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Superintendent Will Recommend PUSD Reopen With Online Learning Only
Education Jul 14, 2020
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As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in LosAngeles County, and the state, Superintendent Brian McDonald plans to bring arecommendation to the Board of Education at a special meeting on July 16 thatPasadena Unified (PUSD) open in a complete distance learning model on Aug. 17.
“We have been preparing for the possibility of a full distancelearning model. Our school reopening plan is designed to allow us to moveseamlessly from a hybrid model to a full distance learning environment and backagain as conditions change,” McDonald wrote in an email to families.
Earlier this month, PUSD announced plans to reopen in August using a hybrid model. Within those plans, the district’s reopening task force designed a completely online learning option in the core curriculum for K-12 students that will differ from the emergency remote learning model that was used in this spring and focus on the core curriculum and offer increased teacher-student engagement.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health)also released reopening protocols for K-12 schools in Los Angeles County onMonday. Developed in consultation with more than 500 stakeholders, theprotocols are intended to serve as a roadmap for school districts as they planhow to reopen.
The protocols do not authorize schools to reopen for in personclassroom instruction. School re-openings will be guided by the state and byeach school district’s decision on how to best configure learning opportunitiesduring the pandemic, considering the levels of community transmission and whatthe science shows about the risks. For those schools that re-open theircampuses, they will need to adhere to the public health and safety requirementsdetailed in the protocol released.
From the beginning, PUSD maintained that plans would evolve asguidelines were released and if the Board of Education approves McDonald’srecommendation the plans may still change again as conditions change. “We willcontinue planning for a return to in-person learning during the 2020-21academic year as soon as public health conditions allow and adequate resourcesare allocated by both the state and federal governments for the safe return toschools,” the superintendent wrote.
