Skip to main content

MB News

At One-Year Anniversary of Manhattan Beach School Closings, Divisions Remain

Mar 15, 2021 10:30AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
As Manhattan Beach schools reach the one-year anniversary of the pandemic shutdown, tensions continue around when and how fast to reopen schools.

A variety of factors have contributed to the pressure. On the one hand, the beginning of vaccine distribution, the lifting of restrictions as L.A. County moves into the "red tier," and an increase in student depression and feelings of isolation have mobilized parents and others to lobby for more and faster school reopenings.

On the other hand, ongoing safety concerns and uncertainty about new strains of COVID-19 have other stakeholders urging care and caution.

The result has been divisions within the community, with various factions tightening up, sharing information that bolsters their causes, venting on chat and online discussion groups, dashing off letters and emails, and in some cases even coming together for rallies.

A few bright spots have begun hinting at a slow return to normal, however.

There was more movement on school reopenings last week, when 6th graders began returning for their Humanities classes on March 8. And in his most recent communication with parents, Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Mike Matthews said that his primary focus would be on helping to get middle and high school students back in some form beginning April 12.

Matthews said that as he hears from both sides, he is proud of the measured and forward-thinking approach that MBUSD has taken.

"I get many messages of gratitude from parents whose kids are in distance learning, and I also hear from those who would like to move faster," Matthews told DigMB this week. "Once we’re allowed to open something, we move as quickly as we can to open safely. I am proud of what we've done so far."

Medical Community Calls for Safe Reopenings


Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, the first question has always been, "When will it be safe to return?" In fact, the question of school safety has been a point of divisiveness since the earliest days of the pandemic last spring. 

In March 2020, schools shut down when no one knew quite what COVID-19 could mean for the community. However, in the 12 months since then, multiple studies are showing that schools appear to be safe places when the guidelines are followed, and that the transmission in classrooms is no higher than community transmission.

Dr. Alice Kuo, a professor of pediatrics at UCLA and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics Southern California chapter, has been vocal supporter of school reopening.

"The scientific community now has a consensus that schools are not drivers of coronavirus transmission," said Kuo, who is also a Manhattan Beach parent. "Balance that with the harm to children of keeping schools closed for long periods of time... Many other communities have made the decision to reopen schools as a result."

Additionally in recent weeks, both California Governor Gavin Newsom and the CDC made statements that vaccines for educators should not be a precondition for schools to reopen for in-person instruction.

Kuo noted that the schools that have opened safely have relied on five basic mitigation strategies: universal masking, social distancing, frequent handwashing, wiping down of high-touch areas like doorknobs, and symptom screening.

"If you implement those five techniques and adhere to them, then you prevent transmission in a school campus. Time and time again when we have seen cases on schools, it‘s because one of those five didn’t get followed," said Kuo.

Teachers Want Safety Assurances


Perry Guerrero, left, an occupational therapist at Pacific Elementary and Manhattan Beach Middle School; and Julie Brancato, a kindergarten teacher at Grand View Elementary, receive their first vaccinations at Adventureplex in Manhattan Beach on March 3.

From most teachers' perspectives, vaccines represent one of the most promising steps forward to a return. Happily, there has been movement on that front in the last several weeks. In fact, by Saturday, every MBUSD employee who wanted a vaccine had received their first dose.


Even still, some teachers are calling for caution. "The vaccine is going to make things much less problematic, but we cannot get cavalier about this," said Shawn Chen, a Mira Costa High School English teacher and the president of the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association. "We will need to monitor and collect data because we’re not out of the woods yet."

Chen and many other teachers believe that the medical studies showing that schools are safe are not the definitive answer for Manhattan Beach schools.

"Those studies do not replicate the kind of conditions we have in this school district," said Chen. "The studies are showing that schools are safe under specific conditions. Most of those conditions include stopping extracurricular activities and people not traveling. It’s safe in the context of a community that follows the rules."

Chen expressed concern about at least one case where a Manhattan Beach family was not honest about air travel when checking in back to school on the RUVNA symptom screening app and sent children to school immediately upon their return from traveling.

