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Monrovia Unified Focuses on Distance Learning
Education Jul 20, 2020
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On Tuesday, July 14, the Monrovia Unified School District Board of Education convened a special meeting to discuss current conditions and to provide staff with clear direction in the time before the start of school. This meeting was held before the governor announced his plan for schools on Friday. Under the governor’s plan, schools located in counties that are on the Monitoring List must not physically open for in-person instruction until their county has come off the Monitoring List for 14 consecutive days — Los Angeles County is currently on that list.
Thespike of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County correlated positively with thesteady increase in the number of parents opting for distance learning in themost recent survey of Monrovia’s parents. The district had begun formulatingplans for a modified in-person instructional model that would reduce the numberof students in class by half and added safety measures to mitigate risk. Thesurge in COVID-19 cases, combined with parent preference, caused the Board toreconsider bringing students back and led to the difficult decision to focussolely on one model: 100% distance learning.
TheBoard expressed their commitment to better meet the needs of students bytargeting staff resources in the following areas:
- Ensureaccountability through meaningful grades, attendance, and daily studentschedule.
- Ensurehigh-quality, rigorous instruction aligned to grade level standards.
- Provideacademic and socio-emotional support.
- Provideadditional support for language acquisition, including dual immersion programs.
- Providedaily, live interaction with teachers for instruction, progress monitoring, andmaintaining school connectedness, as feasible.
- Identifychildcare options.
- Providea continuity of services to students with special needs, foster youth, andhomeless youth.
- Provideregular communication with parents and guardians.
Regularupdates regarding the progress of sub-committees working on each of theaforementioned areas will be provided to the Board and parents. The Board willcontinue its monitoring of local conditions with the hope that schools may onceagain welcome their students safely in person.
