PROTESTERS demanding a return to the previously-announced dates of Oct. 5 and 12 for school re-opening gathered in front of the Garden Grove Unified School District building Tuesday afternoon (OC Tribune photos).
The decision Tuesday night by the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education to delay a start to in-person instruction brought not only a storm of comments on social media, but also a protest in front of the district administration building.
Citing a need to have more time to complete planning for the process, the district backed off on its earlier starting dates of Oct. 5 for students in grades pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and Oct. 12 for grades seven through 12 (intermediate and high schools). No new dates have been determined.
As the number of new coronavirus cases in Orange County has eased, some area school systems have reopened or announced plans to do so. District officials say they are still trying to balance parental preference, health and safety concerns and other issues before returning to what will be a hybrid system of in-class teaching and computer-based “distance learning.”
Some parents, for their part, are complaining that plans were made based on the original dates, and that pupils needed more in-person instruction, rather than the distance learning model now being used.
SOME KIDS are tired of mom as a teacher.
A group of about 25 protesters, including parents and some pupils, rallied in from of the GGUSD headquarters building on Stanford Avenue today at 5:30 p.m. to register their displeasure.
Standing on the sidewalk, they waved signs reading “Children Need Real Teaching” and “Stop Being Fools and Open the Schools.” They got supportive honks from some of the motorists riding down the street. The event organizer, Katie Faith, outlined what the group wanted.
“Open the classrooms for the students. Let students go back to in-person learning,” she said. “On the original schedule, the October Fifth date.”
Categories: Schools
We need to be more patient and let the Board makes the right decision for this pandemic. Safety for the communities is the most important, we don’t want to let the kids go back to school and expose to the virus and then shut down the school again. It’s more harm than helping the kids during the time. It already happened when we lift the restrictions and opened too early last time. The virus is still out there, it’s not disappeared, it will come back if we gather together.
The virus will always be around. Just like the flu. The sooner we open, the sooner our immune systems can get back to work. If we would have been open this whole time, we would all have been thru the virus, if we even caught it at all, and life would be back to normal. Instead we have a dictator and followers such as yourself who believes that we should all be holed up in our houses, or masked, while ruining our economy and destroying our mental health.
Open the schools! Open the businesses! Open the country!
Open our schools and save education. Teachers are essential!!!
Parents should have the choice to send their kids to school or not. Let the ones that want their kids in school come, and the others stay home and online; let the teachers work out among themselves who does what which kind of teaching, or share the load as a team; teachers are great at working things out.
Yes, some kids will get the virus, or a regular flu, or colds or sore throats, but that happens every fall. This covid 19 virus has proven to be nonconsequential for nearly all young kids. Any kids with “pre-existing conditions” or situations like asthma, stay at home if need be. GGUSD is a large district, they have plenty of teachers and resources to deal with all of these various situations.
And now the doctors know the best interventions, using nebulizers, etc. for anyone who has more than mild symptoms. If they are worried about lawsuits, have the parents who want their kids in school sign a waiver. Some of these poorer families NEED their kids in school and getting at least one nutritious meal a day, and some of these parents are stretched beyond their ability to remain sane while they try to keep kids online and work from home at the same time.
These people are completely ridiculous. Clearly none of them take the pandemic seriously as I don’t see masks. So that means that they, or their children, could be asymptomatic carriers at any time. So the potential to spread the virus to teachers and staff would be extremely high. Their self centered entitlement unfortunately trickles down to the kids and is one of the many reasons how the racist polo team formed at Pacifica HS. GGUSD needs to open only when there’s a safe plan in place for EVERYONE. The teachers are educators and NOT babysitters. I don’t want the rush to respond so that this lot can resume their privilege, entitled lives. I’m sure they want to get back to bullying teenagers in their Facebook group like they’ve done repeatedly all summer.
Nice group photograph of protesters and not a one wearing a mask. I would be uncomfortable teaching their children. These folks need to think of the long game goal and it will take time.
Protest at the election by voting and remember the leadership we have had and how the situation was downplayed. Precious time wasted there. Please do what is right for all and not just what is best for you, for now.