California education news: What’s the latest?

Sonoma County has partnered with Sonoma State University and the Petaluma Health Center to establish an alternate care site on the campus for coronavirus patients in response to the pandemic. The alternate care site will enable local hospitals to respond to patients with more acute hospital care needs, according to a news release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that thousands of beds may be made available in similar alternate care sites on state-owned property, including dorms on university of California and California State University campuses. Sonoma State expects to accommodate up to 580 patients in its recreation center and in a portion of its on campus residential housing.

Patients testing positive for the coronavirus with mild- to moderate symptoms will be placed in the gymnasium of the recreation center while those awaiting test results will be placed in the residential units. People over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions, who are most vulnerable to the virus, will be placed in a separate residential housing complex.

After consulting with their county public health officials, the Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco County Superintendents of Schools jointly announced that they have agreed to extend all campus closures through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. However, students will continue to receive instruction through “distance learning,” many campuses will continue to distribute school meals, and some may provide childcare, as needed.

The school leaders had previously announced school closures through May 1. They agreed to extend that time frame after Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond recently said that California’s students would not likely be able to return to schools before the summer break begins due to the need to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

To help families deal with stress, fear and anxieties related to the spread of the coronavirus, the statewide stay at home order and mass school closures, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during his daily news briefing that California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has created “Stress Playbooks” for adults, caregivers. The guidance, available at covid19.ca.gov, includes checklists, resources and chat lines in up to 170 languages for domestic violence, child abuse, teens in crisis, LGBTQ issues, as well as substance abuse and other topics, he said.

Burke Harris said stress can affect people’s appetites and cause headaches, abdominal pain, increases in blood sugar, exacerbate asthma, and affect moods, causing depression or anger that can result in family violence. She said people with a history of trauma or adversity can be at greater risk of these responses to stress.

Stable, nurturing relationships help alleviate stress, Burke Harris said. She recommended that people eat nutritious meals, exercise, practice mindfulness or meditation, get plenty of sleep and stay connected to others who can provide social and spiritual supports.

Newsom said 15,865 people in the state had tested positive for the coronavirus so far, a 10.7% increase from the previous day, with 2,611 hospitalized and 1,108 in intensive care units. He said 374 people in California have died.

In response to a question about whether the virus was disproportionately affecting African-Americans, as has been reported in some other states, Newsom said he expects to be able to report racial and ethnic breakdowns in the next few days. Burke Harris said some people in African-American communities don’t trust the healthcare system and that it is important for “trusted elders” to deliver the “life-saving message that we need to stay home.”

In the daily briefing at the White House, Dr. Tony Fauci said he expects schools to be open in the fall, but perhaps with some controls in place that weren’t in place previously “It’s going to be different, because this is not going to disappear.” He suggested that the summer campus would still be affected by the epidemic.

These are his complete remarks from the White House transcript:

Well, my daughter is a schoolteacher, so she asked me the same question. You know, it is unpredictable, but you can get a feel for — if we start talking about the things where the curve goes down, and we really have minimum — how we respond and what kind of a rebound we see or don’t see, I think, is going to have a lot of influence probably more immediately on things like summer camps than it does in the fall.

I fully expect — though I’m humble enough to know that I can’t accurately predict — that by the time we get to the fall, that we will have this under control enough that it certainly will not be the way it is now, where people are shutting schools. My optimistic side tells me that we’ll be able to renew, to a certain extent. But it’s going to be different, remember now, because this is not going to disappear. So we’re going to have to have in place the capability of doing the things that we talk about all the time on this stage: to identify, to isolate, to contact trace — number one.

Number two, by that time, we’ll have a better feel with the antibody test, about what the actual penetrance of this infection was in society. How many people have actually been infected? Who is protected? If you have antibody, it’s very likely that you’re protected. Who’s vulnerable? Do you treat vulnerables different than you treat the people who are protected? All of these things are going to go into the decision of just how much back to the original way we’d like it to be in fall.

The bottom line is: No absolute prediction, but I think we’re going to be in good shape.

When asked whether the coronavirus may ebb and flow based on the seasons and if school closures may extend into the fall if there’s a rebound, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during his daily news briefing that it’s too early to tell. He noted that he has heard speculation about the “seasonality” of the virus, but has seen no data based on what is happening in California that he considers reliable.

