Middle and high schools throughout Los Angeles County could be eligible within days, with LA Unified aiming to reopen its secondary campuses at the end of April, which is a major turning point in the pandemic that closes California schools for forced for almost a year. .
However, several bottlenecks could lead to further delays in the country’s second largest school district, including the time it takes for teachers and school staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the ability of the district and its teachers’ union to reach an agreement on school days. and working conditions.
On the trade union front, there are jammed activities: negotiators met most days last week and over the weekend – and would also meet on Monday. Sources from both sides said an agreement seemed within reach. According to them, the agreement would include the learning and working conditions for the full grade team – the transition school to the 12th grade.
An agreement will eliminate uncertainties during the rest of the school year and enable the district to submit new schedules to parents and investigate whether they want to keep their children at bay.
Parents expressed a variety of opinions on reopening: participants in one meeting insisted on a slow approach, while those in other meetings demanded a resumption of personal instruction. Communities hit harder by the pandemic – areas where most students live in the district – are more reluctant to return quickly, according to surveys in LA Unified and other school systems.
A much-followed school reopening tracker places California last in the top 50 states in the pace of campus reopening.
Elementary campuses in LA County were again eligible to reopen on Feb. 16, but middle and high schools had to wait because older children respond to exposure in a similar way to young adults. Barbara Ferrer, director of public health, also said that their class schedules usually need to be mixed up more.
“In elementary schools, it’s really easy to keep people in relatively stable groups,” Ferrer told a news conference on Monday. “It’s easier to spread with a lot of people, and it’s going to be harder to mix in high schools and junior high schools.”
Secondary schools are about to get the green light due to declining coronavirus infections and because the state is somewhat simplifying its rules for reopening – to coincide with the increasing number of vaccinations in areas where the virus is most prevalent, Ferrer said.
Beutner’s announcement about secondary schools comes one week after setting a mid-April target for elementary schools, and slightly slumped from an original April 9 target. According to provincial health guidelines, primary school campuses could have opened last month.
But in public statements, Beutner and school board members were largely in agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles, which demanded that employees have access to vaccinations, as well as enough time to exercise maximum immunity before returning to campus.
“We are making progress with our plans to reopen schools,” Beutner said in his weekly broadcast on Monday. “The target remains in mid-April for pre-school and primary school pupils, as well as students with learning difficulties and disabilities, and at the end of April for secondary schools. Our goal is to do this as soon as possible and in the safest way possible. Not in any way possible, the safest way possible. ”
Last week, the union leadership reiterated that it would oppose a return to campus if it concludes that conditions are not safe enough for employees, students and their families. The union also held a referendum in which it asked members to support its negotiating position.
In an email to members, union leaders said a “no” – against the union’s position – “means you are willing to return to your school or workplace physically under unsafe conditions.” In the referendum, 91% of the ballot papers said they supported the union’s position.
Trade union president Cecily Myart-Cruz announced the result in a broadcast with two supportive parents.
Lois Tryk, who has one child at Micheltorena Elementary in Silver Lake and another at Irving Middle School in Glassell Park, said she trusts teachers to tell her when it’s safe enough to return, adding that one extra death due to COVID-19 due to a reopened campus is unacceptable.
Alicia Baltazar, who has a child at Fries Elementary in Wilmington, said she did not agree that children were experiencing significant academic loss and said they had learned valuable lessons this year, including the importance of family in their lives.
“So our children are not learning what you think they should be learning now, but they are making a leap in the field of technology,” Baltazar said, referring to continuing online education. In addition, “they are currently learning social ways, such as learning how to budget, as they see their families go through … financial situations at home, due to job losses and the like.
“They learn survival by going to these Grab and Go’s with their parents,” she said, referring to the district’s free meal distribution program.
LA Unified is one of the school systems that reopens much more slowly. Some, including Long Beach, are moving faster because they were able to access vaccines earlier. Others, mostly in more affluent areas, have reopened without vaccines. State and federal guidelines have encouraged schools to open to employees without vaccinations, provided strict safety protocols are followed.
“While other cities in California, such as Long Beach, have gained an edge when local health authorities start vaccinating school staff there as early as January, we are working as hard as we can to make up for lost time,” Beutner said.
The district estimates that 25,000 employees need to be vaccinated to reopen primary schools. The district is on track for the purpose, Beutner said.
So far, ‘35,000 of them have received their first dose of the vaccine, are making appointments to do so or have decided they do not want to receive the vaccine, ‘Beutner said. “The further good news is that so far only about 10% of the employees have told us that they do not currently want to be vaccinated.”
In his remarks, Beutner also tries to build public confidence that campuses are now fully prepared to work safely. His broadcast included a video visit to Panorama High School in Pacoima: “I would bet it is the cleanest school in the country.”
The principal said the district cleaning staff is doubling, at a cost of $ 60 million, and he has already spent more than $ 25 million on personal protective equipment and nearly $ 10 million to upgrade air filtration systems.
Officials are trying to convince both parents and employees that schools will be safe. In many districts across the country, less than half of the students returned when the campuses reopened. Under California law, it remains an option for students and parents who are reluctant to return during the current school year to learn remotely.
Union leaders listed safe work procedures as another condition for the return of their members.