Month: January 2022

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Archive COVID News

SCUSD, McClatchy Assess COVID Cases

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) is continuing with in-person instruction despite major student and staff absences as the highly contagious Omicron variant rages across the nation. 

The district’s Reopening Dashboard shows that SCUSD has 322 active COVID cases among students and staff as of Tuesday, January 11 at 8:45 a.m. However, these numbers do not reflect positive tests taken at home, nor do they reflect positive tests taken outside of district testing sites. 

If SCUSD were to shift to online learning, it would be a district-level decision under guidance from the County Office of Education and the state, explained C.K. McClatchy Principal Andrea Egan.

“As you can imagine, most educators are earnestly working to keep school doors open as we recognize the impact school closures had on student mental health and learning loss students suffered due to prolonged closures. It’s unclear if our area will reach the full tipping point that might necessitate temporary closures due to staffing challenges,” Egan said. 

Sacramento County has not yet responded to inquiries by The Prospector about when the county would consider closing schools. The county has passed 200,000 confirmed cases of COVID. About 28,000 of those cases have come in the past two weeks. As of Tuesday, 464 are hospitalized, compared to 267 last week and 165 two weeks ago, said Sacramento Bee reporter Mike McGough. 

According to social studies teacher Lori Jablonski, McClatchy currently has about a 50 to 55 percent attendance rate. Multiple teachers are absent but the school has been fortunate to receive a decent number of substitutes to cover classes. In some cases, teachers are using their prep periods to fill in for missing teachers.

In an effort to combat staffing shortages, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Tuesday that loosens state barriers that delay the hire of qualified short-term substitutes. 

McClatchy’s on-site testing room has been averaging about 400 tests a day. Students are now required to receive a pass from a teacher in order to test. Those who are experiencing symptoms are also required to wait in the pool area until they receive their test result. 

In order to accommodate absent students and teachers, McClatchy has completely adjusted its finals week schedule. Typically, first semester finals take place during the last week of January and consist of three days of two two-hour exams. However, instead of hours-long exams, the school will be using the last week of the semester to focus on mental health and social emotional learning. 

“As COVID cases have increased along with student and staff absences, a site level agreement has been made to minimize traditional comprehensive final exams this semester. Our site level concern is students having missed important instruction to prepare for a cumulative final and/or they may be absent during finals week due to illness or quarantine,” Egan said in an update on Tuesday, January 12. 

Some teachers may still choose to give unit tests or modified final tests, but for the most part traditional finals will not be administered.

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Anti-Homeless Architecture in Sacramento

Sacramento, CA – Oddly stacked bricks discourage people from laying or sitting down

By Jaida Cohen, Staff Writer

In Sacramento, 195 homeless people died last year with the winter season being the deadliest, according to an analysis by the Sacramento Bee. The previous year, 137 died with the winter season being the deadliest. Anti-homeless architecture poses additional challenges for homeless citizens who already face numerous hardships and unsafe conditions. 

Homelessness has long been a problem in Sacramento. According to the California Globe, over 11,000 people were experiencing homelessness in Sacramento as of November 2021. 

Last year Mayor Darrell Steinberg released an ambitious proposal to build 20 new shelter sites, which would serve about 3,600 people total. In August the Sacramento City Council unanimously decided to move forward with the plan, allotting $100 million to fund it over the next two years. 

Despite Steinberg’s efforts, many homeless residents often feel safer sleeping in a public space like an underpass or park than in a shelter. However, anti-homeless architectural designs force them to seek different places to sleep and rest. Attitudes toward the architecture are mixed, but ultimately all homeless residents are affected, especially during the winter season. 

“Our downtown has incorporated hostile designs and practices, such as removing benches outside the library, erecting fencing to keep people out of alcoves, turning off all the water faucets, turning on sprinklers at odd hours at parks – just some examples to discourage homeless people and loitering,” said Paula Lomazzi, the director of Sacramento’s Homeward Street Journal. 

“What they have done affects everyone, making downtown uncomfortable for everyone, including shoppers,” she added.

Metal bars added across benches make it difficult for people to lay down on

But many Sacramentans are working to advocate for the homeless, like Bob Erlenbusch, the founder and executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness (SRCEH). His organization seeks “to end and prevent homelessness in the Sacramento region through policy analysis, community education, civic engagement, collective organizing and advocacy.” 