“There are no patterns that exist within the state that would lead us to conclude that is the case,” he said, adding that decisions about when students should go back to school or when employees should go back to work must be made based on “facts on the ground.”

Newsom said 14,336 people had tested positive for the virus as of the morning of April 6, with 2,509 hospitalized and 1,085 in intensive care units — a 4.6 percent increase in hospitalizations since the previous day and a 4.3 percent increase in ICU patients from the previous day. He said 343 people have died. Based on this, he said the state continues to predict that cases will peak in mid-May in California.

He noted that Californians have been doing a good job of physical distancing, but warned that if they get “cabin fever” and start to congregate as the weather gets warmer this week, the virus could spread more quickly. “I remind everybody to continue to double down on what has been working here in the state,” he said.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office released two reports April 5 on the revenue and budget implications on California of the coronavirus pandemic. One examines the impact of the three congressional coronavirus relief acts on state, county and local governments and on education. This includes the biggest appropriation, the CARES Act, which will provide to California $1.6 billion to K-12, $1.7 to higher education and $355 million to government institutions at any level.

The second analysis examines existing budget reserves at the state and local school district levels that would be available to dampen the impact of likely cuts in state revenue this year and in 2020-21. The size of local reserves vary widely, but “few districts have enough to maintain current service levels for an extended period if revenues were to decline significantly,” the LAO concludes.

Stressing that California anticipates its peak surge in coronavirus cases to come during the first two weeks of May, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his daily news briefing that he considers staying home to be a “civic duty” that will save lives. He said there were 10,710 cases of the virus in the state so far, with 2,188 hospitalized and 901 in intensive care units – a 10.4 % increase from the previous day. About 237 people have died.

Newsom urged people who want to volunteer to help others in their communities to visit serve.ca.gov, which links to a California volunteers website that includes information about food banks and other organizations.

In response to the coronavirus crisis, much-shortened versions of Advanced Placement exams will be administered online — accessible even on iPhones — from May 11-22. The tests, which will be reduced from 3 hours to 45 minutes, will be open-book and will include only written responses, no multiple choice questions, according to the an announcement Friday by the College Board, the tests’ sponsor.

Security measures will be implemented to discourage cheating, as the tests are moved from schools to homes, according to the announcement. Among them are anti-plagiarism software plus a very human element: High school AP teachers will receive copies of test answers and will review them to spot inconsistencies with students’ previous known work, the College Board said. Cheaters face harsh sanctions, including notification to colleges to which they applied for possible admissions revocation.

AP test takers can earn college credit if they score high enough on the AP exams, which are offered in 38 subjects such as biology, U.S. history and Spanish. Good scores also help boost college applicant’s chances at competitive schools. Last year, 2.8 million students – including 423,000 Californians – took the exams and many took at least two.

A series of free online prep classes will be available and help is available for students who do not have the technology or internet service needed for the tests.

Communication, collaboration and regular routines are among the keys to successful online education for students in special education, according to a webinar hosted by the California Department of Education April 2. Led by Director of Special Education Kristin Wright, the hour-long webinar included tips and resources from special education teachers around the state on how to reach families and maintain connections with students during school closures.

The department will host free, publicly accessible weekly webinars on special education to help teachers, administrators and families serve students with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic. The webinars will be streamed on the department’s Facebook page, with more information available on the department’s website. Anyone with ideas or questions about special education and online education can email sedinfo@cde.ca.gov.

On April 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Google is donating 4,000 Chromebooks and 100,000 WiFi hot spots to students in rural areas to support distance learning. But it is still unclear exactly how the California Department of Education will distribute the Chromebooks and Wi-Fi devices. State education officials are now in the process of collecting and analyzing data about where students lack access to the internet and devices, according to Kindra Britt, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education. “Once we have the data, we can begin to make decisions about distribution,” she said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated during his daily news briefing that “kids are not going to go back” to their school campuses this school year. They are, however, going to continue working at home through distance learning, he said, adding that it is appropriate for the state to meet this moment by shutting down schools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“I can’t be more clear about this,” he said, adding that it would not make sense to send more than 6 million children back to school at a time when they could come home and infect their grandparents. Current estimates predict the peak surge in coronavirus cases in California will occur in mid-May.

