has not reversed itself, the data show, and declines are particularly acute in low-income neighborhoods and those with higher minority populations. Financial aid applications are a useful proxy for college attendance, which makes it reasonable to wonder whether fewer completed FAFSA forms today will lead to less college attendance tomorrow. 
http://laschoolreport.com/fafsa-applications-fell-after-covid-and-for-many-incoming-freshmen-they-havent-recovered/

Judge Rules in Favor of North County Parents Suing Over School Reopening Rules
A judge Monday ruled in favor of a group of North County parents who sued the state to overturn pandemic-related rules they allege have unfairly prevented school districts from reopening for in-person learning. The temporary restraining order issued by San Diego Superior Court Judge Cynthia Freeland prohibits the state from enforcing the provisions of its January framework for reopening schools, which the plaintiffs allege has interfered with local school districts’ reopening plans and includes “arbitrary” restrictions that have impeded in-person instruction from resuming.
https://timesofsandiego.com/education/2021/03/15/judge-rules-in-favor-of-north-county-parents-suing-over-school-reopening-rules/

Pushback from United Teachers of Pasadena leaves district reopening date in limbo
One week after the Pasadena Unified Board of Education decided on a reopening date to get its youngest students back in the classroom, the local teachers union is calling on officials to shift their original March 30 plan to a proposed start on April 13. Even though a date is set, the union and the district still do not have a firm agreement for the return to in-person learning. This protest and ensuing negotiations could lead to a change in the proposed schedule, district officials said.
https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2021/03/15/pushback-from-united-teachers-of-pasadena-leaves-district-reopening-date-in-limbo/


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