Under Los Angeles Public School Reopening Plan, Students Must Wear Masks All Day
by Susan Adams
Los Angeles county released guidelines today for re-opening public schools. The county includes the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest after New York City, which has yet to say when and how it will re-open.
The 45-page framework, which applies to students from pre-K through grade 12, says students should wear masks all day, eat lunch at their desks, and attend on a staggered schedule that makes it possible to limit to 16 the number of students present in class at one time.
The plan was developed by staffers in the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which oversees 80 school systems including the city of Los Angeles, Pasadena and Long Beach. Outside advisors and representatives from 23 of the county’s school systems helped develop the plan.
The LA County office is the nation’s largest regional education agency. It is responsible for 1.2 million students, including 735,000 in the city of Los Angeles. By comparison, the New York City school system has 1.1 million students.
L.A. County came out with its guidelines before the California state department of education issued its own plan, which is expected in June. There are 6.2 million public school students in the state.
“Our main priority is health and safety,” Debra Duardo, the county, superintendent, told the Los Angeles Times. “Unfortunately some of the things that children could enjoy in the past, they’re not going to be able to do that.”
Students may get only a single ball to play with, by themselves.
In classrooms that are too small to allow students to be spaced six feet apart, there should only be 12 students present at one time. The guidelines also recommend that classes be held outdoors when weather permits and that large spaces like theaters and auditoriums be used as classrooms. If cafeterias can be safely disinfected, students should pick their meals up and return to their classrooms to eat.
The guidelines are vague on plans for after-school activities, except to say that special rooms should be designated and that schools should partner with community groups like YMCAs and libraries.
The guidelines say nothing about what teachers should do to ensure that five-year-olds remain six feet apart when they’re walking through halls or playing outside. They also recommend that schools install no-touch faucets and soap dispensers. But it’s not clear where schools would get the funds for such improvements. Governor Gavin Newsom has said he wants to protect schools from budget cuts but his latest proposal includes a 10% reduction in school funding.
Last week Los Angeles superintendent of instruction Tony Thurmond said schools could not re-open safely if they have to absorb such deep cuts.
Los Angeles county closed schools in mid-March. It moved to virtual instructions but in late March, there were reports that as many as a third of L.A. high schools students were not logging on to classes.
About the new county guidelines, one public school parent of a fourth grader and a seventh grader on Los Angeles’s west side said: “They will need more staff which they can’t afford.” School officials are a long way from figuring out how to successfully reopen, said this parent, who didn’t want to be named. “Short of a proven vaccine, the current system can’t handle the reality of life during the time of Covid 19”