LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner has finally announced what will be happening at Los Angeles schools for the 2020-21 school year: No on-campus classes, at least not at first.
The school year will begin on August 18th, as planned, but there will only be remote learning at that point.
From the Superintendent’s message on July 13th:
While the new school year will begin in August, it will not start with students at school facilities. The health and safety of all in the school community is not something we can compromise.
The Superintendent stressed that testing and contact tracing will be critical to being able to open again. And he said that those measures will come with new costs.
Beutner also took aim against the Federal government’s recent claims that students should “just do it” and return to campus. He said that unlike Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, the LAUSD can’t simply click their heels together and make things better.
Instead, he asked for the Federal government’s help with funding testing, and he asked for local government’s help with funding LAUSD’s efforts to feed adults as well as children.
As of July 15th, they will have distributed 45 million meals since schools were closed in March.
What will instruction look like?
The statement made on July 13th mentioned the goal of live instruction, even remotely, as school begins, and there will be enhanced opportunities with after school hours and Saturday classes as well.
State Standards will be the basis for instruction, and the regular school day schedule will be maintained. The Superintendent said he is working with all stakeholders to make sure this happens.
We will continue to report on updates to LAUSD as they happen. Stay tuned.
Andrea
Thursday 16th of July 2020
This is TERRIBLE. Social interaction is critical for kids’ mental and physical health. In addition, remote learning is not even REMOTELY close to actual learning from teachers in class. So disruptive and poorly academically formative. Unbelievable.