latimes--2020-08-13--A generation left behind? Online learning cheats poor students, Times survey finds

Maria Viego and Cooper Glynn were thriving at their elementary schools .
Maria , 10 , adored the special certificates she earned volunteering to read to second-graders .
Cooper , 9 , loved being with his friends and how his teacher incorporated the video game Minecraft into lessons .
But when their campuses shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic , their experiences diverged dramatically .
Maria is a student in the Coachella Valley Unified School District , where 90 % of the children are from low-income families .
She didn ’ t have a computer , so she and her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her online class , but the connection kept dropping , and they gave up after a week .
She did worksheets until June , when she at last received a computer , but struggled to understand the work .
Now , as school starts again online , she has told her mother she ’ s frustrated and worried .
“ She says she feels like she ’ s going to stay behind , ” said her mother , Felicia Gonzalez , who has been battling COVID-19 .
Cooper , who attends school in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where just 12 % of students are from low-income families , had a district-issued computer and good internet access at home .
His school shut down on a Friday , and by the following Wednesday it was up and running virtually .
There were agendas and assignments online and Google hangouts with teachers , said his mother , Megan Glynn .
While Cooper would prefer to be back on campus , Glynn believes that he and his siblings will be fine academically even with school continuing online .
“ I feel fully confident @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .
The contrasting realities of these two students reflect the educational inequities that children have experienced since schools closed — and that many will continue to face in the fall as distance learning resumes for 97 % of the state ’ s public school students .
A Los Angeles Times survey of 45 Southern California school districts found profound differences in distance learning among children attending school districts in high-poverty communities , like Maria ’ s in Coachella Valley , and those in more affluent ones , like Cooper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serves Calabasas and nearby areas .
These inequities threaten to exacerbate wide and persistent disparities in public education that shortchange students of color and those from low-income families , resulting in potentially lasting harm to a generation of children .
“ The longer this goes on , the longer the pendulum swings to where this could be a generation that ’ s really left behind , ” said Beth Tarasawa , who studies educational equity issues at the not-for-profit educational research group NWEA .
The Times survey found that districts serving communities with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majority of Latino students — had to confront a wide digital divide when campuses closed in mid-March and struggled for weeks , some more than a month , just to begin online learning .
They scrambled to buy computers and hot spots , even as the onslaught of demand led to long delays .
California ’ s students still need more than a million computers and hot spots , state officials say .
Meanwhile , many districts serving more affluent communities launched their online classes almost immediately , in part because their students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ districts tracked student participation , but among those that did , districts serving communities with the lowest incomes also reported lower student participation than districts in higher-income areas .
The Times surveyed 45 public school districts across Southern California , with a combined enrollment of more than 1.45 million students , and interviewed the leaders in all but a few .
The survey included districts that serve both ends of the region ’ s economic divide : districts serving students from low-income families and those serving children from more affluent communities .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s largest districts — such as Los Angeles , San Diego , Long Beach and San Bernardino .
On average among the large districts , about 70 % of students are low-income , and more than two-thirds are Latino .
The survey defined low-income and more affluent districts by the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals .
Respondents included 21 districts with the smallest percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch , on average less than 15 % .
Those districts tend to have comparatively large @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It also included 16 districts with the largest percentages of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch , on average about 90 % .
The vast majority of students in these districts are Latino and many also had sizable Black student enrollment .
The findings add to evidence of the coronavirus crisis ’ starkly inequitable toll on low-income Black and Latino communities .
In late April on a 90-degree day , more than a month after schools closed , 10th-grader Andrew Diaz walked a mile to Lynwood High School in Lynwood to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shutdown , he earned As , Bs and Cs .
But with schools closed , Andrew said he was struggling to feel motivated and understand his work .
His mother , a single parent and healthcare worker who has cared for coronavirus patients , was working double shifts , keeping her away from home and close supervision of Andrew ’ s studies .
For more than a month , Andrew accessed classes on his cellphone , but was too depressed and unmotivated to do so often .
By the end of April , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in one complete assignment .
“ I feel like when I move on to 11th grade , I ’ m gon na be behind , and everybody ’ s gon na , like , be smarter than me , and I ’ m afraid , ” he said .
The Times survey shows that low-income-serving districts , like Lynwood Unified , were at a deep digital deficit when compared to districts serving more affluent areas .
On average , about half the students in low-income-serving districts had computers available for school work when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an average of nearly two-thirds of students had them .
But among the most affluent-serving districts , an average 87 % of students had computers when campuses closed , and virtually every student — 98 % — had them about three weeks later .
The difference wasn ’ t just that students in more affluent-serving districts had computers at home , but that several of these districts were able to give their students computers to take home on the day schools closed or in the week after , allowing each child to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low-income-serving districts moved swiftly to buy and distribute computers and hot spots .
But the process took time and in some cases was not complete before the end of the school year .
According to the survey , three weeks after campuses closed , nearly 30 % of students in districts serving communities with the lowest incomes lacked devices .
Six weeks later , about 12 % lacked them .
At El Segundo Unified , where about half of students are white and 15 % qualify for free or reduced-price lunches , Supt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than enough computers for every student who needed one when campuses closed .
Only about 25 families needed help connecting to the internet , translating to as smooth a transition as possible , she said .