Newsom said schools must now focus on strengthening their approaches to distance learning, distributing meals to those who need them, and making sure kids are working at home “despite the deep anxiety and stress” their families are feeling.

He also warned that as the state responds to the coronavirus, its budget is being greatly impacted, which will affect the so-called May revise. “I think we should be prepared for substantial adjustments in our budget,” he said.

California’s leading higher education and K-12 systems issued a joint statement highlighting their efforts to help high school and community college students face admissions challenges that have arisen during the coronavirus pandemic.

The statement was issued by the California State Board of Education, California Department of Education, California State University, University of California, California Community Colleges, and the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

In the statement, they noted that the higher education systems will accept “credit” grades rather than traditional letter grades for any of the required A-G high school courses completed in winter, spring or summer 2020. Community college students can also use “credit” grades for prerequisite courses when attempting to transfer to a four-year university this fall, the statement notes.

The higher education systems are also offering flexibility for when students have to submit their official transcripts and will re-evaluate eligibility for financial aid for families “whose circumstances have changed,” the systems said in the statement.

In a sign of rising tensions on the teacher-administrator front, UTLA’s president Alex Caputo-Pearl said teachers are not going to stand “for ridiculous micro management, onerous directives, time-wasting regimens” that he said some principals are trying to impose. The union launched a campaign on its website against what it calls “onerous directives.”

California school districts will share $100 million to help clean schools, provide meals for students, keep staff safe and to offer distance learning infrastructure, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced April 1.

The money was authorized by Senate Bill 117, one of two COVID-19 emergency bills passed by the California Legislature on March 17.

“I am very grateful to the members of the state Legislature for their rapid response in providing this essential funding to assist LEAs during this very challenging time,” Thurmond said.

School districts will receive $17.37 for each average day of daily attendance at their schools in 2019-20, according to a press release from the California Department of Education. The money will be dispersed within the next four days.

School districts are free to offer classes for credit/no credit, pass/fail or a modified A-D grading system. That is just one of the many issues outlined in detailed guidance from the California Department of Education on grading and graduation requirements. It explains, for example, that UC and CSU are willing to accept credit/no credit grades in lieu of letter grades for all courses, including A-G courses completed in winter/spring/summer 2020 for all students.

Gov. Gavin Newsom was joined in his daily news briefing by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Linda Darling, president of the State Board of Education, who spoke via phone about plans for distance learning, meal distribution and childcare during school closures. Newsom announced that the state has received a federal waiver that will allow it to provide free meals to more students in high-poverty schools and that Google has agreed to provide 100,000 “points of access” for free Internet service for a minimum of three months to those who don’t have it, along with thousands of Chromebooks.

Newsom also said the state has been working with districts and higher education institutions to resolve issues around grades, tests, and graduation and college admissions requirements.

Thurmond said schools should plan to provide distance learning through the end of the school year. He said the state is surveying districts about their needs and working with philanthropies to help provide devices and internet access.

Darling-Hammond said 20 percent of students lacked internet connectivity when schools first closed, but that is now down to about 10 percent and the state is working to close that gap. She said the state is working with both public and private nonprofit colleges and universities on flexibilities for payments, transcripts, and the need for financial aid based on new circumstances families may be experiencing.

Newsom said he would sign new executive orders in the next couple of days that would lay out some of the guidelines referenced by Thurmond and Darling-Hammond. He said there have been 171 deaths related to the coronavirus in California as of this morning and reminded the public to stay at home to “bend the curve.”

Google will provide Chromebook laptops and more than 100,000 WiFi hot spots across California for free for a minimum of three months to help students who will need to continue with schoolwork via distance learning, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced April 1. More details to come.

Affirming a prediction that Gov. Gavin Newsom made exactly two weeks ago, California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond is recommending that the state’s public schools plan to provide distance learning to students through the end of their school year.

“Due to the current safety concerns and needs for ongoing social distancing, it appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year,” Thurmond wrote in a letter sent to the state’s 58 county superintendents of schools on Tuesday morning.

Thurmond stressed that health concerns are paramount in determining when schools should be reopen. “The need for safety through social distancing warrants that we continue to keep our school campuses closed to students during this pandemic,” he said.

