September 25, 2020

This week, as school districts with 2.5 million of the state’s 6 million students become eligible to potentially reopen for in-person instruction soon, the California Teachers Association reiterated its apprehension that students and teachers will return to school without adequate health precautions to insure their safety and others in their households and communities from the coronavirus.

In a letter to state leaders and on this week’s podcast, CTA President E. Toby Boyd called on state government to make assurances there would be sufficient testing, contract tracing and ventilation in place — and to keep lobbying Washington for funding the state can’t provide.

“I would be heartbroken” if a student in his classroom were to contract the virus, took it home, and someone got sick and died, he said. “That is a horrible situation to place  a child in.”

Also, Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez discusses the drop in student headcount this fall at the state’s community colleges, including double-digit declines on two of his nine campuses. Particularly disturbing, he said, is that the declines appear greatest among low-income students. The disruption in achieving their academic goals “jeopardizes the fulfillment of our mission,” he said.

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