Similarly , at Oak Park Unified , a district of 4,500 students in Ventura County where 7 % of students come from low-income families and more than half are white , every child already had a district-issued device , which helped schools quickly pivot to a virtual setting , said Supt .
Tony Knight .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a global pandemic of epic proportions , ” Knight said , “ we ’ re in good shape.
” But many districts in low-income communities struggled to bridge the digital divide , including some that had already been working to close the gap .
One factor was the stampede of districts buying computers .
In Lynwood , officials had ordered computers for nearly every one of its 13,000 students in November .
But the computers failed to arrive on schedule , leaving students like Andrew without one for about six weeks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We kept hearing from our vendors : ‘ They should be there next week , next week , ’ ” said Supt .
Gudiel Crosthwaite .
And computers accounted for only half the equation .
Lynwood had no resources to provide internet access .
The county ’ s education office promised 100 internet hot spots , which would have helped , but the county could not find them for sale .
So the school system worked with the city to provide WiFi access at a few city-owned locations as a stopgap .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ come from low-income families , 94 % are Latino and 5 % are Black .
Officials at San Bernardino Unified , one of the largest in the state , with nearly 90 % low-income students , also worked to distribute computers and hot spots long before the shut-down , helping thousands of students stay connected when campuses closed , said interim Supt .
Harold Vollkommer .
But even in late May , thousands more still needed hot spots , which were back-ordered , he said .
L.A. schools Supt .
Austin Beutner said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all but commandeered the local supply chain by spending $ 100 million , mostly from school construction bonds , to purchase hot spots and about 200,000 computers needed for 482,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade .
As a result , he said , local vendors cleared out warehouses and even grabbed display models from stores .
This scramble may have contributed to problems other districts experienced in purchasing technology .
Even so , about a quarter of L.A. Unified students still needed computers for schoolwork in late April and some district families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a month .
Entering into the fall , Beutner said , no L.A. Unified student should be shut out from distance learning .
The district , he said , has enough technology in stock for all students .
At Coachella Valley Unified , where almost all students are Latino , half of nearly 18,000 students had a computer at home when schools closed .
“ They went home with nothing .
Not one device was sent home , and no connectivity , ” said Carissa Carrera , president of the Coachella Valley Teachers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ computers in classrooms but could not send them home because of software issues .
Widespread distribution did not start until the end of April .
In a desperate and resourceful move to help , the district deployed buses with WiFi routers to provide internet access during the school day .
But they reached only a fraction of students .
Coachella Valley was one of the last districts in The Times ’ survey to start online learning , beginning on May 1 , five weeks before the end of the school year .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online learning as quickly as those in more affluent areas .
The median start date in districts with more affluent families was March 18 .
For districts with the highest numbers of low-income families and for the largest districts it was April 6 .
The herculean effort to distribute technology and start online classes is only part of the battle .
Once students are connected , teachers must get them to participate and learn .
Luis Chaidez , a social studies teacher at Augustus Hawkins High School in South L.A. , had 120 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had more than 15 attend online classes .
“ That ’ s the most .
After that it dropped below 10 , ” he said .
“ In the last three weeks of school , I just stopped doing Zoom .
Because no one was doing the work.
” “ People are worried about dying , and in addition to that people are being laid off , and now students in my community , where I serve , are worried about eating or rent , ” he said .
He is agonizing about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m afraid that it ’ s going to be another cycle that gets repeated , where students are just going to do the bare minimum of passing their classes and getting a diploma because they don ’ t have the luxury of leaning on a parent at home that is college-educated , who can help them , ” he said .
California ’ s rules requiring schools to track student attendance and assess learning essentially lapsed during the spring , when the state waived them .
Few districts monitored students ’ time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all changed their grading policies to protect students from falling grades .
This makes it difficult to say exactly how many students were engaging with online learning .
Of the 45 districts surveyed , only about 20 % provided figures tracking student attendance and online engagement .
Among the districts that did report engagement to The Times , those serving more prosperous areas were more likely to report significantly higher participation .
For example , in Las Virgenes Unified , officials said 94 % of middle school students logged in at least three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the Hermosa Beach City School District , where a small percentage of students are low income and about two-thirds are white , district officials said that about 95 % of students were logging in three times or more per week .
“ Honestly , ” said Supt .
Patricia Escalante , who recently retired , “ I was shocked and stunned at how fantastic it went.
” In the higher poverty districts of Lynwood and Palm Springs Unified , the percentages of middle school students logging in three times or more per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , respectively , several weeks after schools closed , according to district estimates .
And in Palmdale , a lower-income , majority Latino district that serves students in grades K-8 , officials did not say how many students were logging in three times or more per week , but said by early April , about 60 % of middle school students logged in to their online platforms per day .
Los Angeles Unified , meanwhile , reported that 78 % of middle school students logged in three times or more per week several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of disparate student engagement is not black and white .
With so many districts not tracking or choosing not to report engagement , it ’ s possible many districts with higher-income families also lagged in student engagement .
And the lower-income-serving district of South Whittier also reported higher levels of engagement .
In early April , district officials said , about 88 % of middle school students logged in three times or more per week .
Teachers in the district took attendance every day and input the information into a Google spreadsheet accessible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ track down absent students .
If they were unable to find them , they passed names to the Sheriff ’ s Department to conduct welfare checks , officials said .
