In the Battle Over L.A. Schools Reopening, Students of Color Lose Out, Again
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Esmeralda Fabian, with her son, believes low-income kids of color deserve the same choice to return to schools that more affluent white families have.
As more affluent school districts and private schools open up throughout L.A. County, low-income kids of color in Los Angeles public schools are being forced to accept an inferior online-only education, deepening the inequity our communities face.
Los Angeles is expected to reach the state threshold to reopen elementary schools next week, and the Centers for Disease Control released new guidelines Friday recommending that schools in communities with the highest transmission rates reopen for hybrid learning as long as they have safety measures that LAUSD has in place. Nevertheless, teachers union leaders in Los Angeles are refusing to return in person to teach kids of color in low-income communities, citing a higher risk of infection.
“Our students are 90 percent of color and live in neighborhoods where they have high-density in housing, they don’t have the healthcare they need, and their parents are essential workers,” Arlene Inouye, a leader of UTLA, told KTLA last week when asked about the union’s position that it’s still not safe enough to go back to the classrooms.
When UTLA leaders say teachers cannot return to schools because the rates of infection are too high in the communities they serve – with overwhelmingly poor Black and Latino students – are they saying they’re afraid our kids will infect them? Is UTLA saying that if LAUSD served more affluent white kids it would be a whole different story, and they’d be willing to return?
As a Latina mom in Southeast L.A., I couldn't help but feel offended and outraged by Inouye’s comments. First I thought, where’s the compassion and the duty of service to these marginalized communities? Can you imagine a doctor or nurse or grocery worker saying something similar and refusing to serve low-income people of color?
With scientific consensus from the CDC that schools can and have safely reopened in places with even higher transmission rates than ours in L.A., as long as safety measures are in place, it’s time to ask why exactly UTLA is so afraid to teach Black and Latino kids.
The school system in Los Angeles has been failing students of color for decades. During the pandemic, many have struggled with distance learning because of sub-par Wi-Fi and the lack of experience navigating technology. In LAUSD, the number of D and F grades has skyrocketed during distance learning, and the gap in the percentage of Ds or Fs between African American (23.2%) and Latino (24.9%) students and their white (12.9%) and Asian (7.6%) peers has widened since last school year, according to EdSource.
There’s no question that because of social inequities that have persisted for far too long in Los Angeles, including poor access to healthcare, underserved Latino communities have been hit hardest by the pandemic. In L.A. County, the deaths among Latino residents are nearly triple that of white residents.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that many Latino parents, who may still be trying to overcome the trauma of losing loved ones, or losing their jobs, or both, feel afraid of sending their kids back to school. No one can blame parents for not trusting the safety of their kids to a school district that has failed to serve them well for so long. LAUSD needs to engage parents and build that trust now, while improving distance learning for families who choose to keep their kids home.
But UTLA also needs to stop exploiting that fear and acting as if they are protecting our families when they’re actually spreading misinformation unsupported by science to advance their own agenda. They also need to stop discounting the voices of the many Latino families like mine who do want to send our kids back to school.
My Latino community, made up of predominantly Latino immigrants, is not only resilient, but also plenty capable of making the best decisions for our children's education. Ensuring our children get a good education is the reason why most of us, or our parents, emigrated to this country. We don’t need a bureaucratic school system to tell us what’s best for our kids. We don’t need to be filled with more fear. As immigrants, many already live in fear day in and day out.
What we need is for schools to safely reopen for those who want to go back, and we need the district to explain exactly how they will keep our kids safe when they do. Parents need to be presented with transparent, factual and detailed information. We need to see how each school’s safety plan will be implemented on the ground. We need to know how they’re planning to have enough hand soap, sanitizing wipes, how many kids per classroom, who will be checking their temperature, and those other logistics.
The fact is, full elementary school reopening in L.A. County is imminent, and for some families, this means the light at the end of a dark tunnel. UTLA should not be allowed to extinguish this light for vulnerable Black and Latino families. Creating a separate and unequal system that offers options to wealthier white families in L.A. while depriving low-income families of color that same choice is a clear social and racial injustice.
Scientists, state and federal health authorities and pediatricians have all highlighted the terrible social-emotional harm school closures are causing to students and are calling for an “immediate reopening” of public schools across Los Angeles County. Scientific evidence also continues to mount, showing schools can safely reopen without teachers or school staff being fully vaccinated.
“We are dismayed that millions of children across California are suffering and experiencing the negative impacts of prolonged school closures,” the Southern California Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement issued on February 3. Three days later, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial titled: “Kids are suffering. Follow the science and reopen schools now.”
When will Black and Latino kids stop getting less? When will education leaders stop blaming poverty and race as an excuse for failing our kids? After all that we all have been through with this pandemic, I thought this was finally going to be the time for the system to put our kids first. I was wrong. Again, they are putting our kids last.
All kids, regardless of their race or income status, deserve the option to go back to their classrooms as soon as the Health Department allows it. And when they do go back, we have to make sure it won’t be business as usual. The district must address decades of inequity and racial disparities. Our kids deserve better than the inferior education they are getting now and that many low-income kids of color have gotten for years.
-- Esmeralda Fabian is a parent of two kids and a member of Speak Up who works with Spanish-speaking families in Southeast L.A. and across the district
Sign Speak UP’s petition to give parents a voice in plans for reopening schools.
