成人抖阴

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This article is part of a collaboration between 成人抖阴 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Even as Omicron surged through Los Angeles early last month, Hilda Avila knew she would send her son back to his public middle school when classes resumed.

鈥淎s a parent, it is my responsibility to teach my son that there are going to be challenges,鈥� said Avila, whose 12-year-old son Jaziel attends Wilmington Middle School. 鈥淎dversities are going to come, and as a human being one cannot live out of fear.鈥�

But the first few weeks were not easy, said Avila, who recalled feeling frustrated that teachers were absent and substitutes she did not know led her son鈥檚 classes. Some teachers at the school taught online after getting a vaccine exemption, she added.

Many LAUSD parents seemed last week to have caught up with Avila鈥檚 thinking, sending their children back to school in growing numbers after keeping them home earlier in the month.

According to , attendance increased from  in the first week of school in early January to nearly 80 percent last week. 

When schools resumed classes on January 11, The Los Angeles County Department of Health was reporting

But parents and educators said that while things have slowly gotten better inside the nation鈥檚 second largest district鈥檚 schools, the first week was not easy. 

Irma Villalpando, an aide at the Maywood Center For Enriched Studies Magnet school, said more than 300 students and at least 10 teachers were out the first week.

鈥淭here were two subs sent from the district and the rest of the classrooms were covered by counselors, principal, assistant of principal, some teachers had a training period and they also helped in and covered classrooms,鈥� said Villalpando. 鈥淚t ran very smoothly.鈥�

But Villalpando said while classes were covered, not much learning was going on: 鈥淪ome students did tell me that it was difficult because they were not doing much, they were bored.鈥� she said.

 The parent of two high school students attending Maywood, Villalpando said one of her daughters told her 鈥渟he had a hard time staying awake in one of her classes because she had nothing to do.鈥� 

Last week, Interim LAUSD superintendent Megan Reilly, COVID cases were dropping, and added that 100 percent of school teachers and employees are fully vaccinated. Teachers that would fail the vaccination mandate would get .

鈥淲e continued to be intelligent and agile in creating the safest learning environment,鈥� said Reilly, 鈥淢onitoring conditions daily, consulting with experts and doctors and reviewing COVID-19 data to ensure all measures are effective.鈥�

District鈥檚 health safety guidelines include weekly COVID-19 testing for both students and employees, isolation for five days if testing positive, and mandatory use of masks. The LAUSD a new mask mandate on Monday, prohibiting cloth masks. 

Vanessa Aramayo, a parent advocate with Alliance for a Better Community said the school district is doing everything possible to implement those guidelines. 

鈥淚 believe the schools reopening during the pandemic allowed for increased testing, identification of cases and environments that are safe for children, and they also provide environments and information for parents to be able to obtain the resources, they need to be able to protect themselves and their families from infection or from further spread,鈥� said Aramayo.

Despite the guidelines and precautions, some families don鈥檛 believe it is safe to send children back to school, including parents of students with special needs, said Lisa Mosko, a parent advocate with Speak UP.

鈥淢any families I know were relieved to be back at school in person because the academic and mental health toll of being out of school for so long on their kids was too much,鈥� said Mosko. 鈥淥ther families I know did not feel ready to go back, especially families of kids who are medically fragile.鈥�

鈥淭hey [The LAUSD] have a very difficult job and that’s making sure that schools are safe, that teachers and students, and that all the faculty will not be in harm’s way if they go back to school,鈥� said Aramayo. 鈥淎nd the testing that they’ve implemented has been groundbreaking and they’ve been a leader in doing that.鈥�

Veronica Sierra is a sophomore pursuing a journalism degree at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She was born and raised in Valencia, Venezuela; and moved to California in 2015 where she continued high school, graduating in 2015.

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