Precinct Reporter Group News

Top Menu

  • Precinct Reporter News
  • Food
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy

Main Menu

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Read Our E-Edition
  • ADVERTISE
  • Subscribe
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Precinct Reporter News
  • Food
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy

logo

Precinct Reporter Group News

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Read Our E-Edition
  • ADVERTISE
  • Subscribe
  • Asm Jackson Hosts State of Black IE Symposium

  • Vibrant Culture of Mexico Afro-Descendent Communities

  • No Relief for Hate Against Blacks in O.C.

  • Ten Toes In: Women Help Fight Hard Time

  • State Has Critical Shortage of Black Teachers

Latest PRGNews
Home›Latest PRGNews›Equity and ReOpening Schools Safely

Equity and ReOpening Schools Safely

By Precinct Reporter News
June 3, 2021
1524
0
Share:

By Dianne Anderson

If Black students can benefit from their fair share of the latest COVID Relief funding, then some relief may be in store from the academically, social-emotionally barren year.

Summer school programs are set to open in real time, and Long Beach educators hope to see students back in their traditional classrooms as the latest American Rescue Plan funding helps districts prepare for fall reopening.

LBUSD board member Erik Miller said the district is currently working on learning acceleration classes specifically to assist with some of the deficits created by the pandemic. Many academic and social services are available to help students acclimate back to in-person learning.

But, he said more importantly is the recovery from lost learning.

“We’re constantly assessing the academic performance and the social and emotional health of our students. Though we are still not fully aware of the impact of COVID, we know that it has been detrimental and we’re prepared to address that,” he said.

Depending on the age group, kids will return to several programs and services open through the summer with in-person and virtual options. In the classroom, he said that safety protocols will continue indefinitely. Students must stand three feet apart, and wear their masks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its K-12school guidance last week, stating that students should maintain a distance of at least 3 feet in classroom settings.

Miller said he is also working with several affinity groups within the district to address the needs of students in some of the hardest hit areas.

“Predominantly the groups are heavily influenced and impacted, African American students are a focus of my tenure on the board, as we know that they are the lowest performing demographic in our district,” he said.

California school districts are in the money for $15.3 billion in federal aid under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed in March by President Biden. Including the first round of COVID CARES Act funding, Long Beach Unified School District will receive $410 million in total stimulus relief.

The Board is currently in budget conversations, and he said that his priority is to ensure resources are distributed equitably.

“The district is aware of the academic and emotional impact of COVID. With the additional resources, we’ve been allotted, we plan to address those from an equitable and efficient manner,” he said.

But he stressed that money is not the permanent solution.

“It’s a temporary answer. We have to be both strategic and efficient with those funds, it does sound like a large number, all it means is there is a lot more work, there’s a bigger impact we can make.”

Long before COVID, parents that participated in a racial equity framework and community survey had expressed concerns that less than half of Black students were meeting the A-G requirements to enter college, and about one-third were meeting benchmarks in Math and English.

Equity barriers are a problem. Long Beach Unified School District, and Black students in particular, are named in a recent updated UCLA study as one of 14 districts countywide with unequal access to education.

Before the pandemic, a 2019 UCLA study by the Center for the Transformation of Schools, Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper, showed that Black students were seriously lagging behind.

Researchers of the recently updated study said they believe any new dated collected post-pandemic will show that conditions in communities and schools have worsened through COVID.

Because Los Angeles Unified and Long Beach Unified hold the highest population of Black students in the county, and also the largest homeless enrollment, the report highlighted that basic needs must be addressed as the top priority.

“These figures paint a stark reality of not only the sheer numbers of students experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, but also point to a need for supporting housing insecure Black youth,” the report said.

Among other concerns, researchers called attention to what it will take to reopen schools, and essential learning recovery plans, particularly to address the needs of Black families that have taken the brunt of COVID-19.

“We cannot ignore how the physical, social, emotional and psychological state of communities of color, Black families in particular, have been profoundly impacted by structural racism, apparent in economic, housing, health and social patterns, especially in our education systems,” the report said.

For more information on Safe Reopening Resources, see

https://www.lbschools.net/District/coronavirus.cfm

https://www.lbschools.net/Departments/WRAP/summer_sites.cfm

 https://www.lbschools.net/Departments/Parent_U/parent_workshops.cfm#ciaap

TagsCOVID 19EquityLBUSDLong Beach Leaderreopeningschools
Previous Article

Biz, Nonprofits Provide Free COVID Tests and ...

Next Article

Biden-Harris Step up Efforts to Narrow Racial ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Precinct Reporter News

Related articles More from author

  • Latest PRGNews

    Walking With Woodson in History

    February 20, 2020
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    10 Million More Black Voters

    June 30, 2022
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Biden Executive Orders Tackling Racism

    February 4, 2021
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Cynthia Guidry Named Director of Long Beach Airport

    June 11, 2019
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    NAACP and NNPA Lead Protest Against Police Brutality

    May 9, 2019
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    LB Rising Activist Art Exhibits Peace and Hope

    September 16, 2023
    By Precinct Reporter News

You might be interested

  • Latest PRGNews

    Sahaba Initiative Brings Free Food, Extends Services

  • Latest PRGNews

    Atty Gen. Bonta Takes Action to Protect Renters

  • Latest PRGNews

    Poll Shows Affirmative Action Supported by Majority

Ads

Advertise with us!

Ads

Ads |

Ads V

ADS III

Find us on Facebook

Ads

Precinct Reporter News Group

Your local news resource for 50 years in the Inland Empire, Orange County, Long Beach and surrounding areas!

To subscribe or advertise, call 909.889.0597

About us

  • Broadcasting & Media Production Company
    357 W. 2nd Street
    San Bernardino, California, CA 92401
  • mailto:sales@precinctreporter.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Asm Jackson Hosts State of Black IE Symposium

    By Precinct Reporter News
    September 28, 2023
  • Vibrant Culture of Mexico Afro-Descendent Communities

    By Precinct Reporter News
    September 28, 2023
  • No Relief for Hate Against Blacks in O.C.

    By Precinct Reporter News
    September 28, 2023
  • IE/OC Prostate and Breast Cancer, Change the Menu

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015
  • Join our Recipe Competition!

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015
  • SB Budget Cuts CDBG

    SB CDBG Cuts Have Local Nonprofits Braced for the Worst

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015

Follow us

© Powered by Hotspotwebsites.net. All rights reserved.