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Photo by Jamie Araki/KHTS News.

‘Return To School’ Rally Held In Valencia

Dozens of residents came out to the corner of McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard for a “Return to School” Rally Tuesday to voice their desire to have students physically return to school campuses in the fall.

On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people lined the sidewalks along the intersection of McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard as they participated in a “Return to School” Rally.

“We’re standing in solidarity with our students, as well as some our teachers and faculty and staff members who believe that they would like to get back to in-person instruction in the classroom at our local schools, utilizing all the PPE (personal protective equipment) and safety protocols that have been designated as necessary by the L.A. County Health Department,” said Greg Wolf, who helped organize the rally.

One person who attended the rally was Lily Caddow, an incoming sophomore at Trinity Classical Academy who expressed frustration over having to participate in online learning during the 2020 spring semester.

“When you’re on Zoom calls, nobody wants to speak up, everybody is on mute, and their cameras are off,” she said. “So how are you learning if you can’t even see your students expressions from what your teacher is saying to you?”

Photo by Jamie Araki/KHTS News.

Caddow believes that the lack of personal interaction with her teachers and friends negatively impacted the rest of her spring semester.

“It’s hard to find motivation when you’re practically doing your school work from your bed in your room,” Caddow said. “You’re just doing everything on your own, and that didn’t help me with my motivation to learn or my grades.”

All five of the public school districts within the Santa Clarita Valley are expected to start classes in the fall online in order to remain compliant with state and county guidelines. 

The William S. Hart Union High School District, the Castaic Union School District, and the Sulphur Springs Union School District already formally voting on such a start, while the Saugus Union School District and the Newhall School District are expected to discuss the issue further during their respective board meetings Tuesday evening.

While the specifics of each of their plans to have students physically return to campuses vary, each of the three districts that have formally voted on their path forward into the fall are looking to transition from online classes to a “blended” model once state and county health officials deem it safe.

Photo by Jamie Araki/KHTS News.

See Related: Sulphur Springs School District Votes To Start Fall Online

The rally came less than a week after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that schools within Los Angeles County must remain closed until the county is off the state’s “watch list,” for at least two weeks.

“While it is disheartening and unfortunate that Los Angeles County students can’t plan for a normal first day back at school, we respect the Governor’s decision to insist that counties reduce the rate of community transmission before schools re-open for in-person classroom learning,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said on Friday.

Counties in the state can be on this “watch list” for one or more of several reasons:

  • They have not achieved more than 150 tests per day per 100,000 people
  • They have more than 100 cases per 1,000 residents
  • They have case positivity rates greater than 8 percent
  • They have a 10 percent or more increase in hospitalizations over the past three days
  • They have less than 20 percent of ICU beds available
  • They have less than 25 percent of ventilators available

After a county is off the “watch list” for two weeks, local public health officials are able to make the decision to allow in-person learning.

The Newhall School District and the Saugus Union School District are the last two public school districts in the Santa Clarita Valley to formally vote on a re-entry plan in the wake of Newsom’s announcement on Friday.

Both are scheduled to discuss the matter further during their respective board meetings Tuesday night. More information on the Newhall School District’s meeting can be found here, while information on the Saugus Union School District’s meeting can be found here.

Photo by Jamie Araki/KHTS News.


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‘Return To School’ Rally Held In Valencia

42 comments

  1. If people would wear masks and we could ever get Covid under control, the students could go back to school!

  2. Education is essential YES!! However, public schools are quickly becoming non essential. Sad for teachers who don’t have job security. The first to be unemployed. Charter schools, homeschools, private schools have long wait lists. Public school has become non essential.

  3. Classroom return a mistake. Girls in photo mask less. Teachers’ unions are blessed. Sow these seeds and reap illness in the community.

    • To the kids protesting distance learning to start Fall 2020, a couple of questions:

      When your teachers get sick or die from COVID-19 as a result of going back to the classroom before it’s safe, who’s going to be there to present the curriculum?

      Do you plan to go to college? The ability to motivate yourself and read/write well (see “Teacher’s” Union in photo) are key ingredients for success.

      Respect your teachers and grow up.

