Tulare County Office of Education is celebrating arts education and the creativity of students all March long.
TCOE gets educators and their students directly involved as U.S. schools celebrate National Arts Education Month each year.
More than 35 Tulare County schools contributed over 1,000 pieces of art since January. The paintings, drawings, photographs, songs, dances, films, plays and poems are now on display in a virtual gallery created by TCOE.
Many of the contributed works of art come from students within the Visalia Unified School District, both Tulare city school districts and more.
One such work came from El Diamante High School, which submitted choreography from dance teacher Megan Skadan. Individual students from the In Motion Dance Team put on socially distanced, outdoor performances perhaps a sign of how they ve been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Students across California who speak another language at home are starting to take tests this month to see how well they are learning English. For many students it will be the first time they’ve been tested in two years.
Due to the pandemic, last year the federal government did not require states to test and report English learners’ language skills. But this year, the federal and state governments are proceeding with the test, even though the pandemic is far from over.
If some students are not tested for the second year in a row, teachers and district officials worry they may not know how much English learner students have progressed over the last two school years. That could affect schools’ ability to give students the classes or other language help they need, and it could affect districts’ ability to evaluate how well different programs teach students English.
Visalia Unified School District quarantined several classrooms in the wake of multiple students and staff testing positive for COVID-19.
Affected schools include Crestwood, Shannon Ranch, Annie R. Mitchell, Veva Blunt, and Willow Glen elementary schools, where overall 75 students were quarantined on Monday as a precaution.
Teachers and aides will also be required to quarantine.
Staffers tested positive for COVID-19 at Mountain View, Washington and Four Creeks on Jan. 19, the same day students returned from the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. No classrooms were quarantined, according to communications coordinator Kim Batty
A non-VUSD classroom at Green Acres was also quarantined. A staff member for a Tulare County Office of Education program tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, according to spokesperson Rob Herman.