Los Angeles Times - 06.04.2020

A12 MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020 LATIMES.COM

sweep its way across Califor-
nia — sending more than 6
million students home to
navigateonline or distance
learning.What started as an
emergency scramble to pro-
vide laptops and meals for a
few weeks has dramatically
shifted to a longer-haul
transformation of public ed-
ucation.
“The kids are not going
back to their classrooms”
this academic year, said Gov.
Gavin Newsom, who ac-
knowledged the burden on
households with the entire
state under his stay-at-
home order.
For those who look to
school for learning and so-
cial structure, the new reali-
ty is sinking in: There will be
no school as we know it after
spring break. No prom. No
year-end field trips. No proj-
ects to present inside a fa-
miliar classroom. Naviga-
ting the three months left in
the school year, leaders said,
calls for patience and dedi-
cation from educators, self-
motivation from already
stressed-out students and
swift actions from school
districts typically mired in
bureaucratic obstacles.
“These aren’t normal cir-
cumstances. It’s the most
uncharted territory that
we’ve been in,” said State
Supt. of Public Instruction
Tony Thurmond. “We’re
stronger together and we
can help all of our kids as we
work together.”
Many are already rising
to the challenge. Yet each
step forward means moving
past bureaucratic hurdles
and cost constraints and
taking on persistent prob-
lems of student poverty and
stubborn achievement gaps.
Every day, hundreds of
thousands of grab-and-go
meals are distributed across
the region for students who
might not otherwise have
steady access to food.
Los Angeles Unified, the
second-largest school dis-
trict in the nation, has al-
ready authorized the pur-
chase of up to 200,000 com-
puters for students to use at
home and contracted with
Verizon to connect house-
holds to the internet for free.
In addition, a state partner-
ship with Google is provid-
ing free Wi-Fi to 100,
households.
At the Robert F. Kennedy
K-8 campus in Compton,
Principal Cecilia Madrid has
personally driven to homes
to drop off computers when
a student or parent said they
were unable to pick one up
themselves.
She and her staff have so
far handed out laptops to
about 86% of the school’s 727
students. They’ve gone to
great lengths to make sure
families get whatever help
they need to connect to the
internet. For those who still
can’t get online, the school
has prepared and distribut-
ed hundreds of learning
packets.
“We are really making
sure that our students come
first and we have everything
here for our students to
learn,” she said. “There’s no
excuses. ‘You don’t have a
device? OK, we’ll get you
one. You don’t have Wi-Fi?
OK, we have a packet.’ ”
She’s proud of the work
her teachers and staff are
doing, but recognizes that
there is now a heavy burden
on parents and caregivers to
ensure that children keep
up. She worries that videos
and online lessons can’t
make up for the one-on-one

interactions that nurture

students each day in a class-

room.

“I can only wish and

hope,” she said, “that every-

thing is going to be OK.”

Debra Duardo, superin-

tendent of the Los Angeles

County Office of Education,

said she is unsure whether

every student will receive

equal access to rigorous in-

struction over the next 10

weeks.

“We always have kids that

are behind. We’ve had a huge

achievement gap that we’re

trying to address,” said

Duardo, whose office has an

advisory and oversight role,

but no direct control over lo-

cal school districts. “Will this

make it even worse? Prob-

ably, in some situations.”

The L.A. County Office of

Education hosts a daily call

with the county’s 80 superin-

tendents, she said. Three

weeks in, schools are still in

Phase 1 — teaching students

virtually and through paper

packets, training teachers to

create effective online class-

rooms and getting families

hooked up with devices and

internet access.

State funding has been

provided for internet hot

spots — but with so many

sold out and out of stock, she

said, some families may still

have to wait weeks to get on-

line.

Across the region, teach-

ers and administrators have

struggled with other barri-

ers to access — long wait

times for installation, par-

ents without legal status

who fear sharing their infor-

mation, and families that

can’t get permission from

their landlords to install the

necessary equipment.

Skyrocketing unemploy-

ment is also bearing down on

families, making home

schooling even more worri-

some for many parents and

students.

Overwhelmed. Unmoti-

vated. Stressed. Stressed.

Stressed.

These were the words

that popped up over and

over again on social media

and in conversations among

students across Los Angeles

during a recent virtual town

hallwith a Times reporter

and Heart of Los Angeles, a

nonprofit organization in

MacArthur Park that pro-

vides free after-school pro-

gramming for underserved

youth. About two dozen stu-

dents shared just how com-

plicated distance learning

can be.

Many said that their

homes were crowded

enough already, and that

school and after-school pro-

grams were their sanctuar-

ies — a place to escape. Oth-

ers worried not only about

their grades but about the

well-being of their families.

Some students have been

using their own savings to

get food for themselves and

younger siblings to avoid

stressing out family mem-

bers.

Closing these divides for

students weighed on educa-

tors long before COVID-19 —

but in some ways, the crisis

has accelerated efforts to

help students on all fronts.

At Los Angeles Unified,

Supt. Austin Beutner is at-

tempting an unprecedented

leap for the massive district:

ensuring that every student

has a computer and high-

speed internet access at

home. Using emergency

powers, he authorized

spending of about $100 mil-

lion for technology.

School officials started

last week with sobering stat-

istics: about 15,000 high

school students were

missingfrom online sign-ins

—about 12.5%. By the end of

the week, teachers and

counselors had tracked

down more than 6,500 of

them, according to a senior

district official.

