OCDE Education in the News

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Coronavirus tests, fussing with masks, phonics: L.A.’s youngest students return to school

Heliotrope, in the city of Maywood, was among 61 elementary and 11 early-education campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school system, that opened Tuesday for the first time in more than a year.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-13/lausd-opens-first-schools-after-a-year-of-covid-closures

Study: Black students in 14 L.A. County school districts face serious equity barriers

Black students in Los Angeles County continue to face a multitude of barriers to an equitable education, including concentrated poverty, high suspension rates and housing insecurity, a UCLA report released Wednesday found.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-14/black-students-la-county-school-districts-face-serious-equity-barriers-study

SACRAMENTO BEE

Sac City Unified bus drivers, custodians, food workers threaten strike over reopening

A union representing hundreds of workers in the Sacramento City Unified School District has voted to reject the district’s proposal on how to return safely to campuses – setting up a potential vote on a strike.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article250634924.html

VOICE OF SAN DIEGO

Thanks, Incentives, Hazard Pay: More COVID-19 Funds Are Going to School Employees

A growing number of public schools are tapping coronavirus aid funds to show employees appreciation, provide stipends, hazard pay or incentivize their return to campuses following prolonged closures.

https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/thanks-incentives-hazard-pay-more-covid-19-funds-are-going-to-school-employees/

INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN

Inland Empire high schools planning for in-person graduations

But the number of spectators will be limited and some schools will divide classes into two ceremonies.

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2021/04/13/inland-empire-high-schools-planning-for-in-person-graduations/

EDSOURCE

Los Angeles Unified reopens for in-person learning

Some of Los Angeles Unified’s youngest students on Tuesday entered campuses for the first time in more than a year, as California’s largest school district slowly reopens for in-person instruction. Parents had phones in hand, ready to show school staff at the door that their children had tested negative for Covid-19 and that they had completed the required health questionnaire. The state’s largest district faces lawsuits from parents pushing for a full reopening.

https://edsource.org/2021/los-angeles-unified-reopens-for-in-person-learning/653023

DAILY BREEZE

Hermosa Vista School opens to students, second graders begin full in-person learning

First graders will resume full in-person learning next week, and kindergarteners and those in transitional kindergarten will resume a five-day schedule the week after, according to the district's reopening plan.

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2021/04/13/hermosa-vista-school-opens-to-students-second-graders-begin-full-in-person-learning/

KPBS

‘I Had A Lot More Downtime’: City Heights Parents React To School Reopening

Carlos Brown dropped his son off on Tuesday morning at Ibarra Elementary School in City Heights. For him, the first day of school on Monday was bittersweet. He was happy to see his son back in school and among friends, but already missed him being around.

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/apr/13/city-heights-parents-react-school-reopening/

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS

Pasadena teachers and students dance their way, socially distanced of course, back into the classroom

Pasadena’s youngest students danced in the classroom on Tuesday, April 13, celebrating the return to in-person learning after spending more than a year staring at computer screens, learning from home. “It’s good to be back,” Superintendent Brian McDonald said in an interview.

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2021/04/13/pasadena-teachers-and-students-dance-their-way-socially-distanced-of-course-back-into-the-classroom/

‘Urgency is everywhere’: 2022 federal budget plan includes major increases for community schools, Title I

Over the past year, school districts across the country have delivered meals to families, connected them to mental health counselors and served as central hubs for information on rental assistance — operating much like “community schools” that are designed to pull together a variety of services for students under one roof. Now President Joe Biden hopes to expand federal funding for that approach with $443 million for the U.S Department of Education’s Full-Service Community Schools program in the fiscal 2022 budget— an increase of $413 million, almost 15 times the current level.

http://laschoolreport.com/urgency-is-everywhere-2022-federal-budget-plan-includes-major-increases-for-community-schools-title-i/

‘Zoom in a Room’? California’s schools lag in reopening push

Frustrated parents in San Francisco have coined a new phrase for their latest classroom reality: “Zoom in a Room.” In Los Angeles, students can start going back to school in person, but more than half say they will stick with distance learning. More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic forced California’s classrooms to close, some of the largest school districts are welcoming back students this week. But the most populated state is lagging the rest of the country — and in some cases offering options that parents say are unacceptable.

https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-san-francisco-distance-learning-coronavirus-pandemic-california-46766e48d1a26f77cca1e3b712186d39

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