Asked to comment on the issue, Matthews said, "We believe RUVNA is very helpful. I believe that the overwhelming majority of parents who report, do so with great integrity. I am disappointed with anybody who would not be truthful with that."

Chen added that there was a whole level of organization required in reopening schools that most parents didn't necessarily realize. "There’s a lot going on that's in constant flux with who's planning to come back, the substitute pool, and all kinds of things going on at the HR level that are invisible to people," she said.

In general, she urged community members not to use the "it's been one year" argument as a reason to push things faster. She equated the situation to pilgrim on a boat who can't see land. "You wouldn't have someone saying 'I don't see land yet, and it's been a year, so I’m getting off now.' You can’t just get off the boat because it’s taking longer than you want."

Parents Gear Up


The often-differing viewpoints between medical professionals and educators have been frustrating for many parents, who see their kids facing mental and emotional challenges as schools near the one-year mark in distance learning. 

In fact, while most parents accepted the need for distance learning at the outset, many have since watched the changing COVID-19 landscape and are now vocally pushing for a more robust return to school. Additionally, several high-profile school and community leaders have taken up the cause.

"Emotions are running high," said Wysh Weinstein, a Manhattan Beach parent and the chair of Manhattan Beach's PTA District Advisory Council (DAC). "Education is about so much more than academics. Parents are no longer willing to just stand by and let their children miss out on what makes Manhattan Beach schools stand out."

Through DAC, all of the Manhattan Beach PTA groups last month sent out communications to parents noting that California's guidelines for reopening are stricter than what is called for by the CDC. The email provided addresses for state and local officials to contact "if you are interested in voicing your opinion about whether California and all counties within California should adopt and adhere to the CDC guidelines."

According to Weinstein, "The success of MBUSD schools and this town were built on a sense of community. Without in-person learning, parents are watching that slip away and they want to do something to help keep our schools exceptional."

Hilary Mahan, a Manhattan Beach parent and executive director of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation, has also weighed in on opening schools to the fullest extent possible. 

"As things begin to shift more positively towards in-person learning in L.A. County and beyond, it is my hope that MBUSD will embrace the new LACDPH guidelines and welcome our 7th-12th grade students back to campus to the maximum extent possible," Mahan told DigMB. "Daily case counts are down, and the number of vaccination doses are up. With proper protocols in place, we can ensure that we are meeting the needs of our students of all ages. Learning has been compromised long enough - it is time to do everything in our power to provide our students with the opportunities they need to succeed both academically and emotionally."

Several weeks ago, a cadre of parents organized the Kids Need Classrooms group to call for the reopening of schools. Last month, the group held a rally in downtown Manhattan Beach that drew approximately 175 parents, students, and community members, including Mayor Suzanne Hadley and Councilmember Joe Franklin.


Tiffany Wright, one of the organizers of the group, drew a contrast between the group's Feb. 24 rally, and a November school reopening rally in Manhattan Beach that featured actor and Manhattan Beach resident Vince Vaughn. The November rally drew concerned parents but also had the added draw of a celebrity speaker, she said, whereas February's rally appeared to resonate with more parents even without that "star power."

"The momentum on [the February 24 rally] was incredible. We had momentum even without Vince," she said. "People were emailing us to say, "Can I help?' 'Can I direct traffic?' Can I hand out signs?'... It was overwhelming."

Wright added that behind the scenes, she had also heard from parents who told her, "I’m not comfortable going public with this, but I support what you’re doing."

"People are done," she said. "There’s so much evidence... There are no excuses anymore."

On the other side, there are parents who are resisting the call to return to in-person school for students this school year.

DigMB spoke privately with several Manhattan Beach parents whose children are thriving in a distance learning environment, and who will choose not to go back in person this semester.

One Manhattan Beach parent, who did not want to be identified, told DigMB that their children have worked through the mental and logistical hardships to adapt and be the best students possible via distancing learning, and that it was too late to disrupt that equilibrium for this school year.

