Coronavirus surge puts reopening of K-12 campuses at risk, says county’s top health official
The pending reopening of K-12 campuses is suddenly at risk because of the ongoing surge of coronavirus cases, and all public and private schools must prepare for students to continue learning entirely from home, Los Angeles County’s top public health official has told local education leaders.
This sobering message was delivered Tuesday by county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, in what she termed an “off the record” phone call with district superintendents and others that was not intended for the media or the public. The Times obtained a recording of the call.
“Every single school district at this point needs to have plans in place to continue distance learning for 100% of the time,” Ferrer said told officials from both public and private schools. “We would be irresponsible if we didn’t say to you that you have to have the back-up plan ready.”
Ferrer also said she remained hopeful that campuses could reopen as anticipated and said administrators should continue to develop those plans as well. There are 80 school districts in L.A. County serving about 1.5 million children. And even if campuses cannot reopen to start the school year, the delay might be for weeks rather than a longer period.
“I think it’s completely appropriate to move forward with our plans as we had anticipated before — hoping that there would be opportunity to allow for children and teachers and staff to get back into their buildings, to really have the enriched educational experience that everyone is so desperate for,” she said. “That also has huge implications for working parents.”
All the same, “it would be foolish, given where our numbers are, for school districts not to have that [distance learning] plan in their back pocket,” she said.
The county is planning to release more detailed guidelines for reopening campuses this week. They will include requiring all teachers and students older than 2 to wear face coverings at virtually all times. There will be rare exceptions for students at risk of a serious medical consequence. In those cases, however, others in contact with that student would be required to wear a medical-grade protective face covering.
Students also must be six feet apart in classes. In spaces where this is impossible, an alternate plan would be to set up partitions between desks.
The debate over how and when to reopen schools was amplified this week by President Trump, who said all campuses should reopen for students five days a week. Nothing like that is being seriously considered for most students in California, where CONTINUE READING: L.A. reopening of K-12 schools at risk from COVID-19 spike - Los Angeles Times
