Los Angeles and San Diego will not reopen classrooms in the fall

The Los Angeles and San Diego school districts announced Monday that they will not return to in-person classes next month but will begin the school year with online-only classes over coronavirus concerns.

In Los Angeles, students will start virtual classes on August 18 but will not be called back to the physical classroom, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner said. San Diego will start online-only classes on August 31.

“Countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control,” the San Diego Unified and Los Angeles Unified school districts said in a joint statement.

Schools in the Los Angeles and San Diego districts have been closed since March 13, when cases of the coronavirus began across the country. Since then, districts said they have been on a “breakneck pace” to transition to online learning.

Both districts said they plan on starting in-person classes later in the school year “as soon as public health conditions allow” and called on the federal government to provide the resources schools need to reopen.

The Trump administration has threatened to deny federal funding to school districts that refuse to restart in-person classes in the fall.

“This announcement represents a significant disappointment for the many thousands of teachers, administrators and support staff, who were looking forward to welcoming students back in August,” the statement from the districts said. “It is obviously an even greater disappointment to the many parents who are anxious for their students to resume their education. Most of all, this decision will impact our students in ways that researchers will take years to understand.”

Additionally, the districts said they will create their “own source for reliable scientific information” since the information from the medical and scientific communities has been “vague and conflicting.”

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University of Connecticut student government leaders resign because they're white

Kent Brockman has said it before and he’ll say it again: “Democracy simply doesn’t work.”

It’s a view also embraced by the president and vice president of the University of Connecticut’s Undergraduate Student Government, who spurned the students who voted for them four months ago by resigning their elected positions.

Their rationale is both ludicrous and probably genuine: White people shouldn’t lead.

VP Alex Ose was the first to go last week, according to The Daily Campus. She cited “the climate and incidents of racial injustice across the country and at the university” without elaborating on what’s wrong at UConn (or why she can’t address the perceived problem as an elected official):

I feel that it is my duty to step down from my position to make space for BIPOC (black, indigineous and people of color) voices to truly rise and be heard. It is my responsibility to make space, not to create an echo.

Ose is also pressuring the remaining white members of the student government to resign, asking them to consider their “intent” in student leadership (to lead?) and whether they “truly” believe “they are making space for the voices that need to be heard right now” – the aforementioned BIPOCs.

President Joshua Crow didn’t go that far when he announced his own resignation prompted by white guilt two days later.

“It is important in this time to ensure that marginalized groups have the platforms they need,” he said, according to The Daily Campus. (Their paralyzing white guilt makes a little more sense when you consider that Crow and Ose beat a nonwhite ticket, Jase Valle and Guymara Manigat.)

Crow’s temporary replacement is … another white guy, Will Schad. But don’t worry! Schad’s whiteness won’t pollute the student government for much longer, at least as president.

At a Thursday town hall to “address racism within” the student government, as the Daily put it without a hint of bias, Schad emphasized he didn’t want the job and would schedule elections as soon as possible. Remember, elections were four months ago and students made their choices:

“This was never a job that I had my eyes on, but I’m going to be as committed to the students as possible and as committed to starting to solve issues of racial bias and injustice and as well as elitism, as I can be,” Schad said.

Schad also talked about his experience in working toward diversity and inclusion while in his position as speaker of the Senate. While in his former position, he said he was pushing for mandatory bias training, election reform, bias control policies within USG as well as advocating for greater access to resources for BIPOC students, such as mental health services.

MORE: Incoming student president under fire for pro-police march

You won’t believe what prompted this town hall and another hosted by Ose and Crow, whose feedback apparently prompted their race-based resignations.

Some students – whose privilege enables them to take offense at everything – had complained about a student government survey that asked undergraduates to anonymously share their own experiences of discrimination, from “microaggressions” to “Islamophobia.” It was crafted by the “Multi-Cultural and Diversity” senators.

Any reasonable person – i.e., not a UConn racial activist – would scratch their head at why students would criticize rather than thank their elected leaders for inviting their feedback.

You see, the perpetually aggrieved Huskies accused the student government of … survey appropriation, I guess you’d call it?

There were multiple comments under the [Instagram] post [sharing the survey] from students who said the survey was tone-deaf and that it seemed like the page was plagiarizing the idea from student-run anonymous social media accounts like Black at UConn.