    • I have also seen some of the older people NOT wearing masks, they did that at the support our Law Enforcement. Some people just REFUSE TO WEAR MASKS THEY FEEL ENTITLED.

  4. Many teachers will get sick and some will die.
    Anyone who demands schools should be required to sign a paper stating that they hold themselves responsible if they get sick and or die. Their parents too.
    Teachers will definitely get sick and the school district will
    He held responsible if they are forced back.
    Young people do not necessarily have the best judgment.

  5. If they cannot be trusted to follow safe practices at a rally demanding access to in-person schooling…how can we trust them to be safe when they get what they want? Ridiculous. To hell with them and their “wants.”

  6. why protest to send your kids back to these indoctrination camps? Best thing ever to happen for them is be with family and free of teacher SJW baloney. Ide be asking for permanent closure and a refund on my property taxes. No Teachers working = no pay

    • Schools are learning institutions, not indoctrination camps. Who told you that?
      You say SJW = baloney. Do you know the opposite of social justice warrior is hater?
      Well, at least you have ID’d yourself, hater. You could use some education yourself.

  7. Covid Deniers are morons.

    It shouldn’t take someone personally close to you to die or suffer to understand we’re not ready to reopen schools.

    Sorry kids, it sucks and it’s not your fault

  8. As a teacher I would love to begin school in person but I have to put my health, the health of my students and my own family first.

    • I think it is funny that teachers keep saying they don’t want to put themselves at risk but in between making Tik Tok videos are in search of places to get their eyebrows threaded. Tik Tok day drinking teachers are not heroes.

  9. Fall semester will not happen. And then when the seasonal flu hits it will all be linked into Covid and Spring semester will be a wash. Plan on it.

  10. They are learning institutions, learning to love socialism and all the agitprop from the teachers union, just another propaganda arm of the DNC. Stay at home students and teach yourself like Abe Lincoln did. You’ll learn more and be a better person

  11. What wonderful young people.

    Wisdom beyond their years, nobody is saying that anyone should be forced to go to school or to teach. Just that They can if they choose. Freedom to choose is critical. If a teacher does not want to return, don’t. If a student does not want to return don’t.

    Teachers are underpaid, and overworked. Let’s not confuse however… Teachers with the CTA which is one of the most liberal unions around.

    Grand total of Californians who died from covid 18 yrs or under ….. 0

  12. Finally some good news! Our students deserve an education and the only unsafe action is to keep them isolated at home. The mental health issues are escalating due to isolation and we are going to lose a generation of leaders if they are not given their freedom of a proper education. Well done SCV students, keep fighting!

  13. The problem with the freedom to choose is that this is a communicable disease. The choices we make do affect others.

  14. I wish the reporters would have dug deeper to see what schools these protesters attended. The only school mentioned is Trinity which is private and stands to lose significant enrollment if they are forced to teach online. The only student mentioned has the same last name as the Founder and head of Trinity — Liz Caddow. Something seems off about this entire story.

  15. So when will the students learn that teachers were told to take it easy on kids during spring semester?

    Blame your school district leaders if you were able to learn in the bed not the teachers.

    Also, I don’t blame the district leaders because after all, there was a global pandemic!!!

  16. The COVID virus hasn’t it home yet. We had a friend die yesterday from the virus. Notice some people wearing masks and some not. This is the reason the virus continues to spread, and highest numbers are young people right now. Wake up, smell the coffee, life isn’t perfect. We don’t always get what we want, we fail hopefully to succeed… This virus isn’t going away until we have a vaccine, someone who can be the captain of the ship. Get over yourself, protect yourself and others. COVID is getting very close to home.

    • People have died from other things too and will continue to do so for all of eternity, because, guess what, everyone dies. Flatten the fear and wake up. We need to take precautions of course, but we can not be in isolation until we are 100% safe from the virus, that will never be the case. More kids have died from the flu in 2020 than COVID, and it has a vaccine.

