We Talked To LAUSD Officials About The Budget, Grades, And Summer School

Well, let's start with the converse: why we have to do it. We're teaching students. We're giving them the path out of poverty with a great education. So anyone who thinks the funding won't be there or can't be there, I say the flip side: so what is it we would tell to young boys and girls today, our elementary school students? 'You don't deserve a chance to learn to read? You don't deserve a chance to become proficient in math skills and build that critical thinking which will give you a path to a better life?' I don't think that's acceptable, so it's not dollars and cents. It's what is right for the students, and we're going to have to have a hard conversation about how we make that a priority.

It's interesting to note: people talk of first responders and I think those on the front lines, serving patients and hospitals now, and police, and firefighters are always on the front lines. So are educators, because they're giving children an opportunity, and we can't short that opportunity, and I don't know what we would say to the boys and girls a year from now or 10 years from now. The cost to them would be incalculable, as what the cost to society if we don't do the right thing for students ... Our teachers are doing extraordinary things. You know, extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary efforts sometimes.

A 'D' [grade] is also 'not proficient,' like a fail is, and although we give credit for a D, we know that students who get C's or better are more likely to succeed. So our focus is really going to be on learning, on ensuring that students are ready for the next grade, for the next course that they need to take. And irrespective of their grade, students who get D's, we're going to encourage them to go to summer school. We would enroll them in summer school, follow up with the calls to make sure that they get there.

We wanted to make sure that the connectivity issues, the device issues, making sure that that was an option for all of our families, and to be able to do that. To be able to move to and transition to more of that kind of live video is something that, again, we're learning right now. It's an opportunity I think we can build on and start moving towards being able to provide it. But, you know, again, it's important to assess the needs of our families and students at the time.

We're hoping to be done with device distribution by the end of May. But again, maintaining and keeping our service providers in tune with our families, connecting with them to see if that is a way we can actually provide that service, if the students are willing to and the families are willing to, then we can engage in something like that.