Most Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) schools are scheduled to reopen to students on Tuesday, Aug. 31 for the 2021-2022 academic year. The district is offering full-time, in-person instruction for its approximately 69,700 students and will provide free lunches to all students for the whole year.
Here are some things to know regarding student safety and learning options at all schools.
Safety protocols center on mask wearing, vaccination and ventilation
After a trial run in spring with students optionally returning to campuses for a couple of months of hybrid learning—and more than 14,000 elementary students attending in-person summer school—LBUSD says it has safety protocols in place for fall.
“All of these practices are informed by guidance and direction from our state and local health authorities,” Deputy Superintendent Tiffany Brown told the LBUSD Board of Education at a workshop on Aug. 17. “These are also practices that we have used throughout last year, during summer and as we head into fall that we have seen to be beneficial.”
Yesterday, Superintendent Jill Baker added a new requirement to those protocols, given the recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases—mandatory testing of staff and students, which it had done during the spring but was initially not planning to do in fall.
“The additional safety measure that we will implement, in consultation with the Health Department, [is] to add COVID surveillance testing of all unvaccinated students to our COVID prevention measures,” Baker told the LBUSD Board of Education on Aug. 18. “This is an additional layer of prevention and it’s something that we have control over.”
She added that LBUSD will communicate more about this new protocol to students’ families by Monday, Aug. 23.
Other safety protocols include:
- Students, teachers and staff must wear face masks while indoors on campus, except when eating. Schools will have masks available if needed. Masks will not be required outdoors.
- Everyone will be asked about COVID-19 symptoms and screened prior to entering campus.
- LBUSD will not require students, teachers or staff to be vaccinated, but all teachers and staff must either show proof of vaccination or take a weekly COVID-19 test after the start of school.
- LBUSD will email electronic flyers on vaccination clinics—including mobile clinics—to families of students and post notices on individual school websites. Students 12 years of age and older are eligible to be vaccinated. Those younger than 18 need the consent of a parent or guardian, either in person or with a completed consent form. Vaccine clinics and the form can be accessed at longbeach.gov/vaxLB.
- School staff will wear personal protective equipment, disinfect campuses frequently and encourage hand washing.
- LBUSD asks that no student, teacher or staff member go to school if they have COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough or runny nose.
- All new heating and air conditioning systems in schools include high-efficiency filters, changed regularly.
- Schools are also stocked with hand soap, hand sanitizer, face coverings and other safety supplies.
- The Long Beach Health Department is not requiring desks to be spaced apart like in the spring, but LBUSD said it will distance students “as far as space allows.”
- LBUSD will update its COVID-19 “dashboard” daily with numbers of positive cases and other information. It will also enforce case reporting, contact tracing and quarantining for staff and students as necessary.
“The best place for students is in their school classroom,” Baker said while acknowledging it may not be possible for some. “When we hear about the need for social [and] emotional support, or support for academic growth, for the role of peers, for the need for care—there is no replacement for coming to school.”
Curriculum includes emotional wellbeing and independent study option
The LBUSD approved an overarching new learning plan in June—the Learning Acceleration and Support Plan (LASP)—that includes “social and emotional learning” such as through mental health counseling and teaching restorative justice.
LASP’s other three “pillars” include increasing academic support, encouraging students to speak out about education inequities, and investing in infrastructure. Teachers were trained in the new curriculum over the summer.
For parents who want an alternative to in-person learning, the district is offering an Independent Study Program (ISP) for all K-12 students, supported by State law AB 130 signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month that replaces remote learning.
Edward Samuels, LBUSD director of high schools, said this is the first time the district has offered an independent study option for grades lower than high school.
The ISP offers the same curriculum as in-person learning. A parent or guardian must serve as a home-learning guide, Samuels told the board on Aug. 17.
“Students are going to receive instruction for part of the day with a certificated teacher,” he said. “But most of the day will be spent working independently with the support and coaching from a parent, guardian or caregiver.”
Parents interested in an independent study option can meet with their child’s school counselor or administrator beginning Friday, Aug. 20, according to Student Support Services Director Claudia Sosa-Valderrama.
ISP students will be disenrolled from their current school and enrolled in Beach TK-12 Independent Study School—the new ISP school name—Sosa-Valderrama said. Students cannot be enrolled in their original school and Beach at the same time.
LBUSD posted a 25-minute webinar on Aug. 16 explaining more about its ISP option based on more than 2,000 parent questions it received.
Board President Juan Benitez said that while independent study is not appropriate for every student, the ISP is something struggling families might consider, though he expressed concern about getting them the information.
Impassioned members of the public object to student mask-wearing
LBUSD’s efforts also faced some scrutiny by dozens of members of the public during the board’s Aug. 17 workshop and Aug. 18 meeting.
Some complained that LBUSD’s independent study webinar was not long enough to answer their questions about that option.
Several more passionately asserted during nearly two hours of the board’s Aug. 18 meeting that mask-wearing is ineffective, a burden on students and should be optional.
Others argued that mask-wearing is necessary for the safety of students and their families.
Baker said the district will not violate state and local requirements for indoor mask-wearing. But teachers may conduct some class activities outdoors, she said.
“To our students, we’ll see you on August 31st,” Baker said. “To families that need support in making a decision about what’s best for their students, we encourage you to be in your school office in the next week, making the best decision for your child.”
