It was difficult not to think of that comment when Newsom announced Monday that 99% of schools for which the state has data plan to reopen for full-time in-person instruction in the fall. Yet the definition of “reopening” remains vague. Although Newsom and state lawmakers have vowed an end to distance learning, they’re currently negotiating a budget that would allow students to keep learning remotely through beefed-up independent study plans — and some districts are even launching fully virtual schools to match demand from parents who don’t yet feel comfortable sending their kids back to campus.
Meanwhile, other districts are negotiating fall reopening rules that look almost identical to current practices. In Los Angeles, for example, the teachers union is pushing for strict safety protocols that include mandatory masking and COVID-19 testing — presumably even for fully vaccinated students and staff. Yet the state is lifting its mask mandate next week, and updated its testing guidance Monday to exempt fully vaccinated Californians from COVID-19 testing and screening in almost all situations.
Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles: “Having more children vaccinated may move us closer to eliminating the mask mandate, but as of right now, masking is a critical way to protect our learning communities and the most vulnerable among us.”
Meanwhile, the state Department of Public Health announced Monday the launch of a $25 million campaign intended to help families hard-hit by the pandemic gain confidence that school campuses are safe.
Another pandemic policy that could continue post-COVID: free school meals for all children, CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal reports. If a proposal introduced by top Democrats is approved in budget negotiations this week, California would allocate $650 million annually starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year to cover breakfast and lunch for all public school students.
The coronavirus bottom line: As of Monday, California had 3,690,868 confirmed cases(+0.02% from previous day) and 62,473 deaths(+0.005% from previous day), according to a CalMatters tracker.
If you want a refresher on who’s running in the recall and what their policy positions are, check out this Q&A from the Times of San Diego.
2. A lack of Latino judges
In four of California’s majority-Latino counties, there isn’t a single Latino superior court judge — a glaring gap that persists despite years of programs aimed at diversifying the bench. In the first installment of a new series, CalMatters’ Byrhonda Lyons explores possible reasons for this stubborn discrepancy. Among them: Many of California’s rural areas are “attorney deserts,” with too few lawyers to represent the population — and thus fewer practicing Latino attorneys in the pool from which judicial appointments are drawn. Other critics say the appointment system itself is flawed and frequently resembles a “good ol’ boy” network that excludes women and people of color, to the detriment of fairness and equity within the branch of California’s justice system that people tend to interact with most directly.
Douglas Keith, an attorney for the Brennan Center for Justice: Judges “often set rules for how the courts across the state or across the country will decide certain cases or how they’ll treat parties before them. Who sits on these benches can have a significant impact.”
Roberto Marquez, a criminal defense attorney: “I don’t need (judges) to be Hispanic, white, brown, Black or whatever. I just need them to be smart and follow the law, and I feel like I practice in front of some smart, fair-minded judges.”
Keep high-speed rail on track: The future of high-speed rail in the United States will be determined by what California does in the next couple of weeks, argues Rick Harnish of the High Speed Rail Alliance.
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