With 70% of kids facing learning loss and nearly 60% suffering from depression and other social-emotional issues during campus closures, three quarters of L.A. public school parents said they want all families to have the option to send their kids back to school in person next semester with strict safety measures in place, a Speak UP survey found.

“Many kids are suffering academically and emotionally after nine months of distance learning,” said Speak UP Founder and CEO Katie Braude. “Parents must have the option to send their kids back for safe in-person learning as soon as the Health Department and the state give the green light. Our kids have come last during this pandemic, and that needs to change. We should prioritize getting teachers access to the COVID vaccine as soon as possible, explore outdoor learning options and improve distance learning for families who want to keep their kids at home for the rest of the school year.”

Speak UP, a Los Angeles parent advocacy organization, distributed the survey by emailing parents in its more than 4,300 membership database, by posting on its social media channels and in parenting Facebook groups. A total of 435 parents responded with 703 students attending 271 separate public schools (district and independent charter) across every region of the district. Responses were collected over the last month, from Nov. 19- Dec. 13.

The demographics of the survey respondents were not identical to those of the overall district, skewing more white and affluent and less Latino than the district as a whole. But with a significant number of responses from each demographic group, we had the opportunity to examine both demographic differences and areas of common ground.

When it comes to parents being ready to send their kids back if LAUSD reopens next semester, Speak UP found differences based on income, race and the grade level of the child. However, there was consensus across all demographic groups (more than 70% of every group) that parents should have that option. There was also consensus across all demographic groups that kids have faced significant learning loss during distance learning.

Here is a look at some of the key findings. (Black, white and Latino numbers include biracial respondents who selected two or more races and identified themselves with one or more of those groups.)

• Parents of students in pre-K to 2nd grade were on average four times more likely to want 100% in-person learning instead of 100% distance learning.

• 64% of pre-K to 2nd-grade parents want to send their kids back to school in person next semester, compared to 53% of parents of kids in grades 3-5, 49% of middle school parents and 48% of high school parents.

• Non-low-income parents were 2.5 times more likely to want to send their children back in person this spring when compared to low-income parents: 39% of low-income parents want to send their kids back, while 63% of non-low-income parents want to send their kids back.

• White parents were up to three times more likely to want to send their children back in person this spring when compared to Black and Latino parents: 42% of Latino parents want to send their kids back, compared to 45% of Black parents and 68% of white parents. (When biracial data is excluded, the differences become more pronounced, with 35% of Black parents, 38% of Latino parents and 69% of white parents wanting to send kids back).

• The majority of parents in every demographic group agreed that the 25% of high-needs kids that the Health Department is allowing on campuses now deserve an in-person option, as long as the Health Department continues to agree that it’s safe.

Elsy Flores, mother of two students at Los Angeles Unified School District’s Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy, said she saved her and her children’s lives when she decided to escape with them from the violence they experienced in El Salvador. When they arrived in the United States nearly three years ago, she knew she couldn’t raise her kids alone and that she would need support to ensure they would get a good education.

Neither Flores nor her children could speak or understand English, and she knew nothing about the school system in Los Angeles. She asked the staff and teachers at Elizabeth for help “with everything,” she told Speak UP in Spanish. That constant need for support intensified at the start of the pandemic when she realized she didn’t know how to help her kids access online learning when schools were forced to shut down in mid-March.

“I have made many sacrifices for my two children, but this time I couldn’t try to be a supermom. I needed help desperately, and that's when I heard about iFamily,” Flores said. “Another mom who is also a parent volunteer at Elizabeth told me about [Speak UP’s] digital training and the tutoring programs.”

Speak UP launched iFamily and iTutors in late March to address the TechKnowledge divide impacting many LAUSD families and to support the district’s most vulnerable students. The programs aim to increase parents’ digital knowledge, including training in the use of tech tools such as Zoom that are required to access online learning. All iFamily programs are free to participating families.

The iTutor program started serving eight kids at the start and has since grown to serve over 350 students. More than 3000 tutoring sessions have been conducted with students in grades pre-K-12. In August, the iFamily program added two more services: virtual books clubs for kids, and citizenship and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents offered in conjunction with the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian nonprofit organization, and the Engagement & Learning Division of the Los Angeles Public Library. Kids’ improvisation classes are the newest offering.

