No campus in Los Angeles County will be allowed to reopen to all K-12 students until at least November, although schools can still offer small in-person classes for students with special needs at no more than 10% of capacity at one time, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.
The news will be a blow to students, parents and educators hoping that progress against the coronavirus might allow for campuses to reopen on a faster tract. However, the small in-person classes for children who need special services, announced last week, could allow at least 200,000 students back to campus across the county.
No districts are currently required to offer in-person services to students — and the Los Angeles teachers union is opposed to any campus reopenings at this time, citing safety concerns.
Ferrer explained the county’s new policies in a call Thursday with school district leaders. The Times was able to listen to the briefing.
As Ferrer explained, the county’s approach is part of a multi-pronged state and county effort related to opening schools safely.
First, small groups can begin coming to campuses as soon as Monday and no approval from the county is required as long as schools attest that they are following required safety guidelines.
The students who come back must be defined as having special needs. Top priority will be given to students with disabilities and students who are learning to speak English. Schools and school districts have flexibility to define their students’ needs for in-person instruction. Students who need in-person assessments also will be prioritized.
Students can meet one-on-one with a teacher or another staff member or in groups as large as 12 with as many as two adult supervisors or teachers.
A campus cannot be at more than 10% of capacity at any given time. However, there is no defined limit on how many students can be served over multiple days. For example, one group of students could be served on campus two days a week and another group on a different two days. Such a plan could add up to a lot of students, close to 100,000 in Los Angeles Unified alone, for example.
The county plans to study data from this smaller-scale start-up over the next six weeks before making any conclusions about a broader school reopening, Ferrer said. That’s why a general reopening won’t happen until at least November.
Several months ago, officials had planned for campuses to reopen in the fall, but this target was pushed back indefinitely by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July. Now, school reopenings are based on a county’s pandemic health status or the approval of waiver applications for elementary schools.
L.A. County’s health status does not now allow for general school reopenings and county officials have decided not to approve any waivers.
Officials at L.A. Unified, the state’s largest school system, have not committed to bringing back students in small groups. And the union that represents L.A. teachers, counselors, librarians and nurses opposes bringing students or teachers back for in-person classes until the county has COVID-19 infections under better control.
Long Beach Unified, the county’s second-largest school system, told parents Thursday that the district would continue online-only instruction through the winter break.
Both school systems are trying to work out plans to provide help for students with special needs.
