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VOL. 9, NO. 29
LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS JUST SAY ‘NO’ TO PHYSICAL SCHOOL RE-OPENINGS ‘Surging coronavirus cases, testing woes make opening safely all but impossible’ CFT
The traditional yellow school buses will be mothballed for this coming school year. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
L
ast week, the L.A. County Department of Public Health and the L.A. County Office of Education (LACOE) issued new guidelines and protocols for opening K-12 schools in the new academic year. Public Health stated that, given current health data, we must all prepare to remain in a remote learning environment in the new school year. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT), which represents 120,000 teachers and school employees, sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature last week, before the governor announced his plans for schools on Friday, asking state leaders to delay the physical reopening of
schools and provide stronger direction to counties that “have been left on their own to make the difficult decision on whether it is safe to reopen schools.” CFT President Jeff Freitas said in a written statement, “We urge the governor to take action and delay the reopening of schools until we can guarantee our schools are safe. The stakes are as high as it gets, and we have only one chance to get this right.” Earlier this month, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow dismissed the difficulties of getting students back into classrooms this fall as coronavirus cases continue to rise in many states and the school year nears, during an interview on CNN. "Just go back to school, we can do that," Kudlow told reporters on July 10. "And you know, you can social distance, you can get
your temperature taken, you can be tested, you can have distancing — come on, it's not that hard." On July 7, President Trump said he would pressure governors to reopen academic institutions, claiming they want to keep them closed for political reasons, not over concerns about spreading the virus. "So, we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools to get them open and it's very important. It's very important for our country. It’s very important for the well-being of the student and parents. So, we’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on opening your schools in the fall,” Trump said. At the time, Rep. Bobby Scott, (D-Va.), the chair of the House education committee, said the president’s push to "prematurely
reopen" schools ignored health experts and is "dangerous." “Even before the pandemic, our nation’s public schools were chronically underfunded," Scott said. "Reopening schools now, without more investment, presents serious risks to the health and safety of our students and educators." According to reporting from ABC News, “Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have signaled they are in lockstep with the president in calling for schools to resume normal teaching in the fall, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled there is a way to exert federal influence through the latest coronavirus relief package under negotiation. McConnell has specifically stressed the importance of securing liability SEE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS PAGE 4