At Bell High School, the

initial distance-learning

protocol was too demanding

and cumbersome, said Prin-

cipal Rafael Balderas. Stu-

dents were supposed to log

in and complete assign-

ments for every subject, ev-

ery day.

A regular school day had

never been that constricted,

so the faculty regrouped and

developed a new plan: Indi-

vidual course assignments

would be spaced out across

two days. And students

would have more flexibility

on when to turn in work, with

Fridays left as flexible as

possible.

Meanwhile, counselors

and other support staff

started the painstaking

process of tracking down

students who weren’t online

to begin with.

They combed through

maps and searched for

neighbors who lived near the

most recent address on

record. Unable to walk

through neighborhoods and

knock on doors, they fol-

lowed what leads they had

and worked the phones.

Seniors were at the top of

the list, Balderas said, be-

cause they might need to

complete courses to gradu-

ate on time or remain eligi-

ble for college in the fall.

As for the younger stu-

dents, the district is starting

to size up the challenges

ahead, said Alison Yoshi-

moto-Towery, L.A. Unified’s

chief academic officer.

“As we get younger and

younger, there’s more stu-

dents that haven’t logged

on,” she said during an up-

date to the Bond Oversight

Committee. “It wasn’t part

of their previous practice.”

Many of these students

have been working with pa-

per packets sent home with

students or picked up later

by parents.

These stay-at-home ad-

justments have strained

even the region’s more well-

resourced schools.

At John Adams Middle

School in Santa Monica,

many students already have

computers and internet ac-

cess at home — and the dis-

trict is working to support

those who don’t. Teachers

had started using Google

Classroom in January, so

students were familiar with

interacting with teachers

online.

But many students con-

fided to their teachers that

they do not have a quiet

place at home to work and

have been struggling to fo-

cus. Others said they were

distraught about not having

a teacher to help them — or

just to talk to.

Margie Mathews, who

teaches English, worries

about her students’ emo-

tional well-being and the

meaningful learning experi-

ences that might now fall

through the cracks.

“Where will it show up

that this two months or four

months caused them to miss

something that they really

needed to learn?” she said.

“It could be detrimental to

some of them, and it’s heart-

breaking to think about

that.”

She recently turned the

shutdown into a lesson —

asking some of her students

to write an autobiography

that starts with a reflection

on their lives now. She and

her colleagues have also fig-

ured out ways to streamline

and teach the essentials

without making things more

stressful.

She’s managed to engage

almost all 147 of her students

by now, but a handful are still

missing.

“I’m going to find them

this week,” she said, “one

way or another.”

The new realities of school at home

SOPHOMOREFredy Rubio, center, and his mother, Carolyn Chavez, pick up a laptop last month at Linda Esperanza Marquez High School

in Huntington Park for his schoolwork at home. Schools are shifting to a long-term transformation of public education amid the pandemic.

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

SAMUEL BROUNSTONdelivers food through a meal program for Pasadena

Unified School District students at Field Elementary School in Pasadena.

Dania MaxwellLos Angeles Times

[Schools,from A1]

NEW YORK — A tiger at
the Bronx Zoo has tested
positive for the new corona-
virus, in what is believed to
be the first known infection
in an animal in the U.S. or a
tiger anywhere, federal offi-
cials and the zoo said Sun-
day.
The 4-year-old Malayan
tiger and six other tigers and
lions that have also fallen ill
are believed to have been in-
fected by a zoo employee, the
U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture said.
The first animal started
showing symptoms March
27, and all are expected to re-
cover, according to the zoo,
which has been closed to the

public since March 16.

“We tested the cat out of

an abundance of caution”

and aim to “contribute to the

world’s continuing under-

standing of this novel co-

ronavirus,” said Dr. Paul

Calle, the zoo’s chief veteri-

narian.

The finding raises new

questions about transmis-

sion of the virus in animals.

The USDA says there are no

known cases of the virus in

U.S. pets or livestock.

“It’s important to assure

pet owners and animal own-

ers that at this time there

isn’t any evidence that they

can spread the virus,” said

Dr. Jane Rooney, a veteri-

narian and a USDA official.

The coronavirus out-

breaks around the world are

driven by person-to-person

transmission, experts say.

There have been reports

of a small number of pets

outside the United States

becoming infected after

close contact with conta-

gious people, including a

Hong Kong dog that tested

positive for a low level of the

pathogen in February and

early March.

Hong Kong agriculture

authorities concluded that

pet dogs and cats couldn’t

pass the virus to human be-

ings but could test positive if

exposed by their owners.

Some researchers have

been trying to understand

the susceptibility of different

animal species to the virus,

and to determine how it

spreads among animals, ac-

cording to the Paris-based

World Organization for Ani-

mal Health.

For most people, the co-

ronavirus causes mild or

moderate symptoms, such

as a fever and cough that

clear up in two to three

weeks.

For some, especially old-

er adults and people, it can

cause more severe illness, in-

cluding pneumonia, and can

be fatal.

Tiger at Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus

AMALAYAN TIGERhas tested positive for the coronavirus at the Bronx Zoo,

shown in 2012. It is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S.

Jim FitzgeraldAssociated Press

A worker is believed

to have infected the

4-year-old animal. Six

other cats also fall ill.

associated press