California’s school reopening plan fails to support urban school districts and low-income areas, according to a letter sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday by superintendents in seven of the state’s biggest cities, including San Francisco and Oakland.
The letter — which is signed by San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Vincent Matthews and Oakland Unified Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell — argues that the $2 billion school reopening plan is too vague in determining what constitutes a “safe school environment,” leading to individual districts implementing different standards of safety.
Superintendents in San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno, Long Beach and Sacramento also signed the letter.
“Our schools stand ready to resume in-person instruction as soon as health conditions are safe and appropriate,” the superintendents wrote in the letter. “But we cannot do it alone.”
Newsom announced the plan last week for students in transitional kindergarten through second grade to return to in-person classes statewide in February, with higher grades returning later in the spring.
Newsom touted that the plan’s funding would average to $450 per student and support testing of school staff and students, personal protective equipment, contact tracing and vaccinations.
The superintendents argued, however, that that $450 per student is unlikely to be distributed equitably, regardless of Newsom’s assurances to the contrary.
“The initial target date of Feb. 1 doesn’t reflect the COVID reality in many of the communities we serve,” the letter said. “Dollars need to be provided to all schools to support opening for in-person instruction, not just those in more affluent communities that already meet health standards due to lower COVID levels.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the superintendents’ concerns.
The group called on state officials to take several actions in addition to implementing the “Safe Schools for All” plan, including establishing clear state standards for health issues in schools caused by the coronavirus.
State officials should also, the superintendents said, integrate coronavirus testing and vaccinations into existing school health services, establish plans now to mitigate learning loss from distance learning and establish a public timetable by Feb. 1 for vaccinations of school staff members.
“Schools must be made a priority and clear standards are needed to make sure every student is provided with the opportunity for in-person instruction if that’s what their family chooses,” the superintendents said.
Good to hear some school districts are making plans to reopen
Not Martinez … our small community is trying to implement a Longer online day for our high school. Absolutely, no plans to get our kids back in person.
leave it to newsome to make sure every child is left behind because some live in districts that aren’t well funded
I am happy to hear some reopening plans as well. Its about damn time. I do hope we get the safety tools the schools needs to operate. The kids REALLY need to get back to in-person. Distance Learning was never intended to be this long. I work in the medical field and I am seeing that hopefully Feb / March numbers will look a lot different and we will be able to move kids to in-person school and youth sports.
We won’t get any in person school until next year some time. They don’ want to open up and will come up with a new excuse once the latest doesn’t make sense anymore. Don’t hold your breath. The unions are power/money hungry terrorist organizations.
This year is over for the public schools. Parents just need to accept the fact that they will not be going back until September at the earliest. There are multiple private schools and day care centers in the Claycord area (some very reasonably priced) that have been operating at full capacity since September without incident. The kids are learning and thus far have been completely safe. I wish the public schools would figure out how to do the same…The motivation isn’t there…
If that occurs it is because you fools failed at your jobs. You should all lose your jobs and be replaced by business people who have shown success developing equitable distribution of a high quality product that can stand fluctuations in their sector.
I’m sure there are a few elite founders out there who would love a 200k+ a year job with full benefits and a pension.
Business executives don’t focus on equity they focus on profits. It’s not a workable model for public schools.
Equity should never be the focus. Equality of opportunity, perhaps, but equity, no. Equity literally requires holding back the talented, capable, and motivated so that the ungifted, stupid, lazy or degenerate can keep up. It is a pathetic, un-American concept. Marxist, really.
Anon has hit the nail on the head.
My point is that if equitability or equality or any other goal is desired, our schools have shown no one in their leadership is capable of marshaling toward a goal. Unless the goal was to keep schools closed and leave kids in a lurch in the process. Any legitimately successful person has by definition actually done what was planned at some point. They create success by achievement whereas in academic your create achievement by not getting fired and waiting until someone above you leaves for whatever reason.
I do believe they would do just about anything to keep from getting back into the classroom. Next it will be that there has to be 0 new Covid cases, everyone has to be vaccinated, and income has to be equal across the board. Not their income, of course, just ours.
Might be a slight exaggeration but I don’t see kids returning to public schools before Fall 2021 at the very earliest. It might even get pushed into 2022 if they can find enough excuses.
Community A) Takes care of themselves and their children, has 1 case in a million, wear respirators, socially distance.
Community B) thinks virus is fake, 1 in 5 is infected, wear no masks or worthless bandanas, actively gather without social distancing.
Why should community A be blamed for the stupidity and ignorance of community B? It is insane, it is wrong.
If you possibly can, get your kids out of government school !!! Homeschool, private school or whatever it takes. Your childrens’ education is far too important to be placed in the hands of the state !!
AD
Imagine being punished because the parents in your district take proper precautions, wear proper respirators, and teach their children proper hygiene.
Imagine being rewarded because people in your district refuse to properly mask and with proper respirators, refuse to socially distance, and have poor hygiene.
The Democrat Party is more interested in serving the Teacher Unions than they are students. It’s called Goal-Displacement wherever the truth is spoken.
Keep dreaming folks this state is never going to open up let alone the schools. This state is doomed! Better hope Newscum gets recalled and the next socialist isn’t as cruel. It’s all political and all about control