As Newsom Sets Aside Vaccine Doses for Teachers Willing to Return, LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin Says ‘Kids Should Not Have to Wait Any Longer’

Board Member Nick Melvoin wants school to reopen immediately for elementary school and high-needs kids.

As state talks on a school reopening plan heated up this week, LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin (BD4) called on LAUSD to immediately start opening preschools and elementary schools and to start serving the highest-need students at all grade levels that the L.A. Health Department now allows on campus. 

“Kids should not have to wait any longer,” Melvoin said in an email to parents that also underscored that all families will have the option to keep their kids in distance learning if they choose. "I share your frustration and the frustrations I’m hearing each day from the community. It’s been nearly a year of distance learning, and there is plenty of evidence showing that kids are suffering academically, physically, and emotionally from being out of school for so long.” 

Melvoin’s statement represented a clear break from the public position of LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who has said that teachers and staff have to be vaccinated before schools can reopen. Melvoin said he has been advocating for months to get teachers quicker access to vaccines, but he agreed with the Centers for Disease Control, the governor, the L.A. County Public Health Department, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and President Biden that elementary schools can reopen safely before all teachers and school staff are vaccinated. 

The issue of rapid vaccine access remains a key sticking point in talks with United Teachers Los Angeles, whose president on Friday threatened a “refusal to return” until all teachers are fully vaccinated and cases also fall to much lower levels than the CDC recommends for reopening schools that have the safety measures LAUSD has in place. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom upped the ante Friday, announcing that California would set aside 10% of all first vaccine doses, 75,000 per week, "for those educators supporting our efforts to get our kids back into in-person education."

Newsom did not explain whether or how he would discern which educators are supportive, but when asked, he reiterated the set-aside vaccines are only for "those that wish to go back to in-person instruction."  

Key state lawmakers also unveiled a new bill Thursday that would reopen elementary schools in the red tier and schools for high-needs kids at all grade levels by mid-April, while making the vaccine available to those teaching in person. 

Newsom immediately threw cold water on that bill, saying that it actually slowed down the reopening of schools for our most vulnerable kids and would make California “an extreme outlier.” Newsom said he wants kids with disabilities and young kids back in school much sooner than April and indicated he would not support the bill if it passes. 

“It doesn’t go far enough or fast enough,” Newsom said. 

That sentiment was echoed in L.A. by Melvoin, who pointed to the unresolved contract negotiations between LAUSD and UTLA as the reason elementary schools are not yet open, even though the Health Department now allows them to be. “The goalposts for when students can be back on campus keep moving,” Melvoin said. “It’s time to stop moving the goalposts.”

Many non-union independent charter schools also remain closed, with LAUSD depriving about 40% of L.A. charter school access to the campuses they share with district schools. As of last week, about 25% of L.A. charter schools, however, had reopened for some form of in-person learning on campuses that are not controlled by LAUSD, according to the California Charter Schools Association. 

“There is now consensus among federal, state, and county public health officials that limited opening of schools with safety precautions can be done safely and can help us mitigate the extensive harm done by keeping schools closed,” Melvoin said.

Melvoin acknowledged that not all families are “ready to return to school,” and said, “we will continue to provide remote options to any who choose them, as well as for high-risk staff.”

While parents who want to keep their kids home are guaranteed that option, more than 200,000 LAUSD parents indicated in a survey taken by LAUSD during the COVID surge that they wanted to send their kids back to school this semester, and so far those families have been deprived of any option to do so. Some parents are growing so frustrated that they’re planning a Zoom blackout protest for Monday organized through parent Facebook groups.  

Meanwhile, UTLA is sending the message to parents that their campuses are not safe, a strategy that risks harming LAUSD enrollment, as parents begin moving and applying for permits to nearby school districts that are open. Many private schools and districts surrounding LAUSD have reopened, and Long Beach announced this week that its schools will open at the end of March.

Melvoin emphasized in his email to parents that LAUSD campuses are safe. “The District has worked hard to prepare our campuses to reopen and the County has approved our safety plan,” he said. “Public health experts agree that we have all the necessary measures in place to significantly mitigate the risk of the virus being spread at schools, including social distancing and masking guidelines, and testing programs to provide a safe in-person learning option for our kids and families."

He urged LAUSD schools to explore outdoor learning options and create enrichment opportunities for kids on campus even without an agreement from UTLA by reaching out to after-school partners. He also called for the immediate resumption of voluntary services for kids with disabilities and other high-needs kids. 

When LAUSD asked teachers to volunteer (for extra pay) to provide those services in the fall, so few volunteered that only 800 kids with disabilities received any after-school tutoring or services. Melvoin said that’s still better than the current 0% of kids being served while campuses remain firmly shut down.