Other evidence also points to disparities in learning for students of color and those from low-income families during school closures .
A preliminary report based on surveys hundreds of districts across the country by American Institutes for Research found that students in high-poverty districts were expected to spend less time per day on instructional activities , more likely to use paper packets and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than students in low-poverty districts .
And a report last month by Los Angeles Unified analysts showed deep disparities along lines of race , ethnicity and family income .
While nearly every category of students included large numbers who did not regularly participate in distance learning , students from low-income families and Black and Latino students participated at rates between 10 and 20 percentage points lower than peers from higher-income families and white and Asian students .
Like Chaidez , many educators said their students are in crisis .
In Palmdale , among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parents are essential workers who were forced to leave the schooling-at-home project to grandparents , who were typically non-English speakers without experience on computers .
And Supt .
Crosthwaite of Lynwood said parents in his community were overwhelmed with worries far greater than school .
“ They ’ re worried about how they ’ re going to put food on the table .
How are they going to pay for rent ?
” Crosthwaite said .
“ So on top of everything else ... they are trying to transition to becoming a teacher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has received national recognition for enrolling students of color into advanced coursework , said he realized the depth of the problem when he agreed to be a guest speaker for two combined sections of a high school economics class .
Only about half the students showed up .
As the new school year begins , districts face a different but no less challenging landscape , with many parents increasingly fearful about the long-term consequences of prolonged closures on their children , and many educators feeling urgent pressure to help students who have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the hands of students , more than 700,000 K-12 students in California are still without them , and more than 300,000 are in need of internet hot spots .
Some families are losing internet access because of expiring discounts — even as their need for broadband intensifies with children online for more hours a day .
State officials have enacted new rules requiring teachers to take attendance , provide consistent online classes and document student learning to strengthen distance learning .
But districts must implement these new accountability systems while also planning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and without clarity about the duration of the health crisis .
Meanwhile , families with resources are finding ways to get their children back on track , forming multi-family learning pods and hiring tutors , while financially struggling families are desperate for child care and more learning assistance for their children .
And the hardships faced by many low-income families have only worsened in the last five months , with Latino and Black working-class communities uniquely devastated by the coronavirus .
“ What COVID-19 has done , it has pulled back the covers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our society , '' said UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard at a recent panel on school reopening .
“ While they ’ re not new ...
I think in this really difficult moment , it has made the realities around inequities , even more front and center in all of our everyday lives.
” Earlier this month , Andrew Diaz made his way back to Lynwood High , this time to pick up textbooks for his junior year .
After he got his computer from the school in April , he continued struggling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he said .
In the past , he has done well when he had good relationships with his teachers .
But distance learning was different .
He loves math but struggled to understand it without a teacher he could work with in person .
And he couldn ’ t follow the Spanish work his teacher posted , which wasn ’ t like the Spanish he hears at home .
Eventually , he began working six days a week with his uncle , selling vegetables at a swap meet to help his mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his classes — because the district , like most others , decided that no student would receive failing grades .
But he knows he ’ s fallen behind .
There were times he told his friends that he had no interest in online school .
But he ’ d also like to go to college , like his aunt , who was the first in his family to earn a degree .
And he ’ s planning to take the SAT this year .
So as school starts again , he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m putting my all in it .
I ’ m going to stop helping my uncle .
And then I ’ m gon na just try to do homework , ” he said .
“ I just ...
I need to get more confident for myself.
” Times staff writers Nina Agrawal and Sonali Kohli contributed to this story .

Paloma Esquivel, Howard Blume, Ben Poston, Julia Barajas

Maria Viego and Cooper Glynn were thriving at their elementary schools. Maria, 10, adored the special certificates she earned volunteering to read to second-graders. Cooper, 9, loved being with his friends and how his teacher incorporated the video game Minecraft into lessons.
But when their campuses shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, their experiences diverged dramatically.
Maria is a student in the Coachella Valley Unified School District, where 90% of the children are from low-income families. She didn’t have a computer, so she and her mother tried using a cellphone to access her online class, but the connection kept dropping, and they gave up after a week. She did worksheets until June, when she at last received a computer, but struggled to understand the work. Now, as school starts again online, she has told her mother she’s frustrated and worried.
“She says she feels like she’s going to stay behind,” said her mother, Felicia Gonzalez, who has been battling COVID-19.
Cooper, who attends school in the Las Virgenes Unified School District, where just 12% of students are from low-income families, had a district-issued computer and good internet access at home. His school shut down on a Friday, and by the following Wednesday it was up and running virtually. There were agendas and assignments online and Google hangouts with teachers, said his mother, Megan Glynn. While Cooper would prefer to be back on campus, Glynn believes that he and his siblings will be fine academically even with school continuing online.
“I feel fully confident in the education they’ll receive,” she said.
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The contrasting realities of these two students reflect the educational inequities that children have experienced since schools closed — and that many will continue to face in the fall as distance learning resumes for 97% of the state’s public school students.
A Los Angeles Times survey of 45 Southern California school districts found profound differences in distance learning among children attending school districts in high-poverty communities, like Maria’s in Coachella Valley, and those in more affluent ones, like Cooper’s in Las Virgenes, which serves Calabasas and nearby areas.
