Laguna Beach Unified School District applies for elementary school waiver

Top of the World Elementary School second-grade teacher Marianne Bynum and students.

By Andrew TurnerStaff Writer

Published Sept. 14, 2020 Updated Sept. 15, 2020 2:45 PM PT

The Laguna Beach Unified School District has submitted its application for an elementary school waiver.

After a motion was carried by a 5-0 vote in a recent meeting of the district’s board of education, school officials submitted the application on Sept. 8.

Data on the Orange County Health Care Agency website indicated that 139 schools in the county have applied for a waiver as of Tuesday, and 135 schools have been approved to reopen for in-person learning.

District Deputy Supt. Leisa Winston said that the status of the waiver will be discussed at the board meeting on Thursday. The district has two elementary schools — El Morro and Top of the World.

Concerning the question of whether or not parents feel comfortable having their children return to in-person learning, Winston cited the results of a district survey that showed a significant majority of parents wanted the district to apply for the waiver.

“The elementary parent survey conducted by the district indicated that 79% supported the district applying for the waiver to reopen for in-person learning,” Winston said. “Our employee associations supported the board’s decision to apply for the elementary waiver.”

The board approved a staggered-start concept in its last meeting, which would first bring back students from transitional kindergarten to second grade. Groups of students in higher grade levels would progressively be brought back to school.

“Our teachers and staff are doing a tremendous job of implementing distance learning at all levels,” Winston said. “That said, we know that many of our youngest students and students who need additional support have a more immediate need for in-person learning, and so it is our goal to get them back first in an environment consistent with [California Department of Public Health] reopening guidance.

“We will continue to have virtual-only options for those families who feel it is in their child’s best interest to remain in that setting.”

Mandy McDow, a mother of three, including a fifth-grader at Top of the World, noted that distance learning presents its challenges, but her family is glad to have that option until a vaccine is available.

“My youngest is in elementary school and this has been a really hard transition for her,” McDow said. “She loves school and is really missing her teachers and friends. She’s eager to learn and very concerned that this year is going to fail to prepare her adequately for middle school. Her anxiety has been manageable, but still present.

“Because this is a global pandemic, I would hope that the academic expectations worldwide would be adjusted for the circumstances. This will not be anyone’s best year. If our children are able to maintain curiosity, wonder, and resilience, that should be enough. What they are learning now isn’t textbook, but it is historic.”

Orange County advanced to the second, red tier classified as “substantial transmission” on Sept. 8. The new target date for schools to be able to physically reopen in the county is Sept. 22, assuming the county can maintain or better the metrics required for its current tier.

To be in the red tier, counties must have no more than between four to seven new daily cases per 100,000 residents, and the testing positivity rate has to be between 5% and 8%. The county currently has 4.7 daily cases per 100,000 residents and has a testing positivity rate of 3.9%. Those are the seven-day averages with a seven-day lag.

The Orange County Health Care Agency reported 12 new deaths and 150 new cases of the coronavirus in its latest numbers released on Tuesday. Overall, the county has seen 1,105 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and 51,124 cases during the pandemic.

There are currently 201 patients hospitalized due to the virus, with 67 of those patients in intensive care units.

An additional 8,480 tests were reported, raising the total number of tests administered to 749,727. The health care agency estimates that 45,626 patients in the county have recovered from the virus.

Here are the latest cumulative coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths for select cities in Orange County: