The Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced today that its Catholic schools throughout Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will open the 2020-21 school year with distance learning due to the new state requirements for resuming in-person instruction.
“Though our return to our beloved campuses will be delayed for now, we will return,” Paul Escala, senior director and superintendent of Catholic schools for the archdiocese, wrote in a letter to school families, educators and pastors. “Until then, our schools will open at a distance and our community will once again rise to the occasion.”
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all school campuses to remain closed when the academic year begins in counties on the state’s monitoring list due to spiking coronavirus cases — including Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Ventura and Riverside counties.
Escala said teachers and staff at all 265 Catholic schools in the archdiocese had made extraordinary efforts in hopes of welcoming back students this fall.
“We are so proud of their incredible efforts in planning for both in-person and distance, while simultaneously focusing on making campuses safe for students and staff,” he said. “Though the circumstances may not afford us the opportunity to start the school year in-person, our preparation efforts will pay off when we are able to safely return to campuses.”
Criteria for the return to in-person instruction are based on the state’s local health jurisdiction monitoring list. Once the jurisdiction has been removed from the list for 14 days, in-person instruction will be allowed to resume.
The above comes from a July 18 story on LAist.
Some states believe in the (Catholic) principle of subsidiarity. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said religious schools are exempt from local coronavirus rules. “[A]s protected by the First Amendment and Texas law, religious private schools may continue to determine when it is safe for their communities to resume in-person instruction free from any government mandate or interference,” Paxton said. Notice AG Paxton is not forcing private schools to be open, simply trusting the Constitution and their prudential judgment. I believe Catholic pastors and school administrators in Texas do not want to endanger or kill their students. Maybe the archbishop wishes he was back in Texas. Full story below.
https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/texas-attorney-general-religious-schools-are-exempt-from-local-covid-rules
And for the last week, Texas has had 10,000 new cases on average every day.
More than 870 Texans have died of COVID in this last week.
ICUs are already full in many parts of the state.
I thought there was a catholic principle of preserving life?
Of course, Texans can’t be as smart as y’all Californians. Yep, the Texas Attorney General, the Catholic bishops and school administrators just want to kill people. BTW, they’re still working out the details, but there will be social distancing, masks, no sports and other health precautions when they reopen (the exact dates to be determined later). It’s just that the AG figures many folks are smart enough to figure out how to protect their own and it’s not government’s business to dictate everything.
YFC, can you explain why California has more coronavirus cases than Texas?
(Or, don’t you read the news.).
Y’all were the first to lock down.
NBC News recently interviewed five top pediatricians around the country to examine schools reopening. The pediatricians agreed that even if children are exposed to COVID-19, most don’t get as sick as adults and serious complications for kids are very rare.
“This has been a strange pandemic because usually for respiratory viruses, children are the first and most substantially affected,” Dr. Buddy Creech, Vanderbilt University Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, said. “This has really been a flip of that, where it’s our adults and particularly our older adults, that have been more affected.”
It is now time for “micro home schools” as the term is currently used, and similarily, “micro” masses, or as in previous eras, or current day Communist China, the underground Church.
Children are not learning by “distance” learning. The majority are not even participating in their online classes. Even the president of San Francisco Unified School Board Mark Sanchez, one who is on the side of the political implications of the lockdown, and of the teacher’s unions, has said as much.
Parents, using home schooling materials, such as from Elizabeth Seton and Our Lady of Victory homeschooling websites, which follow standard curricula, and meeting in homes, hiring tutors or unemployed teachers, to teach groups of six to twelve students. 12 is actually the ideal number for a classroom setting, enough for interaction and teamwork activities, and not too many so that the teacher has time to give each individual attention, enough room for social distancing. Another key is that classtime is short, 30 minutes or less. Time is also a key in terms of exposure to the virus. This can be done in the homes of families, or in rooms provided by a church or parish school classrooms.
If this is done at a parish, you have the added important bonus of recreational activities, sports and music and arts and crafts in the gym, or schoolyard, or extra classroom. This is what I had planned to do when St Charles School in San Francisco was closed by the Archdiocese, and do so as a model to make a catholic, healthy environment affordable and available for struggling families.
So too, mass can be said outdoors, in a parking lot, schoolyard, or public park, or in people’s homes. Again, “micro” would mean a short mass, 30 minutes or less, eliminate activities that are not in the Roman Missal, that take up time, such as Eucharistic Ministers, or choirs, or lectors….these all take extra time. For music, as the Missal states, a simple chant or singing one verse of an opening hymn, the alleluia, and one verse for the closing hymn….In a war situation with soldiers, or even in convalescent homes, where disable residents cannot sit for too long, this is what is done.
We used materials from every Catholic provider. Before we moved to California, I used to be able to pick and choose and used multiple sources. The homeschool laws in CA were so restrictive that we had to choose one. I chose Seton and it killed our homeschooling because he hated it so much, he just refused to do it. He went to Catholic schools after that. My son did not like the materials from Seton or Our Lady of Victory or Kolbe.
This is ridiculous! As usual, the Los Angeles Archdiocese abandons the flock and hides behind the ever changing whims of government overreach. The sliver lining is that many of the schools are not teaching the Catholic catechism anyway, so parents who have the bravado to home school their kids will save them from secular indoctrination wrapped up as religion. Once again, the archbishop has shown himself to be a follower, not a leader, for shame sir!
cuz Gov. Newsome sez so
he got a bachelor degree in
POLITICAL SCIENCE
he don’t know JACK ’bout
virology, immunology, epidemiology ….
why listen to this guy ????
Say goodbye to many, many LA Catholic schools as a result of this. Widespread closures coming. What parent would pay tuition for distance learning? Many teachers out of jobs. Administrators will still keep their jobs though. More wonderful fruit from the consecration of California and the USA to Mary. Hooray for Gomez! Try consecrating the whole universe to Mary and see what comes from that?
Parents want the kids in safe schools. School systems want kids in school. Kids want to be in school. So, what is the problem? Let’s send the kids to school. The pandemic is finally under control, cases are going down, deaths are down, ICU’s are empty. No Problem, open the schools. It aint that easy, but let’s do it. Let’s say we have a classroom with 15 kids, desks six or more feet apart, everyone wearing masks and one kid is exposed to covid-19 at home. Now 15 kids have to isolate for two weeks, their parents have to isolate for two weeks, and other peole they came in contact with have to isolate for two weeks. I don’t see a problem here, so let’s open the schools bishops. Stop being followers and start leading the parade. Come on, exert your authority and tell the Governor where to go. Do your duty. Open the Petri dishes.
Why not allow each school to apply for the exception as allowed by the state guidelines, if they have the option to do so? Some of your beautiful school have campuses to provide for safe outdoor learning- just like our outdoor masses. Do not fall victim to the political pressure. Our children need to be renewed in our faith and education. That is why we choose to have our children in a faith based learning. Do not blanket each school. Governor Newsome’s children will be back in school because his children’s school applied for the loop hole exception. Why not allow each of your schools to make their own decisions and do the same based on their locations and ability to accommodate?