These inequities threaten to exacerbate wide and persistent disparities in public education that shortchange students of color and those from low-income families, resulting in potentially lasting harm to a generation of children.
“The longer this goes on, the longer the pendulum swings to where this could be a generation that’s really left behind,” said Beth Tarasawa, who studies educational equity issues at the not-for-profit educational research group NWEA.
The Times survey found that districts serving communities with the lowest incomes — all with a majority of Latino students — had to confront a wide digital divide when campuses closed in mid-March and struggled for weeks, some more than a month, just to begin online learning. They scrambled to buy computers and hot spots, even as the onslaught of demand led to long delays.
California’s students still need more than a million computers and hot spots, state officials say.
Meanwhile, many districts serving more affluent communities launched their online classes almost immediately, in part because their students had computers and internet access.
Few districts tracked student participation, but among those that did, districts serving communities with the lowest incomes also reported lower student participation than districts in higher-income areas.
The Times surveyed 45 public school districts across Southern California, with a combined enrollment of more than 1.45 million students, and interviewed the leaders in all but a few. The survey included districts that serve both ends of the region’s economic divide: districts serving students from low-income families and those serving children from more affluent communities.
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It also included some of the region’s largest districts — such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach and San Bernardino. On average among the large districts, about 70% of students are low-income, and more than two-thirds are Latino.
The survey defined low-income and more affluent districts by the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. Respondents included 21 districts with the smallest percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, on average less than 15%.
Those districts tend to have comparatively large populations of white and Asian students. It also included 16 districts with the largest percentages of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, on average about 90%. The vast majority of students in these districts are Latino and many also had sizable Black student enrollment.
The findings add to evidence of the coronavirus crisis’ starkly inequitable toll on low-income Black and Latino communities.
A STRUGGLE JUST TO START
Andrew Diaz barely turned in any work after Lynwood High closed in March. But he’s got his textbooks for the fall, along with better internet at home and a computer issued by the district.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
In late April on a 90-degree day, more than a month after schools closed, 10th-grader Andrew Diaz walked a mile to Lynwood High School in Lynwood to pick up a computer.
Before the shutdown, he earned As, Bs and Cs. But with schools closed, Andrew said he was struggling to feel motivated and understand his work. His mother, a single parent and healthcare worker who has cared for coronavirus patients, was working double shifts, keeping her away from home and close supervision of Andrew’s studies. For more than a month, Andrew accessed classes on his cellphone, but was too depressed and unmotivated to do so often. By the end of April, he said, he had probably turned in one complete assignment.
“I feel like when I move on to 11th grade, I’m gonna be behind, and everybody’s gonna, like, be smarter than me, and I’m afraid,” he said.
The Times survey shows that low-income-serving districts, like Lynwood Unified, were at a deep digital deficit when compared to districts serving more affluent areas. On average, about half the students in low-income-serving districts had computers available for school work when campuses closed. Among the largest districts, an average of nearly two-thirds of students had them.
But among the most affluent-serving districts, an average 87% of students had computers when campuses closed, and virtually every student — 98% — had them about three weeks later.
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The difference wasn’t just that students in more affluent-serving districts had computers at home, but that several of these districts were able to give their students computers to take home on the day schools closed or in the week after, allowing each child to quickly transition to distance learning.
Many low-income-serving districts moved swiftly to buy and distribute computers and hot spots. But the process took time and in some cases was not complete before the end of the school year.
According to the survey, three weeks after campuses closed, nearly 30% of students in districts serving communities with the lowest incomes lacked devices. Six weeks later, about 12% lacked them.
At El Segundo Unified, where about half of students are white and 15% qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, Supt. Melissa Moore said the district had more than enough computers for every student who needed one when campuses closed. Only about 25 families needed help connecting to the internet, translating to as smooth a transition as possible, she said.
At Oak Park Unified in Ventura County, all students already had district-issued devices, making the transition to online learning easier, said Supt. Tony Knight. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Similarly, at Oak Park Unified, a district of 4,500 students in Ventura County where 7% of students come from low-income families and more than half are white, every child already had a district-issued device, which helped schools quickly pivot to a virtual setting, said Supt. Tony Knight.
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“Given we’re in the middle of a global pandemic of epic proportions,” Knight said, “we’re in good shape.”
But many districts in low-income communities struggled to bridge the digital divide, including some that had already been working to close the gap. One factor was the stampede of districts buying computers.
In Lynwood, officials had ordered computers for nearly every one of its 13,000 students by November. But the computers failed to arrive on schedule, leaving students like Andrew without one for about six weeks, when the district began widespread distribution.
“We kept hearing from our vendors: ‘They should be there next week, next week,’” said Supt. Gudiel Crosthwaite.
And computers accounted for only half the equation. Lynwood had no resources to provide internet access. The county’s education office promised 100 internet hot spots, which would have helped, but the county could not find them for sale. So the school system worked with the city to provide WiFi access at a few city-owned locations as a stopgap.
In Lynwood, 9 in 10 students come from low-income families, 94% are Latino and 5% are Black.
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Officials at San Bernardino Unified, one of the largest in the state, with nearly 90% low-income students, also worked to distribute computers and hot spots long before the shut-down, helping thousands of students stay connected when campuses closed, said interim Supt. Harold Vollkommer.
But even in late May, thousands more still needed hot spots, which were back-ordered, he said.
