LAUSD educators clearly want to get back into schools with their students, but the underlying question at every step must be: Given broader societal conditions, how do we open physical schools in a way that ensures that the benefits outweigh the risks, especially for our most vulnerable students and school communities? The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States underscores the deep equity and justice challenges arising from our profoundly racist, intensely unequal society. Unlike other countries that recognize protecting lives is the key to protecting livelihoods, the United States has chosen to prioritize profits over people. The Trump administration’s attempt to force people to return to work on a large scale depends on restarting physical schools so parents have childcare.a In Los Angeles, this means increasing risk especially in Black and Brown working communities, where people are more likely to have “essential” jobs, insufficient health care, higher levels of preexisting health conditions, and to live in crowded housing.1 Meanwhile, the rewards of economic recovery accrue largely to white and well-off communities that have largely been shielded from the worst of the pandemic’s effects. Vulnerable students — already facing hurdles such as structural racism, poverty, homelessness, immigration documentation issues, learning and health disabilities, and limited technology access — were disproportionately negatively impacted by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s shift to crisis distance learning. 2 Educators know better than most the critical role that schools play in children’s lives, supporting not just their educational lives but their social and physical development. But until a vaccine or cure is available, starting school without policies in place to mitigate viral spread and provide additional student supports will almost certainly compound the pandemic’s outsize trauma on those students and their families. This document outlines the equity lens that we must use to view both today’s emergency and tomorrow’s recovery. First, we ask, Who is suffering the most, and why? Next, we outline current best practices that must be in place to ensure that our most vulnerable communities are helped, not hurt, by the restart of schools. Throughout, results from UTLA member surveys and the first round of parent surveys collected by UTLA will provide insight into the deeply felt concerns that are impacting educators, students, and their families. Finally, we discuss how funding must be drastically improved if schools are to start safely and equitably. In March, when it was clear that the deadly virus was spreading in the community, UTLA educators led the way in calling for LAUSD to save lives by shutting down schools. Today, we are calling on politicians to demonstrate their commitment to saving lives by fully funding the safe and equitable start of school. https://mcusercontent.com/e51f39a03d845e2cafae71eff/files/ab3919ac-9d71-43fe-9dbc-2dbc893baf57/ReopeningSchoolsLayoutFINALDISTROV2.pdf
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