From in class to off campus — how local schools are learning to cope without classrooms due to coronavirus
While school campuses remain closed temporarily to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, local districts are working to finalize their plans for distance learning as dates for students to return to classrooms are pushed into April.
As of Saturday, the Laguna Beach and Newport-Mesa unified school districts planned to keep their schools closed through April 3, and with spring break already scheduled for the week of April 6, they would not reopen until April 13.
Districts in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley on Wednesday extended their closures through April 17, citing local and state recommendations.
The state released its framework for distance learning Tuesday, calling for districts to develop short- and long-term goals both for the time currently planned for school closures and the possibility that the closures may need to be extended.
Newport-Mesa Unified initially said it planned to shift to online instruction beginning Friday. However, the start was postponed and now will begin with virtual parent and student orientations Monday and Tuesday, according to a district statement Friday.
It created a tool kit for parents to use in the interim and said it plans to help students in grades three through 12 retrieve their district-issued Chromebooks or obtain one if none is available at home.
The Ocean View School District, based in Huntington Beach, said it would provide some online curriculum access in addition to grade-level instructional packets.
The district also created an online resource document for parents, including links to Clever or Brainpop. The document currently has two weeks’ worth of supplemental content for students, which the district made available for pickup at all school sites Thursday and Friday.
The Huntington Beach City School District said it plans to gauge its community’s access to the internet to support continued learning through curriculum developed by its teachers. But it also is offering grade-level-specific enrichment activities that can be picked up from 11 a.m. to noon each day at Peterson Elementary, 20661 Farnsworth Lane.
The Huntington Beach Union High School District’s plans for distance learning were unclear as of Friday. However, the district has said it would align its educational plans with state guidelines.
The Fountain Valley School District said it would do the same.
Huntington Beach Union Supt. Clint Harwick previously said the district already uses distance learning and that the framework could be extended to all students.
Laguna Beach Unified said parents and students began receiving lesson plans and other communications from teachers Wednesday. The lessons may include Chromebooks for students with limited computer access and offered to parents to check out for children in grades one through five.
Some teachers also prepared printed instruction packets that the district said would be available outside the district office, 550 Blumont St.
All districts also are providing free student meals to pick up on weekdays as the school closures continue:
- Ocean View: 9 to 11 a.m. at every school site
- Huntington Beach City: 11 a.m. to noon at Peterson Elementary
- Huntington Beach Union: Noon to 1 p.m. at Ocean View High School, 17071 Gothard St., Huntington Beach, and Westminster High School, 14325 Goldenwest St.
- Laguna Beach Unified: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Laguna Beach High School, 625 Park Ave.
- Newport-Mesa Unified: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 16 of its 31 campuses. See the list at web.nmusd.us/nutrition.
As the school situation continues to change, many officials and parents are trying to maintain some normalcy.
Danny Morris, principal at Huntington Beach High, said he called Ocean View High Principal Courtney Robinson on Friday morning to see if he could help distribute free meals to students.
“We’re kind of over at Huntington just ... waiting for directions, so we wanted to help and make sure they had the support they needed here,†Morris said.
As a principal, Morris is responsible for 3,000 kids. As a parent, he is responsible for two of his own — a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old.
Parents are having to walk a line between maintaining a certain level of enjoyment for their kids while impressing on them the seriousness of the situation.
“My job as a parent is to find that line,†Morris said. “We’re not locked down.â€
Morris said his family has set up a remote game night with another family.
“We’re going to have a FaceTime Pictionary-off at 7 o’clock on Saturday, so we’ve been talking smack to each other,†Morris said. “The way I set up our camera is I’ve hooked it all up to my TV, so we’ll be in our front room.â€
Robinson, who has four kids ranging from elementary to high school age, said she is trying to keep things as normal as possible at home.
“It’s hard,†she said. “I’m trying to make sure that I’m here, but then I’m trying to make sure I can be home to help them with their structure when their stuff starts, probably next week. My high-schooler is a sophomore, almost a junior, and she’s at the time when she wants to play softball in college. … But now we’re not even thinking about that. We’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to do the next week.â€
“It’s been a shift,†Robinson added. “The biggest thing for us right now is [they ask], ‘Can I go do this with my friend?’ And the answer is, ‘No, sorry, you can’t right now.’ But they have been troopers.â€
School personnel from both Ocean View and Huntington Beach high schools were on hand to distribute the meals at Ocean View. They came with a variety of items, including sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, regular or chocolate milk and cookies.
Most participants in the free meal program showed up by car. To receive a meal, children had to ride to the site.
Nearly 300 meals a day have been handed out, Robinson said.
As for education, Brandon Lopez, a seventh-grader at Vista View Middle School in the Ocean View School District, said his school provided him some practice packets but he didn’t have assigned homework.
Huntington Beach resident Darrien Burwell’s 12-year-old son, Blaise, is in sixth grade at Sowers Middle School in the Huntington Beach City School District. With Blaise at home doing supplemental work provided by the district, Burwell said she decided to enroll him in online courses at Winner Circle Athletics Prep Academy in Corona, which he will attend next year. The courses begin April 6.
“Everything that’s coming out of the governor’s office is that it’s unlikely that we’re going to go back to school,†Burwell said. “We just had to make a decision.â€
Burwell has been able to spend time at home with her son. She is on leave from her job as a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines.
“It’s different,†she said. “He has his chores — a lot more chores than he used to have. But we’re having fun. My son is a high-jumper … we went to Target and the water was on the top shelf and really far back. He got a running start and kind of tipped it with his fingernails and we were able to put the water in our cart. Then we did a high-five with our elbows, whatever they call that.â€
Hugo Avina, who coaches cross-country, track and field and junior varsity girls’ soccer at Ocean View High, was helping to direct traffic through the drive-up line for food Friday.
“Right now is pretty much doing it out of love for the kids,†Avina said. “Our motto is, ‘You can’t spell love without OV.’â€
Updates
1:59 p.m. March 21, 2020: This article was originally published at 9:38 a.m. and has been updated with new information.
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