LAUSD spent $100 million on computers and WiFi hot spots, sending suppliers scrambling and potentially making supplies scarce. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner said the nation’s second-largest school system all but commandeered the local supply chain by spending $100 million, mostly from school construction bonds, to purchase hot spots and about 200,000 computers needed for 482,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
As a result, he said, local vendors cleared out warehouses and even grabbed display models from stores.
This scramble may have contributed to problems other districts experienced in purchasing technology. Even so, about a quarter of L.A. Unified students still needed computers for schoolwork in late April and some district families struggled without hot spots for well over a month.
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Entering into the fall, Beutner said, no L.A. Unified student should be shut out from distance learning. The district, he said, has enough technology in stock for all students.
At Coachella Valley Unified, where almost all students are Latino, half of nearly 18,000 students had a computer at home when schools closed.
“They went home with nothing. Not one device was sent home, and no connectivity,” said Carissa Carrera, president of the Coachella Valley Teachers Assn.
The district had some older-model computers in classrooms but could not send them home because of software issues. Widespread distribution did not start until the end of April. In a desperate and resourceful move to help, the district deployed buses with WiFi routers to provide internet access during the school day. But they reached only a fraction of students.
Coachella Valley was one of the last districts in The Times’ survey to start online learning, beginning on May 1, five weeks before the end of the school year. But many lower-income-serving districts were unable to start online learning as quickly as those in more affluent areas. The median start date in districts with more affluent families was March 18. For districts with the highest numbers of low-income families and for the largest districts it was April 6.
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ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING
Luis Chaidez, a social studies teacher at Augustus Hawkins High School in South Los Angeles, had 120 students when schools closed. But he never had more than 15 attend an online class. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
The herculean effort to distribute technology and start online classes is only part of the battle. Once students are connected, teachers must get them to participate and learn.
Luis Chaidez, a social studies teacher at Augustus Hawkins High School in South L.A., had 120 students when schools closed. He never had more than 15 attend online classes.
“That’s the most. After that it dropped below 10,” he said. “In the last three weeks of school, I just stopped doing Zoom. Because no one was doing the work.”
He doesn’t blame them.
“People are worried about dying, and in addition to that people are being laid off, and now students in my community, where I serve, are worried about eating or rent,” he said.
He is agonizing about the ongoing campus closures.
“I’m afraid that it’s going to be another cycle that gets repeated, where students are just going to do the bare minimum of passing their classes and getting a diploma because they don’t have the luxury of leaning on a parent at home that is college-educated, who can help them,” he said.
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California’s rules requiring schools to track student attendance and assess learning essentially lapsed during the spring, when the state waived them. Few districts monitored students’ time online or took roll, and almost all changed their grading policies to protect students from falling grades.
This makes it difficult to say exactly how many students were engaging with online learning. Of the 45 districts surveyed, only about 20% provided figures tracking student attendance and online engagement.
Among the districts that did report engagement to The Times, those serving more prosperous areas were more likely to report significantly higher participation.
For example, in Las Virgenes Unified, officials said 94% of middle school students logged in at least three times a week in early April.
In the Hermosa Beach City School District, where a small percentage of students are low income and about two-thirds are white, district officials said that about 95% of students were logging in three times or more per week.
“Honestly,” said Supt. Patricia Escalante, who recently retired, “I was shocked and stunned at how fantastic it went.”
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In the higher poverty districts of Lynwood and Palm Springs Unified, the percentages of middle school students logging in three times or more per week were 23% and 50%, respectively, several weeks after schools closed, according to district estimates. And in Palmdale, a lower-income, majority Latino district that serves students in grades K-8, officials did not say how many students were logging in three times or more per week, but said by early April, about 60% of middle school students logged in to their online platforms per day.
Los Angeles Unified, meanwhile, reported that 78% of middle school students logged in three times or more per week several weeks after schools closed.
The picture of disparate student engagement is not black and white. With so many districts not tracking or choosing not to report engagement, it’s possible many districts with higher-income families also lagged in student engagement.
And the lower-income-serving district of South Whittier also reported higher levels of engagement. In early April, district officials said, about 88% of middle school students logged in three times or more per week. Teachers in the district took attendance every day and input the information into a Google spreadsheet accessible to school staff, who worked to track down absent students. If they were unable to find them, they passed names to the Sheriff’s Department to conduct welfare checks, officials said.
Other evidence also points to disparities in learning for students of color and those from low-income families during school closures. A preliminary report based on surveys of hundreds of districts across the country by American Institutes for Research found that students in high-poverty districts were expected to spend less time per day on instructional activities, more likely to use paper packets and more likely to focus on reviewing content than students in low-poverty districts.
And a report last month by Los Angeles Unified analysts showed deep disparities along lines of race, ethnicity and family income. While nearly every category of students included large numbers who did not regularly participate in distance learning, students from low-income families and Black and Latino students participated at rates between 10 and 20 percentage points lower than peers from higher-income families and white and Asian students.
Like Chaidez, many educators said their students are in crisis.
In Palmdale, among other districts, officials noted that many parents are essential workers who were forced to leave the schooling-at-home project to grandparents, who were typically non-English speakers without experience on computers. And Supt. Crosthwaite of Lynwood said parents in his community were overwhelmed with worries far greater than school.
