The Morning Read
Your Daily Roundup of LAUSD news from across the web | 10.05.21
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Being kind online takes on new urgency as socially isolated kids and teens find it’s their only destination

For years, parents and educators have been worried about how kids interact with each other online. Now, online is all they have. The COVID-19 outbreak has kids contained in their homes, attending school online, minimizing face-to-face contact and missing their friends. In the age of social distancing, experts say, families need to pay extra attention...
By Bekah McNeel | April 9, 2020
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Whitmire: The wave of higher ed shutdowns threatens American’s progress in getting low-income, first-generation students to and through college

Just weeks ago, Brandy Caldwell was finishing up her senior year at Boston’s Brandeis University when she got the notice: The coronavirus was forcing a campus shutdown in two days. For most students, that meant a hasty packing up and a quick car trip home to their parents. But for Caldwell, 22, it wasn’t that...
By Richard Whitmire | April 8, 2020
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‘We’re doing school in a different way’: One non-profit took early lead in preparing districts for distance learning during pandemic

When she read in late February that the coronavirus could infect as many as 70 percent of Americans, Emily Freitag was “primed” to prepare for its effect on schools. She grew up near New Rochelle, New York, one of the first U.S. hotspots of the virus, and her husband, who analyzes international hotel data, saw...
By Laura Fay | April 2, 2020
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Analysis: Children are counting on the 2020 census — but in-person followup can’t happen now. How advocates are filling the gaps

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout the United States, the urgent need for health and stability is paramount. In these early weeks of spring, we must work together to minimize transmission and flatten the curve. Yet even as we secure the basic safety of our homes and communities, we must not forget the important, once-a-decade...
By Geri Mannion and Ambika Kapur | April 1, 2020
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At a time when our very survival depends on one another, LA teachers union should not be engaging in the politics of personal destruction

Our polarized and tribal politics have suddenly come crashing into a moment where we are now only as strong as our weakest link. The coronavirus knows no party, ideology, ethnicity, or wall. And the virus certainly doesn’t distinguish between those who support differing progressive policy positions on education. A few weeks before our entire city...
By Ben Austin | March 30, 2020
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A mom’s view: What to do when coronavirus turns your home into a school? As an educator, I know — you’re a parent. You’ve got this

As the coronavirus continues its spread across the country, it threatens lives, upends work schedules and shuts down public events. Schools are shutting their doors, sending students home to learn. How are you going to manage it all, even while navigating changing work demands, shopping for life in a pandemic and getting tonight’s dinner on...
By Kate Finnefrock | March 30, 2020
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How California’s largest community college district is making the switch to teach online in response to Covid-19. “Do your best at this moment”

One of the nation’s largest community college systems is navigating through a chaotic two weeks before it unexpectedly but with paramount necessity transitions to a fully online set of institutions. Just a few scenes from its preparations: A video creation team films science instructors conducting lab experiments. The resulting video will then be posted online...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | March 27, 2020
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School finance expert warns district leaders to prepare for ‘major financial upheaval’ from pandemic

With a recession on the way, states and localities could be making severe cuts to public education over the next year — and many leaders don’t seem to realize it yet. That was the message delivered this week by Marguerite Roza, one of America’s foremost experts in school finance, in a public webinar. Her presentation...
By Kevin Mahnken | March 26, 2020
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Feeling ‘devastated and isolated’ LA parents cope with prolonged school closures while trying to hold onto their jobs, homeschool their kids

Updated April 2 Parents of the nearly 700,000 students attending traditional and charter schools in Los Angeles are facing an unprecedented disruption of their children’s routine and their daily lives with the shutdown of L.A. Unified School District’s more than 1,000 campuses. One of the main concerns for district officials and educators trying to control the...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | March 25, 2020
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Need help sorting through the avalanche of online resources for kids who are now learning at home? 11 sites for parents to look at

With schools shuttered and kids at home — some even asked to stay indoors — parents must now balance their work responsibilities with the educational needs of their children. But finding a place to start can prove downright daunting. Sifting through the online options may prove more overwhelming than useful, so we turned to experts to...
By Tim Newcomb | March 20, 2020