Flores and both of her children started receiving tech training and 1:1 tutoring, respectively, in the spring, and now Flores and her daughter Damaris, a ninth grader at Elizabeth Learning Center, is also enrolled in ESL classes. Flores’ son, Angel, a fourth grader at the same school, joined a virtual book club.

“I see my son excited every time he joins the book club,” Flores said. “I hear how he laughs and seems to enjoy the reading with the facilitator. He seems happy, and that makes me happy too.”

Speak UP has expanded its popular iFamily program, which provides free tech training for parents and free virtual tutoring for low-income students. Speak UP is pleased to announce collaborations with both Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles and West Los Angeles College for its iTutors program, as well as student book clubs and additional ESL and citizenship classes for parents.

When schools closed in March, Speak UP immediately responded to the needs of our 4000 parent members by launching iFamily to give parents who were newly accessing technology free one-to-one training to use Zoom and help get kids into the virtual classroom. Because live teaching was optional in the spring, many kids fell out of contact with their teachers. As a result, Speak UP also mobilized to launch iTutors, which provides free 1:1 virtual tutoring to some of LAUSD’s most vulnerable students to help mitigate learning loss.

In just the first few months, over 350 students from Pre-K to high school received nearly 3000 tutoring sessions from a cadre of dedicated volunteer iTutors. In addition, over 400 parents and other caregivers participated in iFamily tech training to help close the digital TechKnowledge divide.

Speak UP, a parent organization in Los Angeles focused on educational equity, conducted a survey of more than 300 parents of students with disabilities in LAUSD. Our analysis indicates that most kids with disabilities are not getting their needs met through distance learning this fall.

“I’m disappointed that the needle hasn’t moved much since the spring, and we continue to see enormous learning loss that threatens to leave our most vulnerable students behind,” said Speak UP Founder and CEO Katie Braude.

Some of the key survey findings include:

• Approximately 76% of parents said their children with disabilities cannot learn and progress their skills effectively via distance learning.

• 74% of the parents surveyed reported their students exhibiting regressive behaviors or loss of skills while learning from home.

• 36% of students with Individualized Education Programs are not receiving the full set of services that LAUSD agreed to deliver in their IEPs, and 57% of parents indicated that the services they were receiving were not being delivered in a format suitable to their children’s needs. More than 12% reported receiving no services since August.

• Over 60% of parents of kids with special needs do not feel well supported by their schools to implement successful at-home learning for their children with disabilities.

• Approximately 59% of parents indicated they would be willing to send their children back to schools for one-to-one special education services if proper COVID-19 safety measures were in place, and 47% are willing to return for small group instruction.

• 80% feel unable to trust LAUSD to resolve any concerns about their children’s special needs.

The report is based on a survey conducted between Sept. 23 and Oct. 19 of 313 parents of students with disabilities at every grade level in LAUSD. Collectively, the students attend every school model in LAUSD, including traditional district schools, affiliated charters, independent charters, magnet schools, nonpublic schools contracted by the district, and LAUSD’s various special education centers and home hospitals. They also represent 181 separate schools in every LAUSD board and local district.

Speak UP’s Special Education Task Force developed the survey with input from several other organizations that also helped distribute the survey to parents: Families in Schools, Special Needs Network, Communities In Schools of Los Angeles and the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

“The findings in our survey speak to the failure of LAUSD to adequately serve the vast majority of our most vulnerable learners,” said Lisa Mosko, director of advocacy for special education at Speak UP. “Distance learning has had a devastating impact on students with special needs, and LAUSD needs to take immediate action to meet the needs of these kids by delivering the services they are guaranteed by federal law. The failure to do so could result in permanent harm to these children and will certainly open LAUSD up to massive legal liability. This has gone on for more than seven months, and it cannot continue.”

Despite the fact that LAUSD has had more than half a year since campuses closed to figure out how to serve its approximately 70,000 Special Education students, 61% of Special Education parents feel their schools are failing to meet their needs, indicating scant improvement since the spring.

One parent who participated in the recent survey said this of her child: “He can’t follow the class properly at all. He constantly gets lost in class and is depressed. He had someone sit with him and help him [in school] and right now all he has is speech and that’s the least of his problems. My son is suffering and feels like a failure.”