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“They’re worried about how they’re going to put food on the table. How are they going to pay for rent?” Crosthwaite said. “So on top of everything else ... they are trying to transition to becoming a teacher at home.”
Crosthwaite, whose district has received national recognition for enrolling students of color into advanced coursework, said he realized the depth of the problem when he agreed to be a guest speaker for two combined sections of a high school economics class. Only about half the students showed up.
THE FUTURE
It’s unclear when in-person classes will resume. Above, a gate at Los Angeles High School remains locked. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
As the new school year begins, districts face a different but no less challenging landscape, with many parents increasingly fearful about the long-term consequences of prolonged closures on their children, and many educators feeling urgent pressure to help students who have been left behind.
Although more computers are in the hands of students, more than 700,000 K-12 students in California are still without them, and more than 300,000 are in need of internet hot spots. Some families are losing internet access because of expiring discounts — even as their need for broadband intensifies with children online for more hours a day.
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State officials have enacted new rules requiring teachers to take attendance, provide consistent online classes and document student learning to strengthen distance learning.
But districts must implement these new accountability systems while also planning for an eventual safe return to campus and without clarity about the duration of the health crisis.
Meanwhile, families with resources are finding ways to get their children back on track, forming multi-family learning pods and hiring tutors, while financially struggling families are desperate for child care and more learning assistance for their children.
And the hardships faced by many low-income families have only worsened in the last five months, with Latino and Black working-class communities uniquely devastated by the coronavirus.
“What COVID-19 has done, it has pulled back the covers on the gross inequities that exist in our society,”said UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard at a recent panel on school reopening. “While they’re not new ... I think in this really difficult moment, it has made the realities around inequities, even more front and center in all of our everyday lives.”
Earlier this month, Andrew Diaz made his way back to Lynwood High, this time to pick up textbooks for his junior year.
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After he got his computer from the school in April, he continued struggling to stay on track with his classwork, he said. In the past, he has done well when he had good relationships with his teachers. But distance learning was different. He loves math but struggled to understand it without a teacher he could work with in person. And he couldn’t follow the Spanish work his teacher posted, which wasn’t like the Spanish he hears at home.
Eventually, he began working six days a week with his uncle, selling vegetables at a swap meet to help his mother pay bills.
He passed all of his classes — because the district, like most others, decided that no student would receive failing grades. But he knows he’s fallen behind. There were times he told his friends that he had no interest in online school. But he’d also like to go to college, like his aunt, who was the first in his family to earn a degree. And he’s planning to take the SAT this year. So as school starts again, he’s determined to turn things around.
“I’m putting my all in it. I’m going to stop helping my uncle. And then I’m gonna just try to do homework,” he said. “I just... I need to get more confident for myself.”
Times staff writers Nina Agrawal and Sonali Kohli contributed to this story.


latimes--2020-08-14--California's coronavirus response hampered by high-level resignations

The sudden departure this week of California ’ s public health officer is intensifying instability in the state ’ s vital health departments as they struggle with crushing workloads and navigating the worst health crisis in a century , according to interviews with current and former healthcare and government officials .
Dr. Sonia Angell stepped down from the California Department of Public Health on Sunday after only 10 months in the job .
Her second-in-command , who led the state ’ s testing task force , left in July .
The resignations add to a list of more than a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ departed over the last year , raising concerns that the upheaval is threatening the state ’ s response at a critical time .
“ We ’ re going to run out of people , ” state Sen. Richard Pan ( D-Sacramento ) said of the turnover in the state ’ s public health infrastructure .
“ How many people do you think are qualified to be California ’ s [ public health ] director that are floating around out there in the whole country ?
It ’ s not a very large pool @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to churn through them like this , we ’ re going to be in big trouble — if we ’ re not already in big trouble.
” The numerous changes have increased pressure on California ’ s underfunded state health departments as they try to keep pace with the governor ’ s flurry of announcements on new guidelines , programs and policy changes , which one former agency official likened to a daily fire drill .
Public health leaders at the state and county levels have also become a target of hostility over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , four people have worked as director of the Department of Health Care Services , which oversees the state ’ s MediCal healthcare program that serves 13 million low-income and vulnerable residents .
When the director of the California Department of Managed Health Care retired last month , the acting chief deputy director of the department stepped in to fill both roles .
The exodus includes holdovers from former Gov .
Jerry Brown ’ s administration that Newsom was slow to replace .
Others have left under more unexpected circumstances .
Newsom tapped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health official , to lead the California Department of Public Health in September .
She faced a steep learning curve in a state with thorny healthcare politics .
Many of her predecessors had served previously as county public health officers .
Angell played a supporting role at Newsom ’ s first press conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in late February , describing common symptoms of the virus and reassuring Californians that the risk to the general public remained low with only 33 confirmed cases in the state .
But over time she made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Dr. Mark Ghaly , the secretary of Health and Human Services .
When Newsom inaccurately described a drop in positive COVID-19 cases last week , it was Ghaly who went in front of the camera the next day and disclosed the massive data error in a system overseen by Angell ’ s department .
Later , Ghaly said Newsom “ directed a full investigation of what happened and we will hold people accountable.
” Angell abruptly resigned on Sunday , effective immediately .
The following day , Newsom refused to directly address @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but added that “ if it ’ s not obvious , then , I encourage you to consider the fact that we accepted the resignation.
