Classes back to normal this fall
L.A. Unified pledges teaching in person, changing classrooms for middle and high schools
This fall, middle and high school students in Los Angeles Unified will be able to attend school in person full-time five days a week and move between classrooms, Superintendent Austin Beutner said Monday, addressing a key issue with the current hybrid model that limits secondary students to learning online from a classroom.
Allowing students to move between classrooms and actually receive instruction in person from their teachers could go far in drawing more students back to campus. The district has struggled to persuade students, particularly at middle and high schools, to return since campuses reopened last month. Only about 7% of high school students have returned to campuses, according to a district staff report earlier this month.
In order to maintain stable groups, students currently are required to remain in the same
room all day, meaning they are still receiving online instruction as they were at home — only now, in a classroom.
But Beutner indicated this week he expects that to change in the upcoming school year.
“Elementary school students will be on campus five days a week for a full day of in-person instruction with their teacher and classmates,” he said during his weekly update to the community. “Middle school and high school students will be on campus five days a week for a full schedule of instruction, changing classrooms for each period.”
He also said after-school programs will be available until about 6 p.m. to support working parents.
His remarks came a day after parents rallied outside the district office, demanding schools fully reopen. The district and teachers union are currently negotiating what the school day will look like this fall. Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, recently said that teachers, too, want to return to daily in-person instruction, but that they are seeking additional investments and assurance that conditions will be safe.
One issue that’s been controversial this spring was the district’s adherence to a 6-foot distancing policy between student desks in the classroom, a condition it had agreed to during negotiations with UTLA. The union ratified the contract two days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines and said desks could be spaced 3 feet apart.
During a news conference later Monday, Beutner said he did not know what the CDC will suggest three months from now in terms of proper desk spacing, but said that “I think it’s safe to assume that students will be no longer 6 foot [sic] apart.”
The current school reopening agreement between the district and UTLA ends June 30.
Vaccination campaign
A remote learning option will remain in the fall for students who choose not to return to campus for personal health reasons or because they live with someone who is immunocompromised, but district officials are pushing for most students to sign up for in-person learning.
To make it safer to return, the district Monday rolled out a campaign to get students 12 or older vaccinated. Mobile vaccination teams will visit each middle and high school campus at least once before the school year ends June 11 and again in the summer. A schedule of where the vaccination teams will be is available on the district website.
On Monday afternoon, district officials held a media event at San Pedro High School, where a mobile vaccination site was set up. Among those who received their COVID-19 shot was freshman Ephraim Miller. The 14-year-old has remained in distance learning, though students have had the option to return to campus since April, because he did not feel comfortable returning before he’d been vaccinated.
But come August, he said, “if everything goes according to plan and all the vaccines have been distributed, I shouldn’t have a problem going back.”
As an incentive for students to get their shots, the district has announced that schools where more than 30% of students get vaccinated will receive $5,000, and the students will get to decide how the money is spent.
District officials are hoping the convenience of the mobile vaccination sites at neighborhood schools will encourage more families to get their kids vaccinated. There is a large disparity in the vaccination rates of 16and 17-year-olds based on neighborhoods, with twice as many from affluent communities vaccinated than their peers.
“A school-based [vaccination] effort will help address this disparity,” Beutner said.
Because children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult to get vaccinated, the district is giving employees paid time off to take their children to get the shots. On Monday, Beutner said the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and other business associations are encouraging businesses to do the same.
Attendance numbers
Since campuses reopened last month, slightly more students have returned than those who log in online, Beutner said.
He also noted a disparity in attendance based on geography: at the elementary level, attendance is about 10% higher among students from wealthy communities, whether online or in person, he said.
And with three weeks left before school lets out, about 78% of high school seniors are on track to graduate — a figure expected to improve slightly before the end of the year, Beutner said.
Last year, the district saw a record number of students graduate, at nearly 81%.
On Monday, Beutner praised students and staff for working hard to get to the finish line amid the pandemic.
“This reflects the extraordinary persistence students have shown and the extraordinary commitment of teachers and school staff to help,” he said.