Concerned about an “uneven” rollout of free meals and distance learning across the state, two dozen legislators called on Gov. Gavin Newsom this week to work with the Legislature to hold school districts and charter schools accountable for meeting their responsibilities.

The letter, written by Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, noted that Newsom’s March 13 executive order on providing nutrition and high-quality learning during school closures lacked financial penalties for non-compliance. While some districts have made extraordinary efforts, others appear to have insufficient plans or none at all. In an interview, O’Donnell said that weeks into the closure, districts should be transitioning from enrichment to more organized learning. “These are extraordinary times. I understand the predicament,” he said. “But I’m hoping to see districts having programs up and running on the state standards.” The Legislature adjourned earlier this month and at this point plans to return to Sacramento in mid-April.

During a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said if a coronavirus surge happens and there is a need for more hospital beds, the state could tap into about 5,000 beds identified in the University of California and California State University systems.

The state is currently adding up to 50,000 hospital beds to add to an existing 75,000 beds and has been looking at convention centers, hotels and fairgrounds to fill the need. If more beds are needed, which Newsom described as phase two, the state could turn to colleges and universities. A spokesman for the California Community Colleges said of their 11 residential halls, about 300 beds were identified.

“Our hope is that a second stage will not be needed because Californians will continue to stay at home to save lives,” said Kate Folmar, a spokeswoman for the California Health and Human Services Agency.

The Sacramento City Unified teachers union is asking the district to use the $1.7 million in savings from lower employee health insurance costs to purchase Chromebooks for all of the 40,000 students needing them. The one-time money, the result of union negotiations, has not been spent. The state’s 13th-largest district is scheduled to launch districtwide distance learning on April 13, but protracted negotiations on what the shift to online learning would involve has slowed the process.

The Chromebook purchase, announced at a press conference March 30, is one element of the union’s proposed four-page memorandum of understanding that includes additional pay for training days. The district had not yet commented on whether it would agree to all or parts of the document. But district spokeswoman Tara Gallegos said after the press conference that the district has already placed a $5.1 million order for 20,000 Chromebooks, using money from a school construction bond, which should cover the need.

Sacramento City Teachers Association President David Fisher also said the union was working to see if internet providers like Comcast would provide free WiFi for students and possibly staff through the end of the school year.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a new initiative March 30 that would increase the number of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in the workforce to help fight the coronavirus. The California Health Corps will give state licensing boards the flexibility to award temporary licenses and expand the scope of practice to health care professionals through June 30.

“Individuals who may have retired in the last five years or are in the process of getting licensed or are licensed, people in nursing schools and nearing completion, we encourage them to get on this platform,” Newsom said. Medical and nursing students can join the new California Health Corps at healthcorps.ca.gov.

Those who participate in the corps will be paid and given malpractice insurance coverage and deployed based on their skills, experience, interest and location preferences. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will provide stipends to Health Corps workers through a $25 million donation to cover transportation, child care support and hotel rooms.

California Governor Gavin Newsom will announce a “major initiative to surge the health care workforce to fight COVID-19” at noon Monday, according to an advisory issued Sunday by the Governor’s Office. Newsom has said it was a priority to get nursing students nearing graduation licensed and to quickly get medical students through graduation and working. The announcement follows calls from others for the governor to ease regulations affecting nurses and medical students. CSU Chancellor Tim White is among those who urged the governor to ease the state’s nurse training requirements so that 14,000 student nurses can get to work to help slow the pandemic.

Large numbers of school districts have set May 1 as the date until when they will be closed. According to an EdSource review, 20 the state’s largest 30 districts have said they will be closed for in-class instruction through May 1. Another two will be closed through April 30. Two have not set any date. One (Elk Grove) will offer online instruction through the end of its school year. With Pres. Trump’s statement on Sunday that he will extend federal guidance for social distancing until April 30, all other districts will presumably also extend their closure dates at least until the end of April or May 1.

Four UC Berkeley students who recently returned from study abroad in Spain have tested positive for Covid-19, according to the university. The students are self-isolating. One student is being treated by University Health Services. University of California Education Abroad officials have sent letters to program participants and advised them to contact their health provider if they develop symptoms.

As of Wednesday, there are seven known cases of Covid-19 within the UC Berkeley community but no known on-campus exposures.