"They think it will be too disruptive to their learning to make schedule changes at this late date in the school year," the parent said. "Their Zoom schedules will be altered and their instructional minutes with their teachers will likely be impacted. They may even have their teachers changed. It’s too late in the school year for these disruptions to make sense. The costs of the disruptions are greater than the benefits of returning to in-person learning with all the safety protocols and likelihood of recurring shutdowns if infections occur."

New Developments Present Possibilities, Add Questions


However, no matter which side of the issue a parent may be leaning toward, guidelines and protocols are evolving rapidly.

Over the weekend, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released new protocols for reopening under the "red tier."

The new rules stipulate that when Los Angeles County is in the red tier or higher, all schools are permitted to reopen for all students in any grades TK–12 (with "reopen" having been defined as one that offers in person instruction at least one day each week to all students in at least one of the grades served by the school).

Most notably, the LACDPH will not insist on keeping secondary students within a confined cohort. 

"Because middle and high school curricula differ from elementary school curricula, groups are likely to be larger in the upper grades compared to elementary where a single classroom of students usually remain together all day with the same teacher. Due to logistical challenges of creating stable groups in middle and high school, LACDPH is not requiring stable grouping of students in that setting but does recommend it as a best practice that middle and high schools should consider when planning for reopening," read the document released this weekend. 

Furthermore, LADPH continued, "The creation of stable groups in middle and high school grades is recommended as a best practice with groups not to exceed 120 students in total. However, stable groups in middle and high school is not a requirement but an additional layer of mitigation for schools to consider."

Also of note in the newest document: If a school has opened under "red tier" provisions, even if the county slips back into the more restrictive "purple tier" with higher case numbers, that school will be able to continue instruction. But if a school has not opened instruction during the red tier, it cannot begin to reopen if L.A. County reverts back to the purple tier.

These new policies have caused groups such as Kids Need Classrooms to lean in even further on proposed openings. Wright told DigMB on Sunday that her group's members would be calling for more than the proposed two half-days per week of in-person instruction for secondary education. Wright said that the group would be pointing to success stories in high schools in Orange County and Ventura County, who have operated successfully with at least 4 days per week, with students in AM/PM cohorts.

With the county essentially handing discretion over to school districts, Wright said, a school district could no longer say that the decision rests in the county's hands.

"The tide is turning, and I think the county does not want to be on the wrong side of history here," said Wright. "They’re really putting things in the district’s court."


"Starting to See Light" At the End of a Long Year


At MBUSD last week, Matthews sent out a survey to parents of secondary students to take the pulse on how many would send their children back to school for in-person education. As of Friday, he told DigMB, the results showed that approximately 85 percent of middle school students would return this semester for in-person education, and about 70 percent of high school students would return.

To those who are calling for faster reopenings, Matthews said that the district needs time to make adequate staffing arrangements whenever the county lifts restrictions.

"If LADPH had published their guidelines months ago where we knew what [to plan for], then we could turn on a dime, but that’s not how it's been for any of these phases," he said.

Matthews also reiterated what his has said in several board meetings: that MBUSD is only one of a handful of districts in L.A. County who have progressed this far in their opening plans.

Jen Fenton, president of the MBUSD school board, concurred, noting that all of the local South Bay school board presidents meet and confer weekly with each other, as well as with representatives from the office of Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and Supervisor Janice Hahn.

"We are all very much in line with what surrounding school districts are doing. The superintendents and board presidents are in constant communication via Zoom, text and email. Questions regarding how and when to reopen are not just for Manhattan Beach, but for the entire county," said Fenton. "That said, I'm thrilled MBUSD is planning for the return of our 7th through 12th graders, which will occur very soon. It's been a long year for our students and our staff, but we're all starting to see the light."


Subscribe to MB News Emails * Don't Miss a Thing, Sign Up Today!

* indicates required
Email Format

Subscribe to MB News Emails * Don't Miss a Thing, Sign Up Today!

* indicates required
Email Format