  17. Roberta is absolutely right! It looks like another excuse will be given to keep the schools locked down and add the regular flu season lumped into Covid statistics as other illnesses (heart attacks, cancers, flus, etc…) have also been linked Into their NUMBERS!!! overblown CASES (repetitive testing on same person. Lots of $$$$ for all involved
    With the “Deadly Corona Virus”

    Open the schools!

    • Pssst…guess what happens when those people with heart attacks, cancer, flus, etc go the hospital when it’s full of COVID patients? They die too! Use some logic

      • You know what is happening, people are not being treated for other ailments because they are afraid of COVID, people are dying alone and afraid because of a virus that even if one believes the statistics less than a quarter of one percent of people have died from it. Use some logic smitty peek, do you know suicides and opioid overdoses are on the rise? Do you know that isolation leads to dementia and an increased risk of heart disease for the elderly? We have already an increase in suicides and drug overdoses here in Santa Clarita. Living comes with risks, the response to COVID is causing more harm than the actual virus.

  18. It’s time for a school voucher system so parents and students have a choice where they go to school.

  19. Kids DON’T have a vote. That’s why they’re… kids. They DON’T know any better. The only way how we’re going to survive THIS Coronavirus together is to wear our masks and keep our distance. What’s the big deal between school & home schooling honestly? They’re STILL learning, aren’t they? Then if those kids run into a issue/problem with their school work, can’t they Face Time or Duo the teacher on their phones? I’m sure they CAN!!!! Stay home, Kids. You’re NOT missing anything outside. You’re safer inside. Remember… it’s not the end of the world either.

    • Stay home David for the rest of your life. You are safer at home. I hope you can grow your own food and live off the grid so that you can live forever unless of course, you have any health ailments or you are a human being because you can still die of other things.

  20. So teachers want to continue day drinking, make tik tok videos about how much they drink, don’t feel safe teaching in person but somehow are perfectly fine getting their eyebrows threaded and going on vacation.

    • As long as they teach YOUR children, they can spend their earnings any way THEY want!!!! I wonder what YOU do with YOUR extra cash… but I’m not one to judge on how one spends their earnings. DON’T worry what teachers do on THEIR time as long as THEY are teaching YOUR children.

      • The point is they do not feel “safe” teaching in person but they are perfectly fine going somewhere where they are within 6 inches of another person, I guess we all have our priorities.

    • Carla: Unfortunately, yes that’s the behaviors/mindset of LAUSD & wonderful Unions

    • What are you talking about? I am a teacher and I don’t know a single other teacher making tik Toks. And I taught virtual summer school so I haven’t been drinking or going on a vacation since Christmas. Please think about what you type.

  21. I guess we should no longer have schools in person then for the rest of our natural lives. Please do not ever leave your house again, grow your own food, live off the grid, and do not rely on anybody else.

  22. After reading all of these comments, I have to say I’m very surprised, but REALLY GLAD most everyone agrees it’s not a good idea for kids to go back right now! Honestly, I feel the rules being put down now as stated in the report above are TOO LENIENT! I say we must wait at least DOUBLE everything stated above! We need to make sure we get it right this time! Spinning our wheels and not finishing what we set out to do and having to go through all this once again is unacceptable! Of course everyone needs to sacrifice here, and nobody enjoys it, but it needs to be done! The ‘normal’ that everyone has in their minds has gone bye-bye as we know it! We’re talking life and death here, people! Time to get SERIOUS! Can’t afford to be ignorant or act entitled! Sorry, but that’s OVER WITH, whether you like it or NOT! It’s not asking too much for people to wear their damn mask and keep up the social distancing! Just DO IT!

  23. Dumbass Maximus! Biggest POS here! Every time he says anything he proves that is what he is!

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About Michael Brown

Michael Brown has lived in Santa Clarita his whole life. Graduating from Saugus High School in 2016, he continued to stay local by attending The Master’s University, where he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. Michael joined KHTS in January of 2018 as a news intern, and has since gone on to become the News Director for the KHTS Newsroom. Since joining KHTS, Michael has covered many breaking news stories (both on scene and on air), interviewed dozens of prominent state and federal political figures, and interacted with hundreds of residents from Santa Clarita. When he is not working, Michael enjoys spending time with his family, as well as reading any comic book he can get his hands on.