With unusual speed, the U.S. Department of Education has given preliminary approval to California’s request to waive standardized testing for this school year and the requirement to include the test data that would have been produced in the state’s school accountability system, the California School Dashboard. The waived tests will include the Smarter Balanced math and science tests, the assessment on the Next Generation Science Standards and the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California for English learners.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Friday that he had received notification. It was not unexpected, since President Donald Trump already had said he would suspend tests nationwide. Nonetheless, final approval awaits the end of a public comment period on April 15. For information on where to submit comments, go here.

During a press conference in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated that the state is working to help get fourth-year medical students into the workforce more quickly than they might have anticipated through temporary licensing to meet the demand on healthcare systems expected as coronavirus cases surge throughout California over the next few weeks.

He praised the work being done at medical centers statewide to help come up with new treatments and tests, including UC medical centers, Stanford University and the University of Southern California. One such effort, he said, involves the creation of swabs for tests using 3D printing technology.

Newsom said the new federal stimulus package will provide more money for higher education and K-12 education in California, but he warned that the overall package would not be enough to meet all of the state’s needs and said more will be necessary. State officials, he said, are reassessing California’s budget and will make adjustments to spending plans due to the economic impacts of the coronavirus.

Out of 88,400 tests conducted in the state so far, Newsom said tens of thousands are still waiting for results. As of 10 a.m., he said there were 3,801 positive tests for coronavirus, a 26 percent increase from the previous day. “So I caution people, as it relates to numbers, to consider the magnitude of tests that haven’t come back yet,” he said.

As Californians head into the second weekend since Newsom issued a statewide order to stay home, he reminded the public that parking lots in 98 state parks have been shut down, primarily along the coast, “to reduce what we experienced last weekend,” when people did not practice social distancing. “We’ll see what happens this weekend,” he said, adding that the state is prepared to “ratchet up” efforts to minimize gatherings if necessary.

All 13 Sacramento County school districts and the Sacramento County Office of Education will be closed through May 1 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, according a press release from the county office of education.

The extension means most schools will be closed for seven weeks, instead of the two to three weeks initially planned.

Elk Grove Unified has indicated that it will continue distance learning through May 29, the end of the school year.

“Our primary concern is the well-being of our students, staff, and families,” said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon. “It is absolutely crucial we all work together to slow the spread of COVID-19. We must follow stay-at-home orders and continue to support learning at home.”

The decision came after school officials consulted with the Sacramento County Department of Public Health.

Several changes are being made to grading policies for California’s community colleges, the system’s chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley announced March 27. Students at the colleges will be allowed to retake any class attempted during the coronavirus crisis and, if they do, grades from their first attempt will not count toward their grade point averages. The system is also waiving the deadline for students to select a pass/no pass grading option instead of a traditional letter grade. Additionally, any “no pass” grades received by students will not be considered as part of probation and dismissal decisions. Typically, students can be put on academic probation or even be dismissed from their colleges if they don’t meet minimum grade point average requirements.

A state effort to significantly boost financial aid to cover non-tuition costs for community college students “will be put on pause for now,” said Marlene Garcia, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, during a commission meeting March 26. The commission, which is a state agency, in February proposed a reform of California’s financial aid system that would have resulted in more than 300,000 community college students becoming newly eligible for Cal Grants, state awards that students don’t have to pay back, to cover non-tuition costs. The maximum grants available to students also would have more than tripled from $1,672 to $6,000.

Implementing the reform would cost between $1.1 and $1.6 billion annually. Garcia said that “the guidance from the state is don’t expect any new funding” amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, Garcia added that students’ basic needs should be a “key investment” of any funding that becomes available through federal or state emergency stimulus packages.

With most teaching going online because of the coronavirus, a $1 million grant from the state of California will help bring personalized learning to students, according to a press release from UC Davis.

The grant will help LibreTexts, a national consortium led by the university, develop, test and distribute a new adaptive learning platform that complements its library of virtual textbooks and other resources.

“Adaptive learning is like having a virtual tutor that responds to the performance and needs of individual students,” said UC Professor Delmar Larson, who launched the project in 2008 to create online resources to replace textbooks.

The Libretext website allows instructors to assemble information for their classes and for college students to access textbooks and other materials for free.

