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Thursday, March 25, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Santa Ana Unified students to remain off campus rest of the school year
Students in the Santa Ana Unified School District will finish the academic year the same way they started, via online learning. “The District believes that this is the best course of action given the unique circumstances facing the SAUSD community,” Superintendent Jerry Almendarez wrote in an email Wednesday, March 24.
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/03/24/santa-ana-unified-students-to-remain-off-campus-rest-of-the-school-year/

CAPISTRANO DISPATCH

Parents Call for Full-Time Return to Campus for Capo Unified Students
As student mental health remains a concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, some parents have voiced their support for Capistrano Unified School District students to be able to attend classes in person on a full-time schedule again, just as they were prior to the global outbreak. The district currently has a hybrid model, in which students can either attend classes face-to-face or continue learning online—and students are only on campus a limited amount of time if they choose the in-person option.
https://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/parents-call-for-full-time-return-to-campus-for-capo-unified-students/

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Lowell High's racial demographics to change after dropping merit-based admissions
San Francisco’s elite Lowell High School is likely to see a shift in its racial and ethnic makeup after it suspended merit-based admission for next school year, according to new district data. The data — which shows which students were accepted to Lowell’s ninth-grade class — are complicated by the fact that the school admitted nearly 200 fewer students than previous years because of over-enrollment in the past. Still, overall, the Hispanic and Black students were a larger share of the accepted class than the previous year, while the share of white and Asian American students fell.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Lowell-High-School-s-racial-demographics-to-16050648.php

USA TODAY

My kid matters, too': Parents ask why students in special education programs are sent home early
Near the end of Delilah McBride’s second month of kindergarten in Taylor, Michigan, her family received jarring news from her principal: Delilah would be allowed to come to school only in the morning. Someone would need to pick her up before noon every day, even as the rest of her peers continued learning and playing together. 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/03/25/schools-send-special-education-students-home-early-change-iep/6979733002/

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Antioch Unified to stay at distance learning but offer in-person help.
Survey of parents and teachers revealed majority wanted to stay the course with remote learning. Antioch school district will offer some in-person classes for special-ed students.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/03/25/east-bay-school-district-to-stay-at-distance-learning-but-offer-in-person-help/

INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN

Southern California students’ coronavirus artwork packs many emotions
They say art can express emotions, promote healing or offer a “window into the soul.” That also can be said of Southern California students who have illustrated the stress and constant changes of these pandemic times in their artwork. In February, Daniel Richter, a fourth-grade teacher in Wildomar in Riverside County, asked his students to express how they felt through digital art. Richter, who teaches at Sycamore Academy of Science and Cultural Arts — a charter arts school with campuses in Wildomar and Chino Hills — said he was “blown away” by the submissions and conversations about the coronavirus crisis.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2021/03/25/southern-california-students-coronavirus-artwork-packs-many-emotions/

EDSOURCE

California lags behind most states in offering fully in-person instruction, new data show
California is one of the slowest states to invite students back for fully in-person instruction amid the pandemic, data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education shows. State and local education officials have been pushing for a swift and safe reopening of schools across California through a combination of financial incentives, vaccine priorities and access to safety supplies. 
https://edsource.org/2021/california-lags-behind-most-states-in-offering-fully-in-person-instruction-new-data-show/652035

DAILY BREEZE

Torrance school bells ring Thursday for grades six through 12
The South Bay’s largest school district will begin sending its high school students back to campus Thursday, March 25, the start of what will be a busy couple of weeks for the region’s education officials — as those in grades nine to 12, as well as younger pupils, flood into classrooms for the first time in about a year.
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2021/03/25/torrance-school-bells-ring-thursday-for-grades-six-through-12/

LAGUNA BEACH INDEPENDENT

Laguna Beach USD OKs $2.8 million to refresh Thurston classrooms, athletic field
Thurston Middle School is slated to get modernized classrooms and a refreshed sports field, following the Laguna Beach Unified School District’s Board of Education approval of two bids totaling about $2.8 million.
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/laguna-beach-usd-oks-2-8-million-to-refresh-thurston-classrooms-athletic-field/

NPR

How To Talk — And Listen — To A Teen With Mental Health Struggles
It just is really sad to see what was supposed to be the best years of your life, like, go down the tubes." That's how E., a 16-year-old who lives in Alexandria, Va., described her state of mind right now. E. is among many teenagers who have struggled during the pandemic with the loss of routines and milestones.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/24/980776808/how-to-talk-and-listen-to-a-teen-with-mental-health-struggles

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS

Cardona summit shines light on districts with successful reopening stories and ‘real-world evidence’ of following CDC guidelines
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will travel to local communities over the next few weeks in a continued push to get more schools to reopen before the Biden Administration’s self-imposed 100-day deadline. “My job, I can do it better if I’m listening to what is happening in the field,” Cardona told viewers during a summit designed to highlight progress districts have made bringing students back to the classroom and to address pandemic-related learning loss.
http://laschoolreport.com/cardona-summit-shines-light-on-districts-with-successful-reopening-stories-and-real-world-evidence-of-following-cdc-guidelin

Most students have experienced mental health challenges during pandemic, survey reveals. But there are reasons for optimism
Nearly two-thirds of parents say their child has recently experienced mental or emotional challenges such as anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts, according to a new national survey on student well-being during the pandemic. Yet amid growing concern that the pandemic and its widespread disruptions to schools could have a devastating, long-lasting toll on students’ mental health, the new Jed Foundation survey offers some optimism.
http://laschoolreport.com/most-students-have-experienced-mental-health-challenges-during-pandemic-survey-reveals-but-there-are-reasons-for-optimism/


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