SACRAMENTO, California – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday released a plan for schools to resume face-to-face education next spring, starting with younger students and those who struggled with distance learning the most, helping with US $ 2 billion in state aid for coronavirus testing, personal protective equipment and increased classroom ventilation.
“Security is the key. Just reopening a school for face-to-face teaching on your own will not solve the security issue,” said Newsom, promising sanctions for schools that do not follow security rules.
However, “personal instruction … is our standard,” he said, citing the pitfalls of remote learning, including increased anxiety, depression and undetected child abuse.
The president of California’s largest teacher union said he was happy that Newsom was “finally recognizing” the need for stricter safety standards as part of any reopening plan. California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd said he hopes the formal guidelines Newsom plans to launch next week “create a coherent state plan instead of creating more confusion for parents and school districts.”
Newsom, a Democrat, said his government has been negotiating for months with influential teacher unions and has a “very, very constructive relationship” with the powerful negotiating units.
The government’s promise to provide frequent testing and contact tracking when outbreaks occur will be crucial to making teachers feel comfortable again in the classroom, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas noted the state funding promised by Newsom, vaccines for educators and safety priority, calling it “the starting point that our state and its schools need to consider for face-to-face education” .
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, echoed Newsom’s claim that schools can be opened safely, observing in an online briefing what he called an “almost counterintuitive” discovery that schools “seem to be better off when it comes to infection level” than the wider community.
“If you really want society to return to some form of normalcy, one of the first things you have to do is get the kids back to school,” said Fauci.
Many schools now offer face-to-face classes, even with growing cases of coronavirus, and there have been few outbreaks, said Linda Darling-Hammond, chairman of the California State Board of Education and emeritus professor of education at Stanford University. More than 1,730 schools received state exemptions to reopen classrooms.
“Even in places with high transmission rates, they are going to school safely,” she said.
Newsom said his recommendation was driven by growing evidence that there are lower risks and greater benefits of face-to-face education, especially for younger students. This occurs amid increased pressure from parents to reopen campuses.
Although California continues to be consumed by a growing pandemic crisis, he and Darling-Hammond said it is realistic to expect that many schools will begin to reopen in February or March.
Newsom called for a phased approach focusing primarily on students from kindergarten through transition to second grade, as well as children with disabilities, those with limited access to technology at home, and children who have the most difficulties with distance learning .
Other grades would be introduced during the spring, but distance learning would continue to be allowed if parents and students desired, and for those with health vulnerabilities that make it risky to return to the classroom.
The $ 2 billion that Newsom will recommend in his budget next week is an average of $ 450 per student, weighing up to $ 750 in schools with the most vulnerable populations.
The backlash among state lawmakers broke party lines, with Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley, one of Newsom’s most severe critics, saying the plan “moves the needle slightly in the right direction” but creates more complexity for reopening. Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate education commissions pledged to work with Newsom, with Senator Connie Leyva calling her plan “a positive step forward”.
Newsom said he will also work with state lawmakers on ways to help students recover from learning losses.
“It would be a mistake to say that this is a lost year,” said Thurmond. “This is a year in which we are preserving life, in which we are surviving.”
Among the security measures in the Newsom proposal are the universal use of masks, greater contact tracking during outbreaks, frequent virus testing for all students and staff and prioritizing educators for vaccination.
Dr. Naomi Bardach, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco and a school safety specialist, will lead a team of state health, education and occupational safety staff to help develop safety plans.