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SLO County schools apply for waivers for in-person classes

July 25, 2020

Gov. Gavin Newsom is permitting elementary schools in counties on the monitoring list for coronavirus infections to apply for waivers for in-person classes. The waivers are for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

School districts initiate the process through applications to county health officers, which are later reviewed by the State Health Department. Multiple school districts in San Luis Obispo County have already applied for the waivers, according to San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein.

For example, Paso Robles Unified School District is seeking a waiver to provide options to special needs and homeless children, as well a working parents.

It is likely without union support, the waivers will not be granted.

“A waiver of these criteria may be granted by the local health officer for elementary schools to open for in-person instruction,” according to state guidelines. “A waiver may only be granted if one is requested by the superintendent (or equivalent for charter or private schools), in consultation with labor, parent and community organizations.”


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The teachers unions will work this like you can’t believe. The LA teacher’s union has said it is unsafe to go back to work, unless the police are de-funded, charter schools are abolished, and Medicare is universal. COVID-What?


8

Each child gets over $15,000 a year of our taxpayer dollars. How about we pay teachers $150 thousand a year to teach 10 students?


-15

Let’s first make sure no administrator makes over $120,000, including all benefits and then see what that does to the budgets?


9

How about a $15,000/yr voucher? That would pay for some damn good education. I think Mission Prep is a little more than half that.


7

The line “It is likely without union support, the waivers will not be granted.” This concerns me. I thought the teachers cared most for their students. Isn’t the children’s needs for education more important than the comforts of the union? If the teacher’s, counselor’s, school board member’s and district administrator’s really care for special needs student’s and working parents that pay their salaries, it should be a no brainer.


We’ll all see where their hearts are, for their student’s or the unions. If we as taxpayer’s want to talk about defunding things, let’s start with the cost of education. After all, at this point there is no need for much of the daily practical overhead, busing, the cost of CIF sports, classified employees, and many other areas as well. We should also look at the cost of our failing and extremely costly taxpayer funded California Universities. If I recall, our wonderful Governor Newsom is worried about the state budget. What a great time and opportunity to get the cost to all of us for education back to a sense of reality. Step up to the plate Gavin, and practice what you preach.


18

My wife is a teacher who very much wants to get back to the classroom. The majority of her fellow teachers also want to get back to work in the classroom. For elementary students, with working parents, online learning is very difficult if not impossible. Especially with a brand new class of Kindergarten students who have no idea how any of this works.


The problem is with a very vocal, small number of teachers and parents who have taken to social media and bullied the staff and school boards into online distance learning with no idea how to implement it. Now that these districts have folded to the social media pressure, some of the teachers that pushed for it are now asking for day care for their own children so they facilitate the distance learning.


Day care is ok but kids in the classroom is bad?


17

Excellent points. Doctors, nurses, health care workers, police, firefighters, store and pharmacy clerks reported for work throughout the pandemic. Most of these individuals had to deal with the virus head on, teachers, on the other hand will function in an environment where there is a much less risk. Educating our children is the most important thing that we do. Keep schools closed and you will be 24 before you graduate from grammar school; however, you still will not be competent in math or English.


Time to reopen schools. Why does the teachers union think that they are so much more special than the essential workers listed above. Stop whining, teachers union, and get back to work – our next generation needs you.


19

Stop it. The decision wasn’t made because parents and teachers bullied the school boards. The survey that my kids school took the majority wanted kids back and a hybrid model was going to be used until the governor said schools had to go to distance learning. Parents had the option for their kids to go or not to go. Now there’s a waiver because kids 5th grade and under don’t get or transit the disease which is complete crap. Healthy 9 year old in Florida just died with NO underlying health conditions. Send your kids to school if you want but mine won’t be


-10

If you want to be really afraid, you just go ahead. That’s fine. Just let the rest of us do our lives…by the way, it’s mentally better to use logic when you read about the exaggerated media coverage about this. Please ignore this factoid because it will not comport with your fear hunger, but child mortality as of today is 0.0-0.02% with 24 States reporting no child deaths (7/09/20).


9

I’m not saying that kids aren’t less likely to get severe cases of covid but it does happen. Our public health officer said kids k-5th don’t get or transmit the disease which is crap. I don’t care if you send your kids to school or not that’s your choice but mine won’t be and that’s my choice. We have people in our family that are more susceptible and I won’t put them at risk when my kids can learn from home safely. I wish it wasn’t this way because my kids love school and sports etc but they understand. Imagine what a kid is going to feel like if they’re the ones who bring it home and get a parent or grandparent really sick or worse. I don’t live in fear of the virus. We are in our rv right now half way across the country but we take precautions to help mitigate the risks. Having our kids inside for long periods of time with other kids whose families may or may not have been taking precautions is an unnecessary risk when kids are likely to be asymptomatic.


0

The Florida child’s death is tragic; however, children also perished in vehicle accidents but we haven’t stop driving.


2

If the union existed truly for the students’ best interest, it would be called the “Students Union” not Teachers Union.


26

If teachers are not teaching they should not be paid. A school district has, for example, 20 second grade teachers. Since the second grade curriculum would be universal across the district it should only take no more than five teachers to conduct school on-line, the other 15 teachers should be furloughed until such time that they are needed for in-class instruction.


16

Makes sense


12