Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
There are still some challenges to getting students and teachers back to school and back to a new normal, said Eddie Flores, president of the South San Francisco Unified School District School Board.
He said that this has been an unexpected year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the lives of students, teachers and other staff are in their hands, and that is why they have a distance education model, which has been in place since the spring.
"It's a model that, while it's not perfect, we're perfecting it as we have many more voices participating with suggestions and recommendations, both from the teachers' union and from the parents themselves. It's been successful so far," he said.
He commented that the board made the decision to continue with distance learning until the county can return to an orange color, as they are sure that is the best thing to take care of the health of all the people they represent and that is the most important thing.
She also said they have developed special learning spaces for groups in need, and have made some partnerships with community centers to help specific groups with special needs or even homelessness.
"These are specific groups that we've focused on bringing to these learning centers, which are in physical locations in the South San Francisco community, because we want to avoid it being like an academic avalanche that prevents students from moving forward, and we don't want this year to go to waste," he explained.
They have also provided all families who need it with digital devices so that they can continue studying, regardless of whether they have two or three students at home, in addition to workshops so that parents can also learn how to use these technologies.
On the other hand, he said the vaccine for COVID-19 is what is going to help us prevent the virus and get us back to a new normal. "We are anxious that the federal government will be able to classify teachers and academic staff in the districts as the next essential group to receive the vaccine.
And, he said, teachers are key to being able to return to a new normal, so that students can return to school, even though they have been working either in offices or through computers at a distance in this virtual learning.
On Latino representation on the council, he noted that with district elections, which many cities and school districts have adopted as a new form of election, "you're getting a new wave of representatives and voices that we value very much in the community.
"I'm very happy about what's been happening and the new opportunities that are happening, I think it's about time that this happened, to give a voice to all those people who have not been represented," he added.
He added that there are indeed barriers for Latinos and the doors have not yet opened completely to these types of positions, but it is a job where they have to support each other and participate, because that is the most important thing and make a difference.