When asked if he thinks that anti-homeless architecture harms the safety of homeless people, Erlenbusch said “Yes. It harms their safety because it reduces the safe places they can be – a well lit park, a well lit street, lots of car and foot traffic, and forces them into more isolated and darker places that are unsafe.” 

“The community is sending the message ‘you are unwanted.’ It architecturally enshrines ‘not in my backyard,’” he explained.

Erlenbusch believes that instead of just focusing on the winter season, Sacramento needs year-round shelter, affordable and accessible housing, and support to provide to its homeless residents. 

Sacramento County has over 1,000 unaccompanied homeless teenagers, with 40 percent being LGBTQ+ youth who were kicked out of their home. High schoolers can help Sacramento’s homeless by working with homeless youth programs like Wind and Walking the Village, organizations that operate under the Homeless Youth Advocacy Coalition.

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Gas Explosion, Temporary Heat Failure

Construction on pipes by the portables on January 3, 2022. Credit: Kenedi Patin
Construction on pipes by the portables on January 3, 2022. Credit: Kenedi Patin

By Kenedi Patin, Staff Writer 

On the first day back from winter break students going to class in the D-Wing likely noticed  major construction being done on the ground in between the portables and the main D-Wing building. 

According to one of the crew members working on the repair, a water pipe blew into a gas line and exploded a couple days before students were supposed to return from break. Mr. Ernesto Granados, who teaches in the portables, also shared that the explosion “could have been fatal if students were near.” As a result, heating was temporarily off in the D-Wing, 50s classrooms, and portable classrooms. 

On January 2, the day before returning to school, Principal Andrea Egan sent an alert about the facilities issue to students and families. “I’m encouraging students to dress warmly for classes they have in this part of the school” Students mentioned they were cold in their classes but generally this issue didn’t disrupt learning. 

On January 3 a crew of SCUSD workers arrived to fix the piping. Heat was restored in the portable classrooms before school started and the workers said they expected heat in the 50s classrooms to return midday on Monday, while heat would likely be fixed in the D-Wing building by the end of the day. 

The crew brought free standing heaters to go in all the classrooms that were affected. By Tuesday the heating in the school had been fully restored.

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The Anniversary of the Insurrection

By Jackson Wedel, Staff Writer

January 6, 2022 marks the one year anniversary of the 2021 Capitol insurrection, where an enormous mob of thousands of former president Donald Trump’s supporters burst into the Capitol building demanding that the results of the 2020 presidential election be overturned.

For months after the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and his supporters falsely asserted that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate. This came to a head on January 6: the day Biden’s victory in the Electoral College was set to be certified by Congress. The year following the insurrection was filled with investigations into the event, including hearings of top Trump campaign officials and criminal charges of over 700 rioters.

To mark the anniversary, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech at the U.S. Capitol about the insurrection and the threat to democracy it embodied. 

“You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t obey the law only when it’s convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies,” Biden argued, condemning the rioters of the 6th. He criticized Trump’s conduct after the election, though never by name: “Because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution, he can’t accept he lost.” 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi also planned a series of events surrounding the day, including a moment of silence in the House of Representatives and a prayer at the Capitol Building.

Public opinions about American democracy are at an all-time low. According to a Pew Research Center poll, approximately 85% of Americans believe that their political system either needs to be completely reformed or needs major changes. Over the past year, American democracy has remained under fire with the passage of new laws in 19 states restricting voting rights. These laws, which play into Trump’s false “election fraud” narrative, limit the ways that America’s underserved communities can engage with its government. 

However, Congress has introduced two key bills in the past year that aim to reverse attacks on democracy: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The Freedom to Vote Act would mandate the likes of early voting and mail-in voting nationwide, and would outlaw discriminatory practices like disenfranchising felons and spreading misinformation. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act resurrects a Civil Rights Movement-era policy preventing regions with histories of discriminatory voting regulations from passing further restrictions without Congressional consent.