Speak UP is making several recommendations based on survey results. They include:

• LAUSD must focus on providing more support to families of students with special needs.

• While LAUSD and UTLA are offering voluntary 1:1 tutoring on campus, this does not include the delivery of special education services. This is despite the fact that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in early September gave Los Angeles schools permission to reopen their campuses for small cohorts of kids with disabilities and English Learners. This must be rectified immediately.

• The district needs to be more proactive about scheduling IEP meetings to provide parents with more clarity about their options for services and to formulate a plan (including a required Distance Learning Plan) that works for every student.

• Instead of retroactively paying for arbitration and individual settlements - last school year alone, LAUSD spent over $22 million - LAUSD must proactively invest funds in supporting all special education stakeholders and provide training in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and best practices.

• LAUSD must proactively collaborate with and engage all parents. Otherwise the district will continue to fail its students and families, even beyond the current crisis.

Calling for Equity for Most Vulnerable Students, Parent Input,
and Daily Live Online Instruction

Hundreds of Los Angeles Unified parents, representing a diverse population of children from all over L.A. and every public school model, have shared their top priorities for the reopening of schools and improving distance learning this fall through Speak UP’s Reopening LAUSD survey.

As LAUSD makes plans for the coming school year during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our survey findings indicate that parents want to be included in the decision-making process when it comes to school reopening safety protocols and virtual/hybrid instruction. They want parents and teachers to receive more technology training, and students to receive teacher feedback, assessments, and daily live online instruction on days when they are learning from home.

About 430 Speak UP parent members responded to questions from June 10-24 about COVID-19 precautions, access to technology, and their children’s distance learning experiences after school campuses closed three months ago due to the pandemic.

Because of state waivers and union agreements that gave teachers broad discretion over whether to teach kids live online, parents reported huge inconsistencies. Inequities also emerged for the most vulnerable students, including low-income kids, Black and Latino kids, kids with special needs and English Learners.

The survey’s findings show that one in three students had contact with their teachers only once a week or less during campus closures, and only 40% of students received daily live online instruction.

When looking at demographics, Black and Latino students were up to three times more likely than White students to have participated in live classes once a week or less, and up to seven times more likely than White students to have never interacted with teachers.

Among the most vulnerable students, English Language Learner (ELL) students were twice as likely as non-ELL students to receive live online instruction once a week or less. Students with IEPs were more than twice as likely to have never interacted with teachers. And students from low-income families were more than twice as likely to have never received live online instruction at all. These same low-income students were also four times as likely to have never experienced interactive contact with their teachers since the closure of schools.

“It’s unacceptable that the kids that need the most help received the least amount of instruction this spring,” said Katie Braude, Speak UP Founder and CEO. “Interaction between teachers and students is crucial to both their social-emotional and academic well-being. We have to set much stronger minimum standards for daily live online instruction this fall. Three hours a day should be the bare minimum.”

Almost all of the parents who participated in the survey agreed with keeping schools closed until COVID-19 risks can be mitigated. The majority of parents would rather deal with the difficulties of at-home learning than potentially expose their family to infection.

Almost all parents (92%) rated it “important” for LAUSD to actively solicit and include parent input about how schools will reopen in the fall, and an equal number said the district must mandate grades or other feedback from teachers on all student work. Also, nearly 90% of parents said LAUSD must offer consistent live online instruction for all students.

Based on the data from the Reopening LAUSD survey, Speak UP parents are asking the district to consider the following top five priorities when making plans to reopen schools in the fall:

• LAUSD must actively solicit and include parent input about how schools will reopen in the fall.

• LAUSD must mandate grades or other feedback from teachers on all student work.

• LAUSD must ensure every student who needs one receives a free digital device and free internet for distance learning. (While LAUSD has already made this a top priority, some low-income households are still struggling to connect.)

• LAUSD must develop assessments to measure academic progress and placement during online learning.

• LAUSD must offer consistent live online instruction for all students.

For years, underserved communities in Los Angeles and across the state have not received their fair share of resources for schools and the children they serve, but there’s an opportunity to change that in 2020.

