Governor Gavin Newsom laid out his thoughts about a phased reopening of the state, including the possibility of opening schools as early as late a July or early August.
The United Teachers of Los Angeles responded with their thoughts.
The union said:
An early start to the school year in LA would have to be bargained between UTLA and the LA Unified School District, and there has been no discussion about doing so.
California has led the way on flattening the curve of this deadly pandemic by prioritizing people’s health and safety. As the fifth-largest economy in the world, our leaders understand that the economy should serve the people, and not the other way around. We urge our leaders to stay the course, and caution against prematurely lifting social distancing protections by opening schools in a way that would put students, teachers, and families at risk.
Governor Newsom outlined six very sensible metrics — such as the availability of therapeutics to deal with COVID-19 and drastically increased testing and contact tracing capacity — that would determine when it would be appropriate to lift the pandemic protections. We should meet those metrics before setting unrealistic timelines.
There is much that remains unknown about what will happen in the next few weeks or months. It’s wise to wait and see and make sure everyone is safe.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yup. I don’t know the circumstances under which Newsom presented these ideas. I had the impression that people were fairly impressed with the response of the governor to the pandemic, which lead me to think that he was throwing out possibilities with the understanding that certain conditions still needed to be met. The union rightly pointed out those considerations. Since I am far from California and following concerns in the Midwest much more closely right now, I would really like to hear from more Californians.
My volunteer job is working with facilities at our local Oakland high school. Obviously, Covid-19 is first and foremost on the minds of our students, teachers, and staff. However, Governor Newsom displayed the usual white privilege regarding the lack of adequate HVAC in many of our schools which, in my opinion, makes this entire suggestion unworkable:
Dear Governor Newsom, as a long time parent, volunteer, and employee of Oakland Unified School District, I implore you to rethink any ideas of school opening in July. You will get a lot of obvious reasons why this is a bad idea, but here’s one that you probably haven’t thought of. We have no air conditioning. And our school isn’t the only one.
Think about that. Try to imagine working in a sweltering office in Sacramento, where the temperature reaches 95 plus degrees. Indoors. In Oakland, we routinely have these kinds of conditions in early August and they often stretch through September and October. Now you are asking teachers and students to consider coming to school in the same sweltering, oppressive learning environments for an extra month. It’s not just uncomfortable; it’s abusive.
Don’t do it. It isn’t worth it, and the kids with health problems will stay home anyway. It isn’t fair to them or to the teachers and staff. If you are seriously considering this move, then you must guarantee funding for every school in the state to have healthy indoor air, which means they must have functioning HVAC at ALL school sites. Is the state really willing and able to make that happen? If not, then take this idea off the table and stop worrying about one month of school.
Something else to consider. The last month of the school year is usually wasted on test prep and testing anyway. No real learning happens during the month of May. As learning goes, our students are actually learning more during this current test-free month than they have in a “normal” year. Our kids have not “lost” anything. Don’t subject them to more stress during the summer months. If you are interested in getting our AC back on at Skyline High (and any other schools in Oakland who don’t have it), then we can talk. Call me anytime: (left phone#) or email *****@gmail.com. Sound like a plan? Thanks!
Thank you for this. What your Governor, like so many detached bystanders, fails to understand is just how inhumane overheated school environments actually are. Or how the unbearable discomfort of oven-like classroom conditions can bring out some of the (understandably) worst student behaviors, exponentially increasing the stress of classroom management. Bill Gates would gotten a lot more bang from his billions if he had decided to air condition our schools.
absolutely true: I have seen massive standardized testing being administered across buildings where some kids have AC and some do not. At what point does that factor — all by itself — negate the results.
You’re absolutely right. The elementary school where I work doesn’t have it either. The building is old and there are 35 kids stuffed in classrooms meant for 20. When it gets hot, the kids are noticeably more irritable and prone to fights and other behavior problems. They don’t have AC at home either, so they just go from one miserable environment to another. And they are expected to learn in that? Just so wrong.
Thank you for this Oakland mom. This teacher appreciates your efforts on behalf of children in California–and everywhere.
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bad-idea-jeans/n9937
It is such a relief to read even the first calm, measured sentence in this response to yet another wild suggestion from an executive. Like a pitch thrown from the mound but there’s no one at bat, the field and the stands are empty.
This is why we have unions. They are the voice of the people.
We have little voice right now. Leaders talk, we can’t talk back much. It feels dangerous. The nation and most of the states are in declared emergency, which gives executives great latitude. Meanwhile, most of us can’t imagine going out to vote, and place little faith in a vote collected by mail or online: we see evidence daily that neither the bureaucracy nor the internet is able to handle current needs reliably. The people’s voice is muted.
All we can do, really, is walk. They talk, we walk. Go ahead, governor, declare the schools open. A janitor can come safely at dawn in mask and gloves to unlock the doors. Who will come?
My mother was a very wise woman and not given to “pity-pot” (wallowing in self pity, worry or depressing thoughts) as she called it. But every so often even she would be overwhelmed by the madness of it all and sing, “Make the world go away.” I think of that song more and more now. 🙂
I love that song. I have it on a CD in my car, and I listen to it on the way home when school is overwhelming.
I have a lot to be thankful for.
I am thankful, first and foremost, to UTLA for guiding and protecting the teachers, students, and families of Los Angeles with thoughtful, measured responses in the face of politicians and a superintendent given emergency powers to throw unlimited amounts of money at wealthy edu-tech business partners.
I am thankful that privatization-mad billionaire Eli Broad’s pet politician, Antonio Villaraigosa, couldn’t do better than third place in the primary election and is not the governor of California.
I am thankful to Governor Newsom for admitting, yesterday, that online education is ineffective. By suggesting that schools reopen early, he is telling California that schools need to be actual places, not websites.
The suggestion that we open early is going to be very unpopular after we have all been forced to endure this online debacle. Give us a break, for crying out loud, a full summer break. If we don’t get a break, by 2021, we will be drained of energy. And how are we going to pay for it with disappearing revenue? There was an article this morning in the Mercury News that mentioned a backlash against the early start idea. It’s not a well thought-out idea.
“Give us a break, for crying out loud, a full summer break.”
I agree.