” “ We ’ re all accountable in our respective roles for what happens underneath us , ” he said .
Newsom emphasized that he was unaware of the data problem when he touted the decrease .
Little has been publicly shared about the events leading up to Angell ’ s departure other than the existence of data errors in the system she oversaw .
For some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ This is a near-impossible job to do well in normal times , ” said Dr. Richard Jackson , a former California state health officer under then-Gov .
Arnold Schwarzenegger and professor emeritus at UCLA ’ s Fielding School of Public Health .
Jackson said those in the state ’ s public health officer role have long been hindered when responding to emergencies due to layers of bureaucracy , including inflexible rules for adjusting spending .
Add noncompetitive salaries for medical , scientific and data management staff with a cumbersome hiring process and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said .
The failure of the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange , the state ’ s electronic disease reporting and surveillance system , didn ’ t come as a surprise to those familiar with it .
The system , known as CalREDIE , was not originally built to handle both positive and negative test results or a large volume of information from many labs , said Karen Smith , who preceded Angell and was appointed director of the California Department of Public Health in 2015 by Brown .
“ We ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the laboratory reporting system and the case management functionality of CalREDIE virtually since it was begun , ” Smith said .
While Ghaly has said human error added to the problem , Smith said a “ tiny ” group of people are managing hundreds of data systems within the state ’ s public health department .
Jackson said Angell was put in an untenable situation .
“ I have a feeling Dr. Angell was blamed for a rickety system , ” Jackson said .
“ There needs to be an aggressive look at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first time a top health official has left state service following controversy .
Jennifer Kent , director of the state Department of Health Care Services , resigned under pressure in September after she criticized vaccine bill protesters on her private Facebook page .
Kent was temporarily replaced on an interim basis by Newsom ’ s deputy Cabinet secretary , Richard Figureroa Jr. , that month .
In late January , Newsom named Dr. Brad Gilbert the new director , having pulled the former chief executive officer of the Inland Empire Health Plan out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gilbert resigned .
In June , Newsom appointed Will Lightbourne to Gilbert ’ s former role , the fourth person to hold the position in nine months .
Lightbourne , 70 , had retired in 2018 as director of the state Department of Social Services .
In addition to Gilbert , Angell ’ s resignation from the Department of Public Health on Sunday came on the heels of other key departures .
Last month , Dr. Charity Dean , the department ’ s second in command , stepped down .
Their departures were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a half dozen county public health officers during the pandemic .
“ People say it ’ s a marathon , not a sprint , but quite frankly you ’ ve got to feel like you ’ re sprinting for an entire marathon because it just keeps coming , ” Smith said .
“ There is no question that the degree of stress has increased the number of people who ’ ve chosen to retire and or who left.
” Angell ’ s job responsibilities will be split between two women , state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over as acting director of the Department of Public Health , and Dr. Erica Pan will become the acting state public health officer after having joined California ’ s public health department in June as the state ’ s epidemiologist .
Shewry , who is vice president at the nonprofit California Health Care Foundation , previously oversaw the state ’ s Medi-Cal program under Schwarzenegger .
Pan , who was previously Alameda County ’ s health officer , notably clashed with Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in May over his electric car factory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shelter-at-home orders at the time .
Smith said state law prevents the administration from splitting the state public health officer and director roles on anything more than a temporary basis , indicating another shift at the top ranks of the health department is on the horizon .
The changes come as some counties and business groups complain about an inconsistent pandemic response .
Many note that the lack of strong leadership at the national level has placed an undue burden on the state , but say it ’ s difficult to get clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michelin , president of the California Retailers Assn.
, said her group has tried to engage with public health officials to understand how counties can get off the state ’ s watch list .
The list determines which counties have to close gyms , shopping malls and other businesses .
It was frozen over a week ago in light of the data problems .
“ We ’ re trying to figure out what ’ s the path and the Department of Public Health just hasn ’ t been responsive , ” Michelin said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And it does seem like the rules keep changing in the middle of the game.
” Matt Willis , a public health officer in Marin County , said the data problem , the rapid spread of the virus and resignations of top leaders have left California in “ a vulnerable position.
” “ We are coming out of a month and a half of significantly elevated transmission across the state and a lot of dynamic changes and policies to try and match that , ” Willis said.
`` The ground has been shifting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is another stress for us as a state .
”

The sudden departure this week of California’s public health officer is intensifying instability in the state’s vital health departments as they struggle with crushing workloads and navigating the worst health crisis in a century, according to interviews with current and former healthcare and government officials.
Dr. Sonia Angell stepped down from the California Department of Public Health on Sunday after only 10 months in the job. Her second-in-command, who led the state’s testing task force, left in July. The resignations add to a list of more than a half dozen top health officials who have departed over the last year, raising concerns that the upheaval is threatening the state’s response at a critical time.
“We’re going to run out of people,” state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) said of the turnover in the state’s public health infrastructure. “How many people do you think are qualified to be California’s [public health] director that are floating around out there in the whole country? It’s not a very large pool. And if we’re going to churn through them like this, we’re going to be in big trouble — if we’re not already in big trouble.”