During his daily Facebook briefing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said schools are getting $100 million in aid from the state Legislature to help pay for protective gear if employees are going to schools to conduct distance learning or food distribution, but added that the state budget released in January will need to be adjusted since the anticipated surplus may no longer be available.

He stressed that one size does not fit all when it comes to the way schools are dealing with the coronavirus, noting that the learning environment in rural areas such as Tulare County are different from those in more urban areas. Newsom warned that families participating in distance learning and other online activities should be careful of phishing or hacking attempts and reiterated that the state has released detailed guidance to schools about how to continue instruction during school closures, as well as food distribution.

He cautioned that we are not close to lifting the stay-at-home order, saying we are not even a week or two away and everyone needs to continue to stay home to “bend the curve.” As of 10 a.m., he said 2,535 individuals have tested positive in the state, a 17 percent increase from the previous day, with more than 40 lives lost, including a 17-year-old, whose death is still being investigated.

Of those testing positive:
37: under 18
1,278: 18-49
638: 50-64
562 : 65 or older
20: ages unknown.

Congressional leaders were still haggling over details in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, but a provision that could affect special education in the U.S. remains in the bill. The act orders Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, within 30 days, to draw up recommendations for waivers to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the law which ensures students with disabilities a free public education.

Her recommendations could also affects students with 504 plans, which allow students with learning disabilities certain accommodations in the classroom, such as extra time on tests. Advocates have said the provision empowers DeVos to make significant, and possibly permanent, changes to the 45-year-old law. Some school board officials have said waivers are necessary to ensure districts are in compliance with special education regulations, as schools shift to online learning to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Many California districts and entire county offices of education are extending their temporary school closure dates days after Gov. Gavin Newsom said he suspects schools could remained shut until summer. Districts and counties are also warning families that reopen dates could again shift depending on how the coronavirus situation develops. See EdSource’s updated list of California school closures here.

Public health officers in six Bay Area counties, in collaboration with the county superintendents, announced a regional decision to extend all school closures through May 1 in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The decision was made to protect students, staff and the community from the spread of the coronavirus.

Some school facilities may remain open during this time to provide “essential” services such as meal distribution, distance learning and childcare, where possible. If health officials and school leaders decide to extend closures beyond May 1, a new announcement will be made in the future.

Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest district, said earlier this week that its schools will remain closed until at least May 1. Riverside County schools will also remain closed until at least May 1. Long Beach Unified will now remain closed through May 4 and Elk Grove Unified will transition to online learning through the end of its school year, May 29.

Stanford University reported that one student living on campus has tested positive for coronavirus and is being quarantined. Twenty-four other people with ties to the campus, including students, faculty, staff or temporary researchers with doctorate degrees, known as “postdocs,” have tested positive, but are self-isolating in their communities in the Bay Area and beyond, seeking medical treatment as needed. These figures also include Stanford School of Medicine employees.

The university said it could not provide additional details about the cases, due to privacy concerns. However, it plans to update information related to coronavirus cases regularly online here.

In his March 24 Facebook appearance, Gov. Newsom, referring to the death of the teenager in Lancaster, said the “tragic loss of a young life underscores the enormity of the challenge in front of us, and how it can affect anybody and everybody.”

He went on to say the following:

“Young people can and will be impacted by this virus. In fact, young people disproportionately are the ones testing positive in the state of California – 50 percent of the 2,102 individuals that have tested positive, 50 percent are between the age of 18 and 49. I’ll repeat that. Half of those tested positive to date in the state of California, are 18 to 49 years old. This disease impacts everybody. The question is the acuity and the hospitalization rate that, yes, does skew on the side of older populations, but with this tragic new death, it is a reminder to everybody to take this seriously. It’s a health crisis. It needs to be met first and foremost head on as such.

That’s why it is incumbent upon young Californians to continue to take our stay at home order seriously, to continue to do the kind of social distancing that common sense dictates, and to heed the warnings we advanced yesterday to stay out of settings like beaches and parks where you’re coming into close contact with others. Practice social distancing. We had to step up our enforcement yesterday as it relates to shutting down those parking facilities, the consequences of which remind people of the seriousness of it. But what more evidence do you need than the loss of a young person’s life?

I just cannot impress upon young people out there more the seriousness of this moment and how critical they are to ultimately getting us on the other side, by practicing that social distancing that we all are accustomed to hearing about but not in every case advancing individually.”

