It’s been an interesting past few months for humanity and especially the past few weeks for California. Throughout January & February, more racially charged instances towards Asian Americans and Asians all over the world were springing up. At first, it was very distant, through Twitter or videos on Instagram. Then it turned into violence towards the elderly, and then all ages of Asian Americans. The racial hate has evolved, some coming from within the Asian community as well.
I think it really hit when the first case popped up in Santa Clara. My students joked about COVID daily. And I would try to inform them of the situation through articles or other forms of social media. It wasn’t a topic that was trending on their media outlets. Then March rolled around. I never would’ve imagined that colleges would close campuses the same week. It was like a domino effect. First I heard from SFSU through friends, then SJSU, and then USF while my housemates were gone for spring break. I don’t think anyone was anticipating colleges/universities to shut down nationwide even before the government declared shelter-in-place across states.
The situation for colleges transformed rapidly and almost instantly. By the end of the week, it went from school closure for two-three weeks to canceling/postponing commencements and online classes for the rest of the semester. At the time, I remained at work and was surprised there was no action for public schools. The panic sparked parents into pulling their kids out of school. Classes were half empty and district-wide they allowed all absences to be excused so long as parents notified the school site it was in protection from COVID-19.
I wasn’t on the frontlines of the discussion, but the union, district, and other representatives were discussing the next steps every single day. And by March 13th, they declared to close school through Spring Break, April 3rd. Within a few days, San Francisco shut down and canceled all events or large gatherings. Following that, Gov. Gavin Newsom then declared shelter-in-place on 6 or 7 Bay Area counties through April 7th. Changing it to state-wide soon after.
The situation & deliberation for public schools is very interesting. From what I’ve heard, many private schools have taken action much like colleges/universities. Currently, my district is struggling to figure out the next steps. With only “advising” or “suggesting” that teachers take part in learning how to set up online classrooms and prepare for “distance learning” instead of mandating it. Educators are struggling all facing different challenges—whether that’s technology literacy, understanding what resources they have, gathering resources, or even having support in general. It’s a tough time for many of my colleagues, but I’m glad that I spent time preparing for this situation and just keeping many of my resources online in the first place.
The district immediately set in motion access to breakfast, lunch, and dinner for students once the closure started. I’m sure Newsom, SF County, and other government officials were deliberating on the cost and effects of public school closures.
There are around 1000 public schools across California and that serves at least 6 million students—1/6th of California’s population. This also affects their families; many of my students voiced to me leading into the few weeks before the SFUSD school closure that their parents were struggling to find someone to care for their younger children. That they would have to take time off work just to protect their kids. If it wasn’t for the state-wide shelter-in-place taking PTO in place of childcare would be detrimental to many of the low-middle class families that rely on public schools and other public services. Even now, finances are impacting everyone’s ability to survive during this quarantine.
Balasbas Says 