Are California schools prepared for virtual learning?
The start of the school year is a time of anticipation, anxiety and energy. This year, as 97% percent of school California’s school districts begin the fall semester online, that anticipation has been multiplied exponentially, California school chief Tony Thurmond said today.
Thurmond joined governor Gavin Newsom and education expert Linda Darling-Hammond at today’s presser to give a rundown of how educators across the start are preparing for a new school year after having months to reflect on the shortcomings of the virtual learning rollout last spring.
Chief among concerns is how to close the digital divide that’s meant even access to computers and devices — a gap that remains, despite ongoing efforts of school districts and nonprofits to get tech into the hands of every student. Thurmond faulted a worldwide run on technology for backlogs that have stalled efforts to deliver devices to students.
Roughly 7,000 students in Oakland this week lacked equipment and hotspots when the school year began earlier this week. Education advocates across the state continue to worry that low-income students will be left behind as the pandemic continues.
Darling-Hammond said plans are afoot to deliver instruction to students with disabilities and others who aren’t well-served by online teaching. Even though school districts that find themselves on the state’s watchlist — areas that face troubling rates of infections — are typically not allowed to hold in-person classes, they may still be able to offer in-person services for vulnerable students assuming they move in accordance with county health guidelines and work in very small groups.
The announcements come as infections and hospitalizations appear to have ticked down after a month of record-setting case numbers and death tolls. But school districts also move forward as Covid cases among children surges, challenging the assumption that children are unlikely to catch and spread the virus.
Read more:
Updated
Meghan Markle talks voting rights to mark women’s suffrage
Meghan Markle highlighted voting rights as an issue she is particularly passionate about during a conversation Friday at the 19th Represents, a summit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the US.
“I think it’s often challenging for men and women alike, but certainly for people to remember just how hard it was to get the right to vote. And to be really aware of not taking that for granted,” she said in an interview with Emily Ramshaw, CEO and co-founder of 19th News, a news organization.
Noting her husband has never been able to vote, Marke added: “I think it’s such an interesting thing to say the right to vote is not a privilege, it is a right in and of itself. But I really do hope what you’re able to encourage…women understand that their voices are needed now more than ever.”
Markle, who repeatedly referred to voting rights as an issue she was passionate about, said she looked forward to using her voice in ways she hasn’t been able to in the past.