KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday criticized plans by some school districts to offer less than a full five days of in-person instruction per week, similar plans have recently been presented by the William S. Hart Union School District.
DeVos made her remarks during a call with governors, according to reporting by The Associated Press (AP).
“Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if schools need to open, it’s a matter of how. School must reopen, they must be fully operational,” said DeVos. “And how that happens is best left to education and community leaders.”
While DeVos has pushed for a full reopening, locally, the William S. Hart Union School District has put forward two plans for Fall instruction, neither of which includes a full reopening.
“There’s just absolutely no way to keep people safe and open schools as normal,” said Hart District Governing Board President Linda Storli. “You can take a look at Florida, you can take a look at Texas, you can take a look at Arizona, there’s just no absolutely no way to open school.”
On the call with governors, DeVos specifically called out Fairfax County Public Schools, which is asking families to decide between fully remote instruction or two days a week in the classroom. Similar alternatives have been presented to families in Santa Clarita.
“A choice of two days per week in the classroom is not a choice at all,” DeVos said.
Related: Hart District Board Directs Staff To Explore ‘Blended,’ Online Only Reopening Options
The two options offered to students in the Hart District are either an exclusive online learning model or a blended model which would combine online instruction with in-person learning.
Students in the blended model would be assigned to two “cohorts” based on last names, one to receive on-campus instruction on Mondays and Tuesdays the other to do so on Thursdays and Fridays and alternating Wednesdays. Both cohorts would augment their on-campus learning with additional online learning.
While on-campus, students will maintain social distancing with no more than 20 to a classroom.
“We have teachers that are afraid, we have students whose parents are afraid, nothing would please me more than to just have this thing over and go back to school, but that’s not where we are,” Storli said. “We are in a place where we absolutely must take into consideration the safety of our teachers and our students.”
The district does not plan to coordinate its schedule with local elementary schools, however, some natural overlap is expected, as the elementary schools are anticipated to adopt a similar cohort system based on last names, according to Storli.
“This is not a good position to be in,” Storli said. “But as far as the Secretary of Education, she has no idea what she’s asking us to do, it’s absolutely impossible for us to open schools as normal.”
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Betsy DeVos should be arrested for threatening the lives of our children.
Exactly… she is completely out of touch and the absolute worse person for the job!
And what is your evidence for her arrest and threatening the lives of children? Maybe we shouldn’t have kids go to school at all anymore, because you know there is a chance they could get sick. We have become a nation of whimps. We can’t shut down our lives because of this, it’s not The Black Plague.
Anyone with school aged children, as do I, should watch this video and do some research. There is a lot bad info out there but there is also some very good information.
https://youtu.be/9GvPMAtwGUQ
Thank You so much for posting this video! This was very good information to have. 🙂
I hope we can resume schools and sports!!! Vote in person. I would bet, after November nobody will be talking about Covid any longer. Just saying…
Just saying you are an IDIOT
Sorry Alice,
You are.
Amen! We need leaders to step up and have some backbone and not operate under fear. The facts and science do not support keeping schools closed.
If we do not go back to a full school week, we are going to have our school children miss a whole year of education. The last three months of the last school year proved that the distance learning model does not work. You are going to ask 5th graders go directly into middle school in 2021 without receiving an adequate 6th grade education. Same for 8th graders looking to go into their Freshman year of high school in 2021. Our kids will be an entire year behind.
Based on most of the above comments it appears you are fine with children being put at risk infection and in turn bringing it home to their families. The virus is now completely out of control with new records being set on a daily bases. It also appears the same bunch consider it a political issue. It is not; it’s a matter of medical science. Using your same “logic”, you would also send children to school when an active shooter is known to be there.
https://youtu.be/9GvPMAtwGUQ
Based on most of the above comments, you seem to be the only one with any sense at all! I’m SO sick of these Bozos that consider this some kind of political issue! (You know who you are!) I’ve never seen people be so ignorant and ridiculous! Seems stupid is more dangerous than COVID 19 itself! There’s a LOT of that going around, unfortunately, and there will never be a cure for that!
The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of federal leadership will influence how people vote, and Trump knows it. We all know it. Trump is scared and is on the defense. His followers are following! So painfully obvious.
Rand Paul said, “We don’t know,” numerous times. It is true that what we don”t know about the virus keeps us from knowing the right thing to do about schools reopening. European countries flattened the curve before opening schools and we haven’t done that,so it is hard to compare.
Wrong Anne, my physician says it’s not an issue and isn’t fearful of the virus. He stressed for people who are high risk, it’s a concern AND treatment has been incredibly successful.
I won’t stay the physician name since he’s local and has a large clientele. Our Dr even said children are having almost zero issue with the virus and advised me to continue our annual visits and vaccines. Anne, have you spoken to a reputable physician?
Sounds like you are being seen by Doctor Quackenbush. Did he/she also discuss with you the fact that children are a leading cause of parental illnesses due to them picking up and bringing home all kinds of nasty stuff? You may want a second opinion since the advice you say you were given flies in the face of what most medical experts say. Stay well Theresa.
Exactly! Obviously, her ‘doctor’ is probably one of the many ‘doctors’ who used to prescribe medical marijuana, but has since been out of a job! In other words, as Denny said, Dr. Quackenbush! No reputable doctor would say those things! Either that, or Theresa is a blatant LIAR, blowing BS to suit her own viewpoint! Wow! He has a large clientele, she says. So does Dr. Quackenbush, who peddles opiates all day long illegally out of his office! Big whoop! As a parent, it’s your job to get the right information for your family. It’s apparent Theresa isn’t doing a good job of that, that’s for sure! Maybe Donald Trump is her ‘doctor’!
Kids missing a year of school could have lasting effects for years and would probably hurt the poor more than anyone. The BLMers/Democrats should be doing everything they can to get these kids back in school. As far as I’m concerned if they can protest they can go to school. But who would be left to do the Democrat/Blm protests
Kids missing the rest of their lives could also have lasting effects… forever. You need to get off your BLM / Dem misinformation trip. The virus is not political issue. It’s a world-wide medical emergency. BLM is a civil rights organization and not a terrorist group as you have previously stated over and over. Do you ever fact check yourself prior to posting or do you just not care about your low personal credibility?
I get it. If we keep the kids out as long as possible we can have a whole generation as uneducated as the BLM/Dems
Paranoid!!!
Why would our own president want to open the schools if it’s not safe?! Doesn’t care if kids, parents, and others get sick and die! There’s no protocol for how to do anything! He thinks this is somehow is going to help his re-election hopes, which are failing in a BIG way! He’s grabbing at strews and in the end its gonna backfire and he will look worse than ever! What a terrible,selfish, ignorant man he is! There is a big place in hell for this moron!
Yet some worship him. Wow… Seen the new numbers of infected lemmings in Tulsa? Wow again.
Yeah, and sadly, there ARE devil-worshipers around. They are shameless, mis-informed, ignorant, and pathetic, as well!