Print
Continue to article content
Evianna Van Santvoord, who is in kindergarten, does her schoolwork at home on March 18, 2020 in San Anselmo, Calif. | Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Newsom pushes February school reopening plan in California
Updated
SACRAMENTO Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $2 billion push Wednesday to reopen California elementary schools for the youngest students in February, offering incentives and testing to school districts that resume classroom instruction.
Most of California s 6 million public school students have been learning remotely since the pandemic forced widespread closures in March. While a smattering of districts opened this fall when infection rates were lower, most kept campuses shut and stayed online, especially those in large metropolitan areas.
By Thomas Catenacci
Teachers unions largely won’t explain why they want to keep public education virtual, even though studies have suggested that schools aren’t coronavirus super-spreaders as originally expected and that students’ performance have suffered in remote environments.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, elementary and high school students nationwide have been forced to take classes remotely, which has caused many children to fall far behind both on exercise, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers, and classwork, The Washington Post reported. A New York Times article labeled remote learning among the most “insidious” tragedies emerging from the pandemic.
(CALMATTERS) – School reopenings will likely take center stage in 2021 as one of California’s biggest political battles.
A special education pre-k class at Lu Sutton Elementary school in Novato on Oct. 27, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters
It’s a battle all the more noteworthy because it pits two groups that are often allies unions and Democratic lawmakers against each other. This week, the state’s two largest teachers unions the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers publicly opposed a bill introduced by eight Democratic lawmakers that could force schools to reopen in March. The unions’ decision to come out against the bill in December, several weeks before legislators return to Sacramento, was unusual and an indication of their intent to halt it in its tracks.
Teachers Unions Critical of Bill to Require Schools to Reopen in March / Public News Service publicnewsservice.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from publicnewsservice.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
POLITICO
Get the California Playbook Newsletter
Email
Sign Up
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
THE BUZZ
GARCETTI A NO-GO: He was there for Joe Biden’s presidential bid from the start, but
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday put an end to longstanding speculation about his future, saying he’s staying in town and won’t be taking a post in the Biden Administration after all.