LA Unified has welcomed our families back to school, but it is a new year unlike any other as students logged on to learn from home. I spent the first days of school checking in with principals, teachers, and staff at over 30 school sites to see what’s going smoothly and where more support is needed. 
 

On one of these visits, a veteran teacher who had set up her classroom for distance learning, told me, “this year, we’re all new teachers.” We are all re-learning how to give our students and families the best possible virtual education until we can safely return to school.   
 

While LA County’s COVID case numbers trend downward, they are not yet issuing any waivers for schools to physically reopen. Nevertheless, we are busily preparing for the day we can welcome everyone back safely. LA Unified has stepped up to implement a first-of-its-kind widespread COVID-19 testing and contact tracing system for school communities. We are working to equip campuses with the facilities, supplies, and resources needed to be ready for students to return and hybrid learning to begin. Even then, a fully online option will remain available for any families who choose to keep their kids at home.  
 

While distance learning continues, schools have distributed digital devices and hotspots to hundreds of thousands of our students--and continue to provide technical support to families and employees to ensure everyone is connected. And I brought a resolution, which the Board passed, advocating for free childcare for District families with the hopes that we can build on this idea to create a public “learning pod” option. The superintendent will be coming back to the Board soon with a plan about how to provide childcare, wherever feasible, to high-need students, including the children of essential workers. 
 

I also co-sponsored resolutions to strengthen our communication and partnership with families to meet their needs during distance learning, and to add an Ethnic Studies course to our graduation requirement and expand these lessons to our younger students’ curriculum as well. This moment in our nation calls on us not just to believe that Black lives matter, but to translate that belief into action on behalf of our children’s education.
 

We will continue these efforts, and others, to address the challenges that come our way. This semester will not be perfect, but we will do our best to step up and support our kids and families through this crisis and prepare them to learn and thrive.
 

We’re still all in this together, apart.