“Why do you need surveys to know racism is wrong, you’re not amplifying anyone’s voice, you’re colonizing them,” one person commented.

Indeed, an hour after the post went up, the Black at UConn Instagram account shared an anonymous testimonial that called the student government “despicable” because “your Black and Latinx members are often talked over, looked past and not valued.” (The only example of this supposed oppression? A wonky dispute over compensating members of the executive board, which was mostly nonwhite when the compensation rule took effect.)

Though the student government quickly apologized for asking for student feedback without the sufficient wokeness, it didn’t really matter. Crow already declared at his town hall that UConn was an “inherently racist institution,” and several attendees flat-out said any executive board that was not majority nonwhite was illegitimate.

It would be nice to see student leaders of any color emphasize that skin color is not destiny, and that blacks can capably represent whites and vice versa. Sadly, don’t expect to see such leadership anytime soon at UConn.

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Unions Are Stopping School Reopenings

It’s week 18 of the “two week” pandemic lockdown and it’s nearly August!  Kids should be thinking about going back to school but in a lot of the country they won’t be.  In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has made it nearly impossible for students to return to in person classes and in Los Angeles nearly 33% (one THIRD) of all students never logged on to an online class.

The pandemic is robbing students of years of learning and critical socialization with their peers.

On today’s podcast we’re joined by Lindsey Burke who is the Heritage Foundation’s top education expert.  She shows how lawmakers can use the pandemic to radically change education for the better but the reality is that Unions are in danger of changing education policy for the worse.

Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/q54sgFOcupc

Lindsey points out that the closures are an opportunity to implement school choice legislation that could allow students to return to class even if their local districts refuse to open. That's freedom!

The “science” about reopening is very clear -- students are not at risk of COVID-19 and teachers are at a minimal risk.  Countries around the world have reopened their schools and yet the United States is behind because of partisan politics.

Leftist teachers unions have taken advantage of the pandemic to advance their own radical agendas, including the California teachers’ union that produced a “wish list” for the future of education in the state. Lindsey also fills us in on some of the more innovative approaches to education around the world, including “pods,” education vouchers, and school choice legislation.

Also on today’s episode we correct the record on the late John Lewis. Its a story you wonrt see anywhere else. Although he spent much of his early life advancing the noble causes of Civil Rights, he later squandered this political capital lying and accusing Tea Party supporters of calling him racist names. Phelim remembers how his friend Andrew Breitbart led the fight to expose the slur.

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UK: No teachers have caught coronavirus from pupils anywhere in the world, claims SAGE adviser who suggests it was a mistake to shut schools

There is no proof Covid-19 has been transmitted from a pupil to a teacher in school anywhere in the world, a scientist advising the Government has claimed.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist from the University of Edinburgh, said closing all schools completely during Britain's lockdown might have been a mistake.

Evidence now suggests children are 'minimally involved' in the spread of Covid-19, which politicians should bear in mind in the future, he added.

Statistics show 15 children and teenagers have died of coronavirus in England and Wales since March, 0.03 per cent of the total deaths.

And scientists say children appear to only rarely be seriously affected by the condition, which preys on existing ill health and is most dangerous for the elderly. Getting fewer symptoms and milder illness may make them less likely to spread it.

Professor Woolhouse, who sits on a sub-group of SAGE, told The Times it is 'extremely difficult' to find any instances of children spreading the virus to adults in schools, with no certain cases.

He suggests closing schools was 'never essential' and said it was unlikely that governments would repeat the drastic step.

It is not clear, however, how much children contribute to the spread of the virus in the home, which is where most transmission takes place. Elderly relatives could be at risk from children catching the virus from other families, for example, suggesting keeping youngsters apart at school could still be beneficial.

Returning to school has been a controversial issue in Britain as teachers and school staff said they felt unable to do it safely in the way the Government was asking. Nearly half of teachers say they are unprepared and only one in five feel safe.

Primary schools in Britain have been allowed to reopen to certain year groups and are run in 'bubbles' of teachers assigned to certain classes.

Secondary schools, however, have had to remain closed since lockdown was imposed in March and will not reopen until September.

From the start of the school year, all schools in England are set to reopen as normal and attendance will be mandatory again as it is in normal times.

