VAN NUYS >> Parents of middle and high school students in Los Angeles Unified continued to voice their dissatisfaction with the district’s school reopening plan on Wednesday, March 10, one day after the district and teachers union struck a tentative deal to return students to the classroom.
Under the proposal, students at the secondary schools who wish to return to campus would attend in-person about half the week. Because of the need to keep students in small, stable cohorts, they would remain in the same classroom all day with an advisory teacher.
While there would be some time for peer interactions, lessons focused on social-emotional development and opportunities to explore college and career options, students would spend most of their time learning online while sitting in their classroom and wearing noise-canceling headphones. Their advisory teacher, meanwhile, would lead their own online class during that time.
That setup is not much of an improvement compared to having students learn online from home, as they have been doing for the past year, say critics, some of whom had hoped their children would receive in-person instruction in some academic subjects.
“It’s babysitting kids in a classroom,” said Ross Novie, the parent of two high school students in the district. Because students on campus will now have an opportunity to see each other, Novie said the arrangement was only “slightly” better than full-time distance learning.
Students in preschool and elementary, meanwhile, will attend part-time five days a week, attending either a morning or afternoon session. That arrangement appears to be less controversial.
Because the agreement with the teachers union calls for school employees to be fully vaccinated or to have been provided the opportunity to be fully vaccinated before schools reopen, the district is targeting a return date of mid-April for elementary and special education students and for the end of April for middle and high school students.
Despite some criticisms of the proposal, especially among middle and high school parents, district and teachers union officials touted the tentative agreement as a plan that puts students, families and staff on a path toward recovery after a year of dealing with the pandemic.
Superintendent Austin Beutner said because health authorities have recommended that students remain in small, stable cohorts, the district did not want middle and high school students traveling between different classrooms as they did before the pandemic.
“We’re not going to violate the health practices,” he said.
On Wednesday, district and union officials toured Panorama High School in Van Nuys to see how classrooms have been reconfigured so that desks are spaced at least six feet apart, how MERV 13 air filters — considered as effective as N95 masks — are replaced and how classrooms are electrostatically disinfected. They were also led to areas of the school where COVID-19 testing and vaccinations are taking place.
District officials said families should feel reassured that schools will meet proper health and safety standards if they decide to send their children back onto campuses.
Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the union which represents teachers, librarians, counselors, school nurses and other certificated employees, said the health and safety of students, their families and the schools community was the driving force that guided the union’s bargaining demands.
UTLA was the last labor employee group the district needed to reach an agreement with to reopen schools. As the months dragged on, parents who wanted schools reopened faulted the union for classrooms remaining shut.
Union officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly said they would not support a return to school until certain health and safety measures were in place; transmission levels fell and Los Angeles County exited the most restrictive, purple tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system; and all school employees are fully vaccinated or provided access to full vaccine doses.
“Educators have not been standing in the way of a safe return,” Myart-Cruz said. “A pandemic. that has taken millions of lives across the world, and close to 23,000 lives in Los Angeles County alone, was responsible for standing in the way of returning to our beloved classrooms.”
To ensure the health and safety of those on campus, there will be a hotline number that anyone can call if they have concerns as well as a compliance task force at each school site to monitor the situation.
The school board has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to vote to ratify the agreement, and UTLA members are expected to vote next week.
Meanwhile, families should receive more information from their schools, and community town halls have been held or scheduled to provide answers to parents before they decide whether to enroll their child in hybrid learning or to remain distance learning full time. Whatever they decide, families will have the option to change their minds later in the semester, Beutner said.
The reaction from parents to the proposed reopening plan have been mixed.
Reclaim Our Schools L.A., a coalition of parents and students, said in a statement the tentative agreement represents a critical first step “to ensuring a safe and racially just return to in-person learning.”
“This agreement shows the power of parents, teachers and students coming together to make our schools safer,” said Karla Garcia, the parent of a fourth grader and a leader with Reclaim Our Schools.
“But the next step is also essential,” she added. “We need LAUSD to create teams of counselors and tutoring supports for students for both distance and in-person learning.”
Others from the group spoke of the need for more nurses and additional investments to improve distance learning for those who won’t be returning to the classrooms.
Katie Braude, CEO of the parent advocacy group Speak UP, said many elementary school parents who have been demanding an in-person learning option, are relieved.
“Many of our students, especially those with disabilities and very young kids, have truly suffered during school closures and missed out on much of their education for an entire year,” she said. “We are thrilled they will now have the opportunity to see their teachers and friends on campus again.”
However, Braude also noted that students in middle and high school are disappointed that they will continue to not receive in-person instruction from most of their teachers.
“Some of these older students have suffered from depression during the unprecedented pandemic isolation so any chance to connect with their peers on campus will be a welcome change for those who need it,” she said. “However, older students need their teachers, too.”
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Some LAUSD parents welcome elementary reopening pact, but others criticize middle/high school plan - LA Daily News
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