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March 19
1875, 1:35PM - Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez hanged in San Jose [story]
Tiburcio Vasquez


LA County Supervisor Kathryn BargerThe Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and coauthored by Supervisor Janice Hahn that will enable elementary schools to begin applying for a waiver to reopen grades TK-2 in schools, prioritizing schools with a high number of low-income students.

“The closure of schools in L.A. County has severely impacted families and students throughout our communities,” said Barger, whose 5th District includes the Santa Clarita Valley. “In addition to diminished access to quality education, we have seen a decline in the social and emotional well-being of children and youth. As October approaches, it is crucial that we begin the process of reopening schools at limited capacity and provide ample time for schools to slowly bring students, teachers and staff back to campus.”

Earlier this month, L.A. County opened schools for Individualized Education Programs, which was limited to a small subset of students. While schools cannot fully reopen until the county advances into the state’s second tier, there is currently an opportunity to allow waivers for elementary schools. This would enable limited in-person instruction for children whose ages benefit most from classroom learning.

“Our residents have made sacrifices to slow the spread of this virus and were even able to avoid a spike in cases after Labor Day,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “With the support of our public health experts, these waivers are a way to start bringing more students back to school safely. For this to work, we need to make sure that each school that reopens does so only after parent input along with having support from the teachers and staff.”

“Given the size and scope of Los Angeles County, our residents have done an admirable job containing the spread of COVID-19 in our communities,” Supervisor Barger said. “The state’s guidelines reflect this and are structured to allow for reopening while limiting community transmission through safety protocols. The county should move forward with the state’s approved process for granting waivers to enable schools to reopen.”

The motion directs the Department of Public Health to implement the school waiver program for grades TK-2, with a priority for schools with a higher percentage of low-income students, divided among the five supervisorial districts throughout the county. Any unclaimed waivers will be redistributed to ensure a cap of 30 schools per week.

This effort also asks the Department of Public Health to provide biweekly updates to the Board of Supervisors concerning the waiver process, compliance at reopened schools, suggestions regarding contact tracing workflow and efforts to improve the quality and quantity of data recorded regarding school exposures.

A copy of the motion can be found [here].

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1 Comment

  1. Debbie Lynn Dorazio says:

    Good evening,
    I am a 4th grade teacher who has taught for 22 years in the same district and LOVE every minute of it. This year we began the school year distance learning, which is not working. It isn’t working for the students, it isn’t working for parents and it isn’t working for staff. It seems so unreasonable that the 90 + school districts in LA county be grouped together. It seems to me that districts should be able to open, provided they have taken ALL precautions. And, the numbers of COVID are down in that city. I know that not all students and staff will want to return, that is ok. We can open in a hybrid model, schools have planned for this. We need to get these kids back to school. Students have lost so much of their education since March they will never be able to catch up. Our young students are home alone, trying to manage distance learning on their own. Our older students are out of school by 12:00, what are they up to? I understand that we need to take precautions, but schools have been asked to plan, spend money on plexiglass dividers, hand sanitizer, thermometers, sanitizer spray cleaner, PPE for students and staff on and on yet, because we are lumped in with a large county we cannot open. This also includes businesses. Cities need to be able to manage their own businesses and schools during COVID.

    What I don’t understand is how we can keep saying there are so many new cases of Covid when we know that not all positive cases are new. Doctors have been saying that COVID can remain in the system for months. So people who have to retest for their job and are still testing positive are adding to the “new cases” of COVID. So the actual numbers are false. Doctors are now telling patients NOT to retest, finally.

    Thank you

Leave a Comment


LOS ANGELES COUNTY HEADLINES
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The Los Angeles County Development Authority is excited to announce that its executive director, Emilio Salas, has been appointed to a two-year term to serve as a member of the national Strategic Planning Advisory Committee for the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).
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