Coronavirus

State’s Top Educator to Families: “Translate Fear into Action” as Schools Reopen

Millions of students are returning to in-person classes at California’s public schools, amid parents and teachers’ fears about the inability to vaccinate children under 12 and the spread of the COVID Delta variant.

Published

4 years ago

August 25, 2021

Christy Price

Back to School/Shutterstock

During a briefing hosted by Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond asserted that the districts have implemented all “safety and COVID mitigation measures” to resume in-person instruction.

“The state allows independent study for those who have a medical need or need an alternative to in-person instruction. But we have learned that our students have suffered from a lack of educators and peers, while mental health needs have increased and our learning gaps have been exacerbated,” said Thurmond, speaking from the campus of the Girls’ Academic Leadership Academy (GALA).

Students of color and low-income students have been the most affected by the pandemic, not only in terms of loss of human life within their families and the trauma that this entails, but also because of their difficulties in accessing online education.

One million students statewide still lack access to high-speed internet. Thurmond said California is creating “infrastructure for more broadband” in rural and border communities.

“We recognize that many students have experienced the trauma of the pandemic,” Thurmond said. “There is more than $4 billion available for mental health services for youth up to age 25, more than $3 billion for community schools to have comprehensive mental health support, and support for families with universal meals.”

Other initiatives include hiring more staff to work with students in literacy programs, one-on-one tutoring, professional development, special education, and multilingual learning.

The superintendent acknowledged that “our families are skeptical and scared,” but he invited them to “translate that fear into action” by vaccinating their children and relatives older than 12.

He said that last week the district contacted 500,000 California households to spread a message in several languages: vaccines are available and free for everyone regardless of immigration status or health insurance. They have even awarded $100 gift cards to some of those vaccinated.

“While (vaccines) are new to most of us, they are not new to scientists,” Thurmond reiterated.

Messengers such as California General Surgeon and pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris, labor rights leader Dolores Huerta, activist Karen Korematsu, daughter of Fred T. Korematsu, who was detained at a Japanese internment camp, and former professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, have been talking about the importance of people across all racial groups and backgrounds getting vaccinated.

“We’ve given money to our schools to support outdoor classrooms, air purification and air filtration systems, improving ventilation, and access to PPE (personal protective equipment), ” Thurmond said. His office is also providing support to families with students in schools affected by fires and natural disasters.

Due to fears that some students and parents have of going back to school because of the hate crimes that have occurred since the beginning of the pandemic, especially in the Asian American community, Thurmond launched an initiative called “education to end hate” that provides implicit bias training to educators.

Thurmond acknowledged that the system hasn’t done enough for all students.

This is our moment to build it better, to ensure equity at the center… We have the way to begin the work that we need to close those learning gaps that we were dealing with historically, and the ones that have been exacerbated by the pandemic,” he said.

Christy Price

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Alameda County

After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

Published

2 months ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Oakland City Hall. File photo.

By Post Staff

The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.

These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”

Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.

The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.

Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.

City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.

At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.

At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.

The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Authorities Warn: There’s a COVID Surge in California

According to data estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus in California’s wastewater has spiked for eight consecutive weeks. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits have also increased since the rise of the new subvariants. Over the last month, Los Angeles County experienced an average of 389 hospital patients per day that tested positive for the coronavirus. The FLiRT subvariants such as KP.3.1.1. Made up over 2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, an increase of more than 7% last month.

Published

8 months ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo provided by California Black Media.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California is experiencing a COVID-19 surge this summer, experts warn, as numbers of infections increased for the third month this year.

State public health authorities attribute the summer COVID surge to more infectious subvariants that have emerged as the coronavirus evolves.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, stated that subvariants of COVID-19 called FLiRT increased in recent months, particularly one named KP.3.1.1 that has become the most common strain in the country.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said that the subvariant KP.3.1.1 seems most adept at transmission.

“The subvariant is the one that people think will continue to take over, not only in the United States, but … around the world,” Chin-Hong said.

The majority of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 complained of a sore throat and a heavy cough. Risk factors that can increase the illness include age, underlying health issues, and vaccine dosage.

Health experts stated that the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has increased in Northern California. However, people are having a hard time getting the vaccine due to the increasing number of cases.

Oakland Post

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California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

1 year ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.