Various government groups – especially the House of Representatives’ January 6 Select Committee – have been working to uncover the full story behind the insurrection. Text messages from Trump allies Sean Hannity and Mark Meadows have been revealed which  indicate that they had some prior knowledge of the January 6 insurrection. Most recently, a witness testimony claimed Trump was watching the insurrection live for hours before encouraging his supporters to leave the Capitol. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice have played a key role in the January 6th investigation. They have been seeking out and pressing charges against individuals involved in the insurrection, though specific details of their investigation procedures remain confidential. “The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last. The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law—whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Garland asserted during a speech yesterday.

Still, efforts to reveal the full truth behind the insurrection face a long road ahead. While about 700 indictments have been made thus far, most estimates assert that there were around 10,000 people present at the Trump rally that day.

Donald Trump had originally prepared to give his own press conference the night of January 6, though he gave no confirmation that he planned to speak about the 2021 Capitol insurrection. However, this announcement drew ire from Democrats and Republicans alike, who argued the conference would be harmful. Trump later cancelled this news conference, postponing it to January 15.

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who has come under fire over the past year for his alleged role in organizing the January 6 insurrection and was indicted for contempt of Congress, is hosting a special edition of his podcast on the anniversary. Joining him are Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene – two of the most fervently pro-Trump representatives in the country. Bannon made a controversial decision to host Darren Beattie, a former Trump speechwriter who previously met with white nationalists and has promoted baseless conspiracy theories that the January 6 rioters were not actually Trump supporters.

Despite the threat to democracy the insurrection faced and further attacks on voting rights that have occurred, Biden shared a message of hope in his speech. “Our democracy held. We the people endured. We the people prevailed,” he said.

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SCUSD Experiencing Major Teacher and Substitute Shortages

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

As the Sacramento City Unified School District assesses its Omicron cases, teacher shortages are posing another major challenge for students and the district alike.

On Wednesday, January 5 a whopping 490 teachers in SCUSD were absent, according to a data request made by the Sacramento City Teachers Association. 345 substitute teachers were able to fill in for missing teachers, but there weren’t enough substitutes. 145 absent teachers had no substitutes covering their classes. 

Using this data, nearly 30 percent of teacher absences on Wednesday weren’t filled in by substitutes. The previous day, about 25 percent of teacher absences weren’t covered. 

Schools experiencing both teacher absences and substitute shortages are faced with an unfortunate situation. At C.K. McClatchy, classes with no teacher or substitute are sent to the library, gym, or auditorium. 

These staffing shortages come as tens of thousands of students return to school as Omicron cases rapidly increase across the county. 

 

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Archive COVID News

Omicron Cases Hit SCUSD

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

As of January 3 the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) had about 500 reported COVID cases, according to Communications Manager Al Goldberg. Those who tested positive are now in quarantine.

The district supplied around 38,000 take-home tests to staff and students before and during winter break. Elementary schools were prioritized in distribution to ensure that younger students ineligible for the vaccine received tests. Some high schools like C.K. McClatchy did not receive enough tests to supply its entire student population. 

Approximately 20,000 test results were submitted to the Primary Health website portal. Considering these numbers, 1 in every 40 reported test results were positive. 

Students and families may access the district’s “Reopening Dashboard” website, which provides information and graphics about the district’s overall vaccination rates among students and staff, as well as breakdowns by grade level and school site. The “COVID-19 Dashboard” section of the website (the third section) provides information on positive tests and quarantines in the district and by school. However it does not reflect the number of students and staff who tested positive over winter break and stayed home to quarantine – it only reflects those who came to school and tested positive. 

SCUSD has currently made no indication that its schools will return to online learning. When asked if the district may consider virtual learning amidst the Omicron surge, Goldberg stated “SCUSD and our schools are working hard to provide testing, vaccine clinics, and contact tracing so we can keep our schools open for in-person instruction. We continue to monitor our case rates and public health guidance to be sure that we are operating safely as possible.”

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Archive COVID News

Upon Return, COVID Testing Rates Soar

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

Tons of students at McClatchy lined up to receive COVID testing in the pool room upon returning to school from winter break. When asked, a member of the COVID aide team in the testing room said “I couldn’t give you a rough estimate. Hundreds. A lot more than usual. Like the whole school.”

The testing center was swarmed with students in the morning before school, during all six periods and lunch, and after school.

