With 1 in 3 students testing positive for the coronavirus in some Los Angeles neighborhoods, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to reopen campuses is clashing with the reality of a raging pandemic as many school districts opt for January shutdowns and superintendents call for clearer guidance on when it will be safe to unlock their campus doors.
The swift-moving developments come one week after Newsom announced financial help totaling $2 billion that would go to elementary schools that reopen as early as next month and later to schools serving older students. Newsom cited the widely acknowledged harms of learning loss and social isolation especially for Black and Latino students from low-income families after in-person instruction shut down nearly 10 months ago across the state.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund has granted an additional $1.8 million to 34 nonprofit organizations helping San Diegans in need, it was announced Friday
The fund, managed by The San Diego Foundation, was able to give the grants thanks to dozens of individual and business contributions including an $8 million gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott, author and Giving Pledge participant.
The nonprofit grant recipients are delivering much-needed food security, financial assistance, learning loss support and other needs to local communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In total, the fund has granted $54.7 million to more than 200 nonprofit organizations working on the frontline of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
This report was updated at 11 a.m. Dec. 24, 2020 to include additional districts that will stay in distance learning mode until the end of the school year.
With the coronavirus out of control in California, and the health system reaching a breaking point, momentum toward opening more public schools for in-person instruction has largely come to a halt.
Some districts already offering in-person instruction are returning to distance learning, if only temporarily, as school leaders try to get through the holiday season and weather the full force of the pandemic’s spread.
That’s according to an EdSource survey of the state’s 58 county offices of education conducted between Dec. 7 and Dec. 16. At the time, almost all counties in the state had moved onto the Tier One “purple” list, effectively prohibiting schools not already offering in-person instruction from doing so.
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces 2020 Finalists for Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
SACRAMENTO State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today congratulated six outstanding mathematics and science teachers who are finalists from California for the 2020 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
“These teachers are incredible educators, role models, and mentors to all those around them, and through mastery of their craft, they inspire students to study math, technology, engineering, and science including computer science,” Thurmond said. “They’re bright stars and prime examples of excellence in our educational system, and we hope that all students can enroll in great STEAM and computer science programs with educators like them, to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.”
Students in the San Dieguito Union High School District will be returning to one-day-a-week instruction on Jan. 4 following the winter break. On Dec. 15, the board voted 3-2 in favor of a resolution that targets an expanded reopening to full-time, five-day-a-week school by the first day of the third quarter on Jan. 27.
At each school site, students have been asked to commit to coming to school one day a week or to remain in distance learning: 42% of students have opted in to return for one day a week at Torrey Pines High School and 56% of students will return at La Costa Canyon. At the academies, new classes start at the beginning of the third quarter so more students have opted to finish their current classes online. On Jan. 4, 31.28% of Canyon Crest Academy students have decided to come back one day a week and 39.3% of students will return at San Dieguito Academy.