California has some of the most overcrowded classrooms in the United States and some of the worst ratios of counselors, librarians and nurses per student. In an attempt to solve these pressing issues in the public school system, the Schools and Communities First Funding Act would reclaim the money that big corporations have not been paying to fund our schools for more than four decades.

The Schools and Communities First ballot measure would raise up to $12 billion every year to fund K-12 public schools, community colleges and local communities by requiring that commercial and industrial property be taxed based on current market value and by closing tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations. The measure also maintains tax protections for all homeowners and renters.

Speak UP has joined a broad coalition of groups supporting the Schools and Communities First initiative, including school districts, educators, education advocates, public employee unions and the California State PTA in endorsing this initiative to bring the funding our public schools deserve. Our parents are now gathering signatures to get the measure on the ballot in the fall.

“Parents are fed up with decades of underfunded schools. The Schools and Communities First ballot measure is an important measure that will begin to rectify the decades of inequities in California’s public school system,” said Katie Braude, Speak UP Founder and CEO. “If we are serious about ending a system that fails the majority of our children, we need to make major changes in how we fund public education. This ballot initiative will restore billions of dollars to our public school system.”

Mariana Valencia is a mother of students at L.A, Unified’s MaCES magnet in Maywood. She attended one of the free Parent Power workshops offered by Speak UP in Southeast Los Angeles and said she believes this initiative is a crucial opportunity for families to ensure that schools in disadvantaged communities like hers receive the necessary resources to educate all kids and the services needed to support all families.

“Not just tutoring but high-quality academic tutoring so the students who are behind can be at the grade-level they’re supposed to be,” Valencia said. “We also need more affordable housing, libraries.”

The Schools and Communities First initiative requires one million signatures to qualify for the November 2020 state ballot. Speak UP parents have started to gather signatures in their neighborhoods to make sure it appears on the ballot and Californians can vote for it in the general election.

According to a recent poll, 58% responded they would support the Schools and Communities First initiative. You can learn more about the Schools and Communities First initiative here.

This is how you can help Schools and Communities First qualify for the November 2020 ballot:

• Collect petition signatures

• Spread the word to friends and family

• Follow the campaign on social media @Schools1stCA4

• Donate to help power our movement

Beyond grades, test scores and report cards, most mothers have that intuition that alerts us when something feels not quite right with our children at school. Unfortunately, not all of us know when the time is right to act on it. 

That happened to Emma Garcia with her third child. She said that since he was in early elementary school, she knew that he needed extra help with homework and to interact appropriately with his teachers and classmates. While he was not underperforming academically, he had behavioral issues that were a concern. 

While attending middle school at a traditional LAUSD school, her son finally received assistance under what’s called a 504 Plan, which provides certain accommodations for students with disabilities. But Garcia said that those accommodations were not enough for her son. 

When she heard that an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, was a better option, she requested one, but the school denied it. 

"They didn't even evaluate him or hold a meeting with me. They just handed me a packet of documents, and they told me that my IEP application had been denied," Garcia said. “Other people advised me to get a medical diagnosis to prove that my son really needed personalized help.”

Parents and community leaders from Southeast Los Angeles joined together Saturday for a Peace Walk to call for an end to the hostility against immigrant families and to unite all parents with children in all types of public schools: traditional, magnet, pilot and charter. 

The Peace Walk, organized by Parents in Action and supported by Speak UP, was part of a community festival at Riverfront Park in Maywood, attended by local elected officials, including Maywood Councilmember Heber Marquez and LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin. The event was designed to break down barriers of division and bring the community together to unify all children, all parents and all teachers for great public schools. 

“We are already living in a climate of fear and intimidation from the Trump Administration,” said Raquel Toscano, a parent at Los Angeles Unified’s Maywood Center for Enriched Studies (MaCES) magnet and a parent engagement coordinator for Speak UP. “We all want the same thing, a better future for our children. The last thing we need is to face more hostility from within our community over the path we choose to help our children succeed. We’re calling for unity and peace in our schools and in our community.” 

During the event, there were booths where parents could learn about different schools in the area and other resources, including immigration services and information on the Census 2020. Sponsors and participants in the event included NALEO, YMCA, AHF, Students For Education Reform (SFER), Parent Revolution, Los Angeles School Police, the California Charter Schools Association, artist Diego Aguirre and the Southeast Community Development Corporation, which donated two laptops that were raffled during the event.   

