by Mark McDermott
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District has been gradually increasing the number of students returning to in-person classes, welcoming back its TK-2 students earlier this month and almost 100 high needs middle school and high school students this week.
Next week, the district plans to bring back grades 3 to 5, four days a week on a rotating morning and afternoon schedule, and 6th grade for its humanities classes. By April 12, the district intends to begin some form of in-person instruction for grades 7 to 12, depending on forthcoming LA County Department of Public Health guidelines.
Despite the plans, district leaders continue to face criticism for the pace of reopening. MBUSD superintendent Mike Matthews has come under particular fire from frustrated parents. But Matthews, in an interview this week, defended the pace MBUSD has taken and expressed optimism that some sense of normalcy could return sooner rather than later.
Mira Costa s new $39 million athletic complex should be packed with students but due to the pandemic the 78,000 square foot facility sits empty, in Manhattan Beach on Monday, February 1, 2021. On the bright side the school closure has allowed for staff to add special touches to the gym that will delight students upon return. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Brittany Murray
Manhattan Beach school enrollment down 8 percent due to pandemic
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Source: Manhattan Beach Unified School District
by Mark McDermott
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District school board began its budget deliberations last week, and though the overall budget scenario presented was a mixed bag, one number stood out. This school year, 493 students left MBUSD.
That sudden and steep drop in enrollment represented an 8 percent decline from last year, or 6,524 students compared to 6,031. At a budget workshop on January 20, district officials said the enrollment decline was due to parents who opted to relocate their children to out-of-area schools that allowed in-person classroom instruction. The biggest losses have been in the district’s five elementary schools, which lost 310 students.
The reopening of in-person classroom instruction within the Manhattan Beach Unified School District and all area schools has been suspended due to the surge in COVID-19 cases occurring throughout Los Angeles County.
Superintendent Mike Matthews issued an unusual Sunday night message to the MBUSD parent community announcing the change in plans. The school board had held a special meeting on December 31 in which the date for reopening was moved from January 5 to January 13.
“Since then, two of our elementary-aged child care cohorts are not in school due to two cases of COVID in those classrooms,”
Matthews wrote in his Sunday night message. “And while there is no evidence of spread so far, which has been the case in all of our classrooms, these two incidents bring our case total to 34 since we returned to campus on September 16, 2020. That’s a big number, and it reflects the number of cases in our community.” Matthews said that Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
UpdatedSun, Jan 3, 2021 at 8:40 am PT
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Steve Napolitano, Jason Boxer offer their thoughts on 2020 and 2021. Napolitano is a Manhattan Beach City Councilman; Boxer on MBUSD board. (Shutterstock)
MANHATTAN BEACH, CA Public officials in Manhattan Beach definitely had their hands full in 2020 due to the pandemic and racial tensions. Manhattan Beach Patch asked a few of them to weigh in in 100 words or less on 2020 and 2021, in any way they wanted. Here are the final two of comments of the ones I received.
Jason Boxer, board member of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District 2020 was a consequential year, colored by empty grocery store shelves, distance from loved ones, and unprecedented economic disruption. Bitter partisanship intensified these experiences, estranging us from one another in a time of great need. I wish to suggest a remedy as we begin to process our resulting loneliness and loss: camaraderie. We can buy groceries for our immunocompromised neighbors. We can