Elementary and high schools across Los Angeles County may be eligible to open in a few days, with LA Unified aiming to reopen its secondary campuses in late April, marking a major turning point in the pandemic that forced the California schools closed for almost a year.
However, several difficult points can still lead to further delays in the country’s second largest school district, including the time it would take for school teachers and staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the capacity of the district and its teacher union reaching an agreement on school hours and working conditions.
On the union front, activities increased: negotiators met almost every day last week and at the weekend – and were also scheduled to meet on Monday. Sources on both sides said a deal appeared to be within reach. And the deal, they said, would cover learning and working conditions for the entire grade – from transitional kindergarten through grade 12.
An agreement would clear up uncertainties for the rest of the school year and allow the district to introduce parents to new schedules and do research on whether they would like to keep their children in distance learning.
The parents expressed a number of opinions about the reopening: the participants at a rally asked for a slower approach, while those at some other rallies demanded the resumption of face-to-face classes. The communities hardest hit by the pandemic – areas that are home to the majority of students in the district – are more reluctant to return quickly, according to research at LA Unified and other local school systems.
A widely followed school reopening tracker places California last among the 50 states in the pace of campus reopening.
Elementary campuses in LA County became eligible to reopen on February 16, but elementary and high schools had to wait because older children react to exposure in a similar way to young adults. In addition, their class schedules typically require more mixing, said county public health director Barbara Ferrer.
“In primary schools, it’s really easy to keep people in relatively stable groups,” Ferrer told a news conference on Monday. “Mixing with many, many people is what makes it easier for the virus to spread, and in high schools and elementary schools this mix will be much more difficult to control.”
Secondary schools are about to receive the green light because of the fall in coronavirus infections and because the state is easing its reopening rules – to coincide with the increase in the number of vaccinations in areas where the virus has been most spread, said Ferrer.
Beutner’s announcement about secondary schools comes a week after he set a mid-April target for primary schools, departing slightly from the original April 9 target. Under county health guidelines, primary campuses could have been opened last month.
But in public statements, Beutner and school board members broadly agreed with United Teachers Los Angeles, which required employees to be given access to vaccines, as well as enough time for maximum immunity to take effect before being required to return to campus .
“We are making progress on our plans to reopen schools,” said Beutner in his weekly broadcast on Monday. “The target is still mid-April for pre-school and elementary school students, in addition to students with learning difficulties and disabilities, and the end of April for high school. Our goal is to do this as quickly as possible and in the safest way possible. In no way possible, in the safest way possible. “
Last week, union leadership reiterated that it would oppose a return to campus if it concluded that conditions were not safe enough for employees, students and their families. The union also held a referendum in which it asked members to support their negotiating position.
In a correspondence to members, union leaders said that a “no” vote – against the union’s position – “means that you are willing to physically return to your school or workplace in unsafe conditions.” In the referendum, 91% of voters said they supported the union’s position.
Union president Cecily Myart-Cruz announced the results in a broadcast with two parents who supported him.
Lois Tryk, who has a son at Micheltorena Elementary in Silver Lake and another at Irving Middle School in Glassell Park, said he trusted teachers to tell her when it was safe enough to return, adding that an additional death from COVID-19 due to a reopened campus is unacceptable.
Alicia Baltazar, who has a son at Fries Elementary in Wilmington, said she does not agree that children are experiencing significant academic losses and said they have learned other valuable lessons this year, including the importance of the family in their lives.
“So our kids are not learning what you think they should be learning now, but they are taking a leap when it comes to technology,” said Baltazar, referring to continuing online education. In addition, “they are learning socially now, for example, they are learning to budget, because they are seeing their families go through… financial situations at home, due to job losses and things like that.
“They are learning to survive by going with their parents to these Grab and Go,” she said, referring to the district’s free meal distribution program.
LA Unified is among the school systems that are reopening much more slowly. Some, including Long Beach, are moving faster because they were able to gain access to vaccines earlier. Others, mainly in wealthier areas, have started to reopen without vaccines. State and federal guidelines encourage schools to open without vaccinations for employees, as long as strict safety protocols are followed.
“While other cities in California, such as Long Beach, took the lead when local health officials started vaccinating school staff in January, we are working as hard as we can to make up for lost time,” said Beutner.
The district estimated that 25,000 employees would need to be vaccinated to reopen primary schools. The district is on track for that goal, Beutner said.
So far, “35,000 of them have received their first dose of the vaccine, are making an appointment to do so or have decided that they do not wish to receive the vaccine at this time,” said Beutner. “The other good news is that, so far, only about 10% of employees have told us that they don’t want to be vaccinated right now.”
In his comments, Beutner also sought to build public confidence that campuses are now fully prepared to operate 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 head of the school said the district is doubling the cleaning staff, at a cost of “more than $ 60 million”, and has already spent more than $ 25 million on personal protective equipment and nearly $ 10 million to upgrade air filtration systems.
The authorities are trying to convince parents and staff that schools will be safe. In many districts across the country, less than half of the students returned when campuses reopened. Under California law, staying in distance learning will remain an option for students and parents reluctant to return during the current school year.
Union leaders listed safe operating procedures as another condition for the return of their members.