In that same live-streamed Facebook media appearance, Newsom shared the following:

On the role of community colleges:

In a Facebook appearance, Newsom praised the state’s community college system for providing 60 ventilators to the state and called it the backbone of our state’s emergency workforce, saying some estimate that up to 70 percent of first responders have been trained in the community college system.

Latest statistics

Newsom also shared the latest statistics as of 10 a.m. March 24: 40 people in the state have died from the coronavirus out of 2,102 people who have tested positive – a 17.5 percent increase from the previous day.

When asked if the state’s order to stay at home might be lifted in April, Newsom said he did not believe that would be possible, based on the estimates he has seen related to the likely spread of the virus over the next eight to 12 weeks.

“Let us not have to once again announce that a teenager lost their life because we didn’t take this moment seriously,” he said.

Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health reported its first death of a person under 18 from the coronavirus. The individual lived in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles. No other details were released.

Statewide, as of 2 p.m. March 22, there were 1,733 positive cases of coronavirus and 27 deaths.

Ages of all confirmed positive cases:

Age 0-17: 25 cases
Age 18-49: 837 cases
Age 50-64: 442 cases
Age 65+: 415 cases
Unknown: 14 cases

Two students at Cal State Long Beach have tested positive for the coronavirus, the university announced Tuesday. Both students are isolated off campus. One of the two students has not been on campus for two weeks. For the other student, “there was no opportunity for on-campus exposure,” said Kimberly Fodran, the university’s co-director of student health services, in a message to the campus.

“While it was to be expected that The Beach family eventually would be affected by this pandemic, we were saddened to hear this news,” Fodran said.

State surgeon general Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris has released a 1-minute video on Twitter to help parents and caregivers talk to children about coronavirus.

Talking to kids about #coronavirus in a calm and sensitive way helps them cope. .@DrBurkeHarris shares how to approach the conversation. #stayhomesavelives

For more information on coronavirus, visit https://t.co/i5uKjmejIj pic.twitter.com/sqD7fHfbFt

— Office of the California Surgeon General (@CA_OSG) March 23, 2020

Burke-Harris urges adults to approach the conversation in a calm way, ask what children have heard and allow them to share their fears, correct any misinformation, reassure them, and remind them about the importance proper hygiene, healthy eating and exercise.

In addition, Burke-Harris stresses the need for adults to take care of themselves. She urges the public to visit www.covid19.ca.gov for coronavirus information and resources, which are updated regularly.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he is working to get fourth-year medical students into the workforce as quickly as possible, along with those in licensed nursing degree programs, to help meet the anticipated surge in coronavirus cases expected over the next eight to 12 weeks. Newsom made the comments during an early evening news conference, stressing that that there is currently no end date to his statewide “stay at home” order.

To better enforce social distancing, Newsom said parking lots for state parks are being closed immediately and that many state parks will also close, after they were overrun by crowds last weekend. Saying he does not want to close all big, beautiful open spaces, Newsom stressed the importance of maintaining social distancing and “not lingering” while enjoying them. A current list of closed parks and park facilities is at parks.ca.gov.

“For the next week or two we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We’re going to have to get very, very serious and lean in and hit this moment head-on.”

Referring to a statement he made a few days ago about his estimate that schools may be closed through the end of the school year, Newsom said: “I’ve been very honest with you about the school system, and my estimation of what we’re going to be faced with over the next eight weeks.” He added that as soon as he has more clarity, he will share it with the public, just as he shares it with his wife and children.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley signed an executive order Friday ensuring that students who drop a class while campuses are closed due to the Coronavirus will not be academically or financially penalized. The order allows students to drop classes as an “excused withdrawal,” which will not count against them. It also allows students to be refunded enrollment fees for those classes, according to a California Community Colleges news release.

The order also ensures that teaching and learning will continue at the 115 California community colleges, the news release said, by allowing all in-person classes — including labs — to be moved online.

A $20 billion Education Stabilization Fund to provide relief for states appears assured of passing – if Senate Democrats and Republicans can settle their differences on the bigger pieces of a $1.6 trillion coronavirus relief fund that, for now, is stalled in Congress.

Education advocacy groups are hoping the $20-plus billion in relief is a down payment toward the $100 billion that the federal government provided in 2009 to combat shrinking state revenues during the Great Recession. That package included $53.6 billion to states to cover school expenses over two years.

