All K-12 schools in California must be open in the fall for full-time, five days a week, personal instruction under guidelines announced Tuesday by government officials.
Government Gavin Newsom said briefly on Tuesday that this guidance would become a mandate, but added that he would, if necessary, consider additional measures to ensure that school children do not fall behind on June 15, when the state has a comprehensive economic reopening planned. .
Newsom said campuses at all levels, including higher education, should be open. He added that this is in line with his efforts so far to reopen classrooms, which include financial incentives and accelerated vaccinations for school workers.
“I want kids safe back in school for personal education,” the governor told a news conference in San Francisco. “We made it crystal clear.”
Newsom has opened up the possibility of more definitive action in collaboration with the legislature, “but there will be no obstacle to having our children back personal teaching and that is the expectation. ”
He added: “You will learn more about our efforts to advance the cause more firmly and fundamentally.”
The language in the guidelines sets out a clear purpose: “Schools and higher education institutions must be taught full-time in full, in accordance with the temporary emergency standards of Cal / OSHA and public health guidelines.”
The question of what will happen in the fall has worried parents up and down the state, including in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The country’s second largest school system will gradually start opening campuses next week after more than a year of distance education following the COVID-19 pandemic. The district’s hybrid format will continue to rely heavily on remote instruction.
Lower-level students can attend classes in person five days a week, but only during breaks. Middle and high school students will be able to return to campus, but once there, they will stay in one classroom from where they will continue with their online class schedule, which is offered by teachers elsewhere. Meanwhile, the teacher in the room will also work online with students in different classrooms.
So far, about 3 out of 10 students will return, based on the results of the survey. Many families have constant concerns about safety, while others prefer to keep students at home due to dissatisfaction with the hybrid plan. One new parent group, California Students United, has asked for donations to file a lawsuit to force the district to provide full-time personal training. A similar effort has been very successful in San Diego County.
Still other parents say they are willing to tolerate the hybrid format for the rest of the current academic year, provided schools reopen full-time in the fall.
Tuesday, the state Supt. Tony Thurmond of public education said he shares Newsom’s optimistic views, but that officials should also cater to the needs of parents who are not ready to return to campus.
“We need to prepare for the possibility that there will be families who cannot or do not want to go to school campuses this fall, and schools need the flexibility to offer some form of distance education,” Thurmond said in a statement. said. .
He added: “Returning to personal tutoring should be an urgent focus on tackling gaps that are most experienced among students who have already been disadvantaged before the pandemic disrupted learning.”
Thurmond, who has limited authority over school districts, said he has convened a task force to better understand and identify ways to help with the academic and emotional needs of students.