Before and after the mile-long Peace Walk along Slauson Avenue, the MaCES student marching band and dancers from Estrellas de Santa Rosa de Lima and the American Vive Foundation entertained parents, while a clown painted the faces of kids. Fruit and taco vendors fed the crowd alongside a truck informing families about the dangers of drug addiction. 

MaCES teacher and Maywood Councilmember Heber Marquez also gave a moving speech in English and Spanish. “In the midst of uncertain immigration reforms, family separations, job insecurity, environmental problems and so many other things that separate us, we shouldn't be working against each other, we should work together,” he said.

Melvoin also praised the parents for promoting peace in a time of disunity. “We are reminded everyday about the forces of division and hatred in our local community and our country, but it takes true courage to come out here and say we’re for peace and unity and belonging,” he said. ““It’s easy to blame other people for your problems, whether you’re a parent who made a certain choice in your school or an immigrant who came here for a better life. It’s easy to point at you and say you’re the reason things aren’t good. But you are doing the much more difficult and courageous thing, saying let’s come together and solve our problems because we are stronger when we are united than we are when we are divided and divisive and hateful.”

Other public officials who attended the Peace Walk include Maywood councilmembers Ricardo Lara and Carlos Álvarez, as well as Alejandra Zelaya, field representative for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendón.

Most parents who participated in the march walked with their kids. One of them was Mario Cervantes. His chant in Spanish, “Parents united will never be defeated,” was heard along the walk’s route. Cervantes told La Opinion newspaper, one of several media outlets that covered the Peace Walk, that he was chanting out loud to motivate all parents to never give up.

Speak UP has joined a coalition campaigning for passage of Measure EE, which is expected to generate $500 million a year for all Los Angeles public schools, both district and charter. The coalition campaigning for Yes On EE includes Great Public Schools Now, Parent Revolution, United Teachers Los Angeles and SEIU Local 99, the union representing LAUSD bus drivers and cafeteria workers. 

Speak UP parents began going door to door this week to encourage friends and neighbors to head to the polls June 4 to vote yes on Measure EE, which would charge 16 cents per square foot on commercial and residential property. If it passes, nearly 80% of these funds will come from commercial property owners.

"It's shameful that California, one of the wealthiest states in the nation, remains near the bottom in per pupil funding,” said Speak UP Founder and CEO Katie Braude. “Los Angeles voters now have a chance to begin to change that trajectory for more than half a million kids. Our kids deserve these funds, and if we want to have any chance of reducing class sizes and putting more resources in our kids' classrooms, Measure EE must pass. We plan to do everything we can to help make that happen." 

Because the turnout is expected to be so low for this election—the experts are forecasting between 8% and 16%—every vote counts. And every vote is needed since the measure requires two-thirds approval for passage.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has thrown his support behind the measure, praised Speak UP and its coalition partners for their efforts. 

“When it comes to Measure EE and fighting for our kids, we're all in the fight together,” Garcetti said. “I am grateful that Great Public Schools Now, Parent Revolution and Speak UP are working so hard to pass Measure EE and lower class sizes in every school.”  

Speak UP just launched its first "English Learners" workshop, with the goal of offering tools and raising awareness among parents on how to help their children become proficient in English. Workshop participants learned about the initial English language assessment, six steps for enrolling a child in the EL program and tips on how to help their children master English.

More than 2.6 million public school students in California speak a language other than English in their homes. This number represents about 42.8 percent of students enrolled in all public schools in the state, and when a language barrier is not detected early, it can be a major obstacle in the learning process.

One of the main challenges for parents who come from other countries is to get their children to learn in school at the same pace and level as students whose first language is English. In California, 20 percent of students enrolled in public schools are classified as English Language Learners who require extra help and support.

Among the resources available to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District is the English Learner program (EL). This program is of great importance for the Latino community because 82.2 percent of the students enrolled in the English Learner program in California use Spanish to communicate at home.

Many parents who attended the workshop said that parents are not properly informed about how to get their kids the help they need to become "reclassified" from the EL to Fluent English Proficient status. Reclassification is achieved when the student is considered proficient in understanding, speaking and writing in English. This process often takes five years or longer, and some kids never get reclassified.