According to Politico, the current bill for $20 billion would be broken down as follows (assume roughly 10 percent in each category would go to California):

• $12 billion for K-12, primarily distributed based on a state’s population of low-income students, for a wide range of purposes, including teacher training, planning for long-term school shutdowns and technology.
• $6 billion for higher ed, distributed primarily based on Pell Grant recipients; half of the money would to emergency grants to students “for expenses directly related to coronavirus and the disruption of campus operations.”
• $2 billion in discretionary education dollars for governors.

A separate section of the bill would provide “immediate assistance” to child care providers through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program and $250 million for Head Start for coronavirus-related costs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new tips to help keep children healthy while school is out. The tips include information about children’s overall low risk of contracting coronavirus, noting that mild symptoms tend to include coughing, runny nose, sneezing and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.

The guidance also reminds families about the importance of proper hygiene and sanitizing, as well as social distancing. In addition, it includes suggested routines for continuing children’s education at home.

Los Angeles Unified, in partnership with Verizon, plans to spend $100 million to provide internet access to all students in the district who don’t already have that access at home, district Superintendent Austin Beutner announced March 23. The district, which is the largest in the state, enrolls more than 600,000 students and estimates that 25 percent of those students don’t have internet at home. As part of the $100 million investment, the district will also provide devices to all students who need them. Further details on how the district will distribute those devices and set up internet access will be provided shortly, Beutner said.

Meanwhile, L.A. Unified and San Diego Unified, the second-biggest district in the state, in a joint letter on March 23 asked the state Legislature to consider emergency state funding for school districts to help with distance learning and other challenges. They asked for a minimum of $500 per student, saying that they were facing severe fiscal challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Said simply, our budgets will not balance for the current fiscal year because of the extraordinary costs associated with responding to the global pandemic. We request an additional emergency appropriation to address these unforeseen costs,” Beutner and San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten wrote in the letter.

The College Board has announced that it is moving Advanced Placement testing online during coronavirus school closures. Students will be able to take 45-minute online exams at home using a computer, tablet or smart phone. Photos of written work may also be allowed.

Each testing subject will have two different dates, which will be announced April 3. Tests will focus on material covered through early March.

Starting March 25, free online study review courses will be available here. In addition, any students who have already registered for exams can cancel at no charge.

Support for AP teachers can be found here.

Schools at California’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, will stay closed until at least May 1, superintendent Austin Beutner said in a statement Monday morning. Schools in the district, which enroll more than 600,000 students, have been closed since March 16. Beutner’s announcement Monday comes after L.A. County Superintendent Debra Duardo said Friday she was recommending all public schools in the county stay closed through May 5. The county has 80 school districts.

“I wish I could tell you it will all be back to normal sometime soon but it does not look like that will the case,” Beutner said in the statement Monday. Beutner will give a “more complete update” at 11 a.m. Monday, he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, during comments late Saturday on how Californians need to use “common sense” to ward off the spread of the coronavirus, had pointed words for young people who may be taking the stay at home and social distancing orders lightly. “Those young people that are still out there on the beaches thinking this is a party? Time to grow up. Time to wake up. Time to recognize it’s not just about the old folks. It’s about your impact on their lives. Don’t be selfish. Recognize you have responsibility to meet this moment as well.” Newsom’s order allows only essential trips for food or prescriptions. Outdoor walking or exercising is allowed as long as people stay six feet apart.

A member of the Riverview STEM Academy school staff has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. The employee was not a teacher at the Rancho Cordova school and worked with a small number of students, according to information released by the district. The school employee last worked on March 12, began experiencing symptoms the next day and did not return to work. The employee has been isolated and is recovering, according to the district. The school district was informed of the illness by Sacramento Public Health late on March 20. The school district, along with all Sacramento County schools, closed its schools on March 16.

On Friday, the California Department of Education issued new guidelines for districts on how to handle special education during the corona virus crisis. Among other things, the guidance says that school districts could “consider providing classroom-based instruction to small groups of students with disabilities that have extensive support needs, despite the fact that the school site has closed, consistent with federal, state, and local health directives related to Covid-19.” CDE also notes that as of now the federal government has not waived the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.