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It’s spring 2021. It’s Friday at dusk. Gaggles of curious teenagers are gathering for an unfamiliar event designed to salvage a high school year that hardly was and pump an unaccustomed feeling into their final weeks as juniors and seniors joy.
Call it prom-ish.
In the early weekends of California’s phased reopening, teenagers, school leaders and perhaps most of all, parents, have seized on a sliver of an opportunity to try to make up for 14 months of missed dances, homecomings, sports award ceremonies and winter formals by mobilizing eleventh-hour proms like none before them.
Depending on the school, parking lots replaced fancy indoor venues. Promposals, the highly orchestrated ask for a date, were tame. The DJ’s music blast tended to waft into oblivion outdoors, which seemed OK because attempts at socially distanced dancing was a bit awkward. Attendees snacked on cotton candy and meatballs on skewers rather than partake in sit-down dinners. And the milestone eve
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In-Person Classes Mean Some Students Are Seeing Teachers, Classmates For First Time
Before teacher Barbara Wexler’s eighth graders returned to campus, she was worried she wouldn’t recognize them.
“A lot of the time, you’re teaching to black boxes,” said Wexler, who teaches at Hale Charter Academy in Woodland Hills.
During online Zoom classes, many teachers say it’s common for students to leave their cameras off.
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As a result, many students and teachers who have
returned to L.A. Unified School District campuses over the past month some of whom have been working together for almost a full school year are now actually seeing each other for the first time since the pandemic forced schools to close campuses.