Parents rally in effort to return to in-person learning in Oceanside
The Oceanside Unified School District is responding after parents gathered to demand a return to in-person learning Tuesday night.
Posted at 6:30 PM, Feb 09, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-09 21:37:35-05
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) The Oceanside Unified School District is responding after parents gathered to demand a return to in-person learning Tuesday night.
District officials say they are unable to return to full in-person learning although PK-5 students have been allowed to return in the stateâs purple tier.
âWhile we are able to return to in-person instruction in grades PK-5 while in the purple tier, we are not able to return at the secondary level until the county has returned to the red tier,â the district said.
Many parents in the district have grown frustrated by the reopening delay.
“Every day is pretty much a fight that ends in tears about 95% of the time,” Oceanside Unified parent Aimee Palmer said describing distance learning.
She and other parents demonstrated outside district headquarters before Tuesday’s meeting.
“In 11 months [my daughter] had 20 hours of in-person time,” fellow parent Elaine Keswick said. Hundreds of students in the Oceanside Unified School District are slated to return to campus soon. NBC 7’s Audra Stafford has more information for you.
Keswick s 4-year-old daughter, Coral, is a special needs student and can t speak.
“The system she uses to communicate is picture-based, or she takes our hand to tell her something. She can t reach through the screen to take the teacher s hand to communicate her needs,” Keswick said, explaining her daughter’s reliance on in-person instruction.
Oceanside Unified School District to allow some students to return to schools for in-person learning
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher/AP
and last updated 2021-02-10 11:44:17-05
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) â Some students in Oceanside will be allowed to return to campuses for in-person learning starting in March.
On Tuesday evening, the Oceanside Unified School Districtâs school board voted in favor of allowing kindergarten-5th grade students to get back into classrooms for in-person instruction.
Special education students will be allowed back starting March 8; the rest of the elementary school students are allowed to return on March 15.
The decision was made hours after a group of parents held a protest that called for a return to in-person learning. The parents said they felt it was safe for all students to return to schools.
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CARLSBAD
The Carlsbad City Council will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday to hear a report on food assistance in Carlsbad and the Oceanside Kitchen Collaborative, and to discuss whether the city can help address food insecurity.
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ENCINITAS
The Encinitas City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday to hear from applicants for several city commissions. The council will also discuss a request to create an Encinitas Equity Committee with Mayor Catherine Blakespear and Councilmember Kellie Hinze assigned to the committee. The committee would create an application for community participation and work to ensure a diverse mix of applicants.
By Andrea Lopez-Villafaña
Through a returning partnership with the California Summer Meals Coalition, several San Diego County school districts and city library branches are serving free healthy lunches during the summer for children 18 years old and under.
During the 2016-2017 academic year, over 10,000 students K-12 in San Diego County met the eligibility criteria for free meals based on household income, homelessness, foster placement and more, according to data by the California Department of Education.
For many students who fall into those categories, school lunches are essential to maintain proper nutrition, but when school is not in session, some no longer have those resources.