As a gift to the community, and to celebrate local graduates, a cirque performer who lives in Fountain Valley organized a 2 1/2-hour parade featuring a pair of stilt walkers, an acrobat duo and one Hula-Hooper.
“The Fountain Valley Green Valley neighborhood is near and dear to my heart,” artist Jennifer Drilling said on her GoFundMe page. “I grew up here attending Cox Elementary, Masuda Middle School, and Fountain Valley High and it breaks my heart that so many kids have had their school year and graduation activities completely eliminated with the COVID pandemic.”
As the Orange County Register reported, the parade saluted school-age children and included music by a local deejay. Masuda Principal Jay Adams and Fountain Valley High Principal Morgan Smith were also on hand.
And here are some other stories we’re following this week:
- Representatives from OCDE and school districts across the county, in collaboration with public health experts, have released a guide with recommendations for reopening local schools. School boards and superintendents will ultimately approve and implement plans specific to their districts, but the “Orange County Together” guide offers detailed considerations for resuming in-person instruction complemented by online learning.
- Politico reports that school officials across the country have been tasked with developing plans to keep students and teachers safe while trying to build consensus among parents and managing a budget crisis. National recommendations for face coverings and social distancing are merely guidance, leading to a patchwork of rules and requirements.
- The California Interscholastic Federation has released its guidelines for high school athletics in the fall. Local health department guidance may vary, however, some districts might look different than others.
- Two new episodes of OCDE’s The Deeper Learning Podcast asked a pair of school funding experts to weigh in on how COVID-19 will impact funding for K-12 schools in California.
- Dr. Fred Navarro, who has served as superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District since 2012, announced his retirement, effective mid-July.
- Public health officials are concerned that some people’s reluctance to get vaccines could pose a problem even if a COVID-19 vaccination becomes readily available, the Register reports. So-called herd immunity is reached when 95 percent of a population are vaccinated.
- Following the death of George Floyd and a renewed national dialog on racism, some Orange County educators, parents and community members are calling for a greater emphasis on teaching Black history in Orange County. The Voice of OC reports that some school boards are considering adopting their own Black Lives Matter resolutions.
- Meanwhile, EdSource reports that some communities in California are scrutinizing school names that have ties to slavery or racist views.
- A divided Supreme Court ruled this week that President Donald Trump did not make a justifiable case for ending the legal protections of 650,000 young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
- Early College High School celebrated the class of 2020 with a pre-recorded broadcast featuring inspirational words from local leaders and staff, photos of the graduates and plans for the future.
- Over the last decade, some student advocacy groups have sought to reduce the presence of police on their campuses, arguing that black and Latino students are disciplined disproportionately.
- As lawmakers consider legislation that would require CSU students to take an ethnic studies course, the CSU chancellor is expected to bring a proposal to the Board of Trustees that would require students to either take an ethnic studies class or a course with a social justice component, EdSource reports.
- A number of Orange County districts will continue to provide free meals to students over the summer. We’ve posted the dates, times and locations for breakfast and lunch pickups in your area.
- Hundreds of students from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa rode in a parent-organized graduation parade that included police, fire and World War II-era military vehicles.
- And finally, the OCDE Newsroom has reposted a list of anticipated start dates for every school district in Orange County.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.