Evidence has grown during the course of the pandemic that children are very rarely affected by Covid-19 and it is even more rare that they die from the illness.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published a study in June that found only two in 10 children with coronavirus have any symptoms of it. They saw that under-20s are half as likely to become sick with Covid-19 as over-70s, and only 21 per cent of infected 10 to 19-year-olds had symptoms.

In comparison, the rate of symptoms among over-70s — the group most vulnerable to the disease — was three times higher at 69 per cent.

The LSHTM experts said understanding that children are less affected by the disease could influence how strict school closures have to be in the future.

In a meeting in May with members of the House of Lords, LHSTM infectious disease experts Dr Rosalind Eggo and Professor John Edmunds explained that children appear to be less likely to spread the disease as well.

Dr Eggo said: 'We think that children are less likely to get it so far but it is not certain. 'We are very certain that children are less likely to have severe outcomes and there are hints that children are less infectious but it is not certain.'

Scientists cannot say why children seem to have some level of natural protection from COVID-19.

There have been suggestions that it because they don't have as much age-related lung damage or ill health, or because they have considerably lower rates of illnesses which increase the risk of complications, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Professor Edmunds, who is a member of SAGE, the group of scientists advising the government, today told members of the Lords: 'It is unusual that children don't seem to play much of a role in transmission because for most respiratory viruses and bacteria they play a central role, but in this they don't seem to.'

Office for National Statistics data shows that, in England and Wales, 15 people under the age of 20 have died of Covid-19 during the entire outbreak up to July 10. This was just 0.03 per cent of the total 51,096 counted by that date.

Professor Woolhouse told The Times that children of school age up to 15 are 'minimally involved in the epidemiology of this virus'.

He said: 'There is increasing evidence that they rarely transmit.  'For example, it is extremely difficult to find any instance anywhere in the world as a single example of a child transmitting to a teacher in school. There may have been one in Australia but it is incredibly rare.

'There are certain environments where this virus transmits very well and children are not present in these environments.'

The idea that children don't transmit the virus as much as adults has gained traction in recent months as scientists have been able to study where Covid-19 spreads the most.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published a study in June that found only two in 10 children with coronavirus have any symptoms of it.

They saw that under-20s are half as likely to become sick with Covid-19 as over-70s, and only 21 per cent of infected 10 to 19-year-olds had symptoms.

In comparison, the rate of symptoms among over-70s — the group most vulnerable to the disease — was three times higher at 69 per cent.

The LSHTM experts said understanding that children are less affected by the disease could influence how strict school closures have to be in the future.

Schools are set to reopen fully without social distancing in September but teachers are uneasy about the plans.

The union NASUWT found that only 22 per cent of school staff in Scotland said they feel safe returning under the current proposed plan.

General secretary of the union, Dr Patrick Roach, said: 'The NASUWT recognises the importance of schools reopening to all children as soon as it is safe to do so. 'The Education Secretary needs to develop a coordinated national plan to deliver the full and safe reopening of all schools in September.

'He needs to address as a matter of urgency the many practical and logistical issues that have been raised by teachers and headteachers across the country.

'Schools have only a few weeks before they close for the summer break. Teachers and headteachers need urgent clarification from the DfE [Department for Education] if they are to be able to meet the guidance on September re-opening consistently and safely.'

Reasons for children's apparent resilience to the disease are still unclear, despite a wave of trials devoted to unraveling the truth on the contentious topic.

Top researchers say their immune system may be faster to react or their bodies better able to cope with viral infections because they are younger.

Other studies have also suggested that children may have stronger immunity to coronaviruses in general because they catch so many colds, some of which are caused by viruses that look very similar to the one that causes Covid-19.

Speaking to the House of Lords's Science and Technology Committee in June,  LSHTM infectious disease experts Dr Rosalind Eggo and Professor John Edmunds said children don't seem to spread the virus as much as adults when they have it.

This is unusual because children are usually 'super-spreaders' of coughs and colds because they have bad hygiene.

Professor Edmunds, who was a member of SAGE alongside Professor Woolhouse, told peers: 'It is unusual that children don't seem to play much of a role in transmission because for most respiratory viruses and bacteria they play a central role, but in this they don't seem to.'

Dr Eggo added: 'We think that children are less likely to get it so far but it is not certain.

'We are very certain that children are less likely to have severe outcomes and there are hints that children are less infectious but it is not certain.'

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