According to Principal Andrea Egan, 7 to 8 teachers were absent today due to illness, some because of COVID but not all confirmed. McClatchy has not yet experienced a major substitute teacher shortage and was able to cover all but one of these teacher absences. The class without a substitute was gathered in the library to be supervised by school librarian Lynnette Scott. 

In the case that a teacher is absent and a substitute is unable to supervise, classes are to be sent to the library, gym, or auditorium. 

“While I am eternally optimistic that 2022 will be a better year, it appears that January may be quite challenging given the spread of the Omicron COVID variant,” Egan stated in Sunday’s Roar message. 

As of now, McClatchy will not be reverting to any form of online learning. All McClatchy students will continue to be required to wear masks at all times, with the exception of eating and drinking when outdoors. In the Roar, Egan thanked families and students who have uploaded their vaccination statuses and explained that students without uploaded documentation of vaccinations or exemptions may be moved to independent study. Unvaccinated students with exemptions will begin regular COVID testing later this month. 

SCUSD families and students can submit vaccine records here if they have not yet done so. Exemption applications can be found here. 

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CDPH Shipping Delays Impact COVID Tests for Students

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) experienced a shortage in take-home COVID testing kits to provide to students after the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) didn’t meet the district’s requests for test kits. According to SCUSD Student Support and Health Services Director Victoria Flores, the CDPH offered to provide take-home tests to the district for students and staff to use over winter break. It was a grant-funded program through CDPH. 

In total, SCUSD received around 38,000 test kits. The district prioritized elementary schools first. Only 1,260 test kits were sent to McClatchy, whose student population is over 2,200. According to Principal Andrea Egan, McClatchy “did not receive near enough for all students.” McClatchy athletes who are required to test regularly were provided with kits to continue sports practices throughout the break, but the majority of students did not receive any. 

Flores explained that SCUSD worked to obtain more test kits after initially receiving fewer than requested, but shipping delays impacted kit delivery. “We are hopeful to get more this week and continue providing these resources to our community,” Flores said. 

The testing complications occurred as the highly contagious COVID variant, Omicron, spreads rapidly across the country – among vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike. Tens of thousands of SCUSD students will return to in-person learning on Monday, January 3 after winter break. 

The district has sent out multiple alerts to its families and students requesting that all students who received a take-home test submit their test results. It asks students who have been exposed, live with someone who has tested positive, or are showing symptoms to stay home and immediately get tested. “If you did not receive a home test, you may also access testing at school tomorrow in the Care room. Remain masked and distanced as possible from others until you get a negative test,” the alert reads. 

According to Flores, all district schools have daily onsite testing. Testing is also available Monday through Friday at the Serna Center from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and at Albert Einstein Middle School from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. On McClatchy’s campus, testing is available in the pool room. McClatchy will not be requiring its students to get tested upon return from break, despite being unable to distribute take-home tests to most of its students.

SCUSD also hosts a number of vaccine clinics, and encourages its community members to get vaccinated. Children aged 12 and older are now eligible for a booster shot if they are six months past their second dose of the vaccine. More information about vaccine clinics can be found here. 

Update: January 3, 9 a.m.

The Sacramento County Department of Education stated that it had not received a shipment of 248,000 tests it was expecting from the CDPH, according to KCRA 3. California ordered six million at-home tests from the federal government to distribute throughout the state. The shortage in tests has affected many school districts, including SCUSD.

This is an ongoing story that The Prospector will continue covering.

 

Categories
Archive COVID News

McClatchy Receives Limited Take-Home COVID Tests

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor 

The Sacramento City Unified School District has sent numerous notifications to families and students requesting that students who took home COVID tests over winter break submit test results. “If we all test before returning to school we can prevent the spread of COVID,” reads the SCUSD notification. 

But according to Principal Andrea Egan, C.K. McClatchy did not receive a full shipment of take-home COVID tests from the Sacramento County Health Department. Elementary sites were prioritized first, but most high school students did not receive any take-home tests. “If more are shipped we will distribute upon arrival,” explained Egan.

All McClatchy students can receive free in-person testing in the pool room when students return from break on January 3. 

This is an ongoing story that The Prospector will continue covering.