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The numerous changes have increased pressure on California’s underfunded state health departments as they try to keep pace with the governor’s flurry of announcements on new guidelines, programs and policy changes, which one former agency official likened to a daily fire drill. Public health leaders at the state and county levels have also become a target of hostility over business and mask restrictions.
Since September, four people have worked as director of the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees the state’s MediCal healthcare program that serves 13 million low-income and vulnerable residents.
When the director of the California Department of Managed Health Care retired last month, the acting chief deputy director of the department stepped in to fill both roles.
The exodus includes holdovers from former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration that Newsom was slow to replace. Others have left under more unexpected circumstances.
Newsom tapped Angell, a former New York City health official, to lead the California Department of Public Health in September. She faced a steep learning curve in a state with thorny healthcare politics. Many of her predecessors had served previously as county public health officers.
Angell played a supporting role at Newsom’s first press conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in late February, describing common symptoms of the virus and reassuring Californians that the risk to the general public remained low with only 33 confirmed cases in the state. But over time she made fewer appearances as Newsom turned more often to Dr. Mark Ghaly, the secretary of Health and Human Services.
When Newsom inaccurately described a drop in positive COVID-19 cases last week, it was Ghaly who went in front of the camera the next day and disclosed the massive data error in a system overseen by Angell’s department. Later, Ghaly said Newsom “directed a full investigation of what happened and we will hold people accountable.”
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Angell abruptly resigned on Sunday, effective immediately. The following day, Newsom refused to directly address whether he asked her to step down, but added that “if it’s not obvious, then, I encourage you to consider the fact that we accepted the resignation.”
“We’re all accountable in our respective roles for what happens underneath us,” he said. Newsom emphasized that he was unaware of the data problem when he touted the decrease.
Little has been publicly shared about the events leading up to Angell’s departure other than the existence of data errors in the system she oversaw. For some, the departure felt too rash.
“This is a near-impossible job to do well in normal times,” said Dr. Richard Jackson, a former California state health officer under then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and professor emeritus at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.
Jackson said those in the state’s public health officer role have long been hindered when responding to emergencies due to layers of bureaucracy, including inflexible rules for adjusting spending. Add noncompetitive salaries for medical, scientific and data management staff with a cumbersome hiring process and it creates a nightmare for recruiting, he said.
The failure of the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, the state’s electronic disease reporting and surveillance system, didn’t come as a surprise to those familiar with it.
The system, known as CalREDIE, was not originally built to handle both positive and negative test results or a large volume of information from many labs, said Karen Smith, who preceded Angell and was appointed director of the California Department of Public Health in 2015 by Brown.
“We’ve been trying to get funding to improve the laboratory reporting system and the case management functionality of CalREDIE virtually since it was begun,” Smith said.
While Ghaly has said human error added to the problem, Smith said a “tiny” group of people are managing hundreds of data systems within the state’s public health department.
Jackson said Angell was put in an untenable situation.
“I have a feeling Dr. Angell was blamed for a rickety system,” Jackson said. “There needs to be an aggressive look at this.”
It’s not the first time a top health official has left state service following controversy.
Jennifer Kent, director of the state Department of Health Care Services, resigned under pressure in September after she criticized vaccine bill protesters on her private Facebook page.
Kent was temporarily replaced on an interim basis by Newsom’s deputy Cabinet secretary, Richard Figureroa Jr., that month. In late January, Newsom named Dr. Brad Gilbert the new director, having pulled the former chief executive officer of the Inland Empire Health Plan out of retirement. Four months later, Gilbert resigned.
In June, Newsom appointed Will Lightbourne to Gilbert’s former role, the fourth person to hold the position in nine months. Lightbourne, 70, had retired in 2018 as director of the state Department of Social Services.
In addition to Gilbert, Angell’s resignation from the Department of Public Health on Sunday came on the heels of other key departures. Last month, Dr. Charity Dean, the department’s second in command, stepped down.
Their departures were also compounded by the resignations of more than a half dozen county public health officers during the pandemic.
“People say it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but quite frankly you’ve got to feel like you’re sprinting for an entire marathon because it just keeps coming,” Smith said. “There is no question that the degree of stress has increased the number of people who’ve chosen to retire and or who left.”
Angell’s job responsibilities will be split between two women, state officials said: Sandra Shewry will take over as acting director of the Department of Public Health, and Dr. Erica Pan will become the acting state public health officer after having joined California’s public health department in June as the state’s epidemiologist.
Shewry, who is vice president at the nonprofit California Health Care Foundation, previously oversaw the state’s Medi-Cal program under Schwarzenegger. Pan, who was previously Alameda County’s health officer, notably clashed with Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in May over his electric car factory’s decision to restart production despite shelter-at-home orders at the time.
Smith said state law prevents the administration from splitting the state public health officer and director roles on anything more than a temporary basis, indicating another shift at the top ranks of the health department is on the horizon.
The changes come as some counties and business groups complain about an inconsistent pandemic response. Many note that the lack of strong leadership at the national level has placed an undue burden on the state, but say it’s difficult to get clear guidance from the Newsom administration.
Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Assn., said her group has tried to engage with public health officials to understand how counties can get off the state’s watch list. The list determines which counties have to close gyms, shopping malls and other businesses. It was frozen over a week ago in light of the data problems.
“We’re trying to figure out what’s the path and the Department of Public Health just hasn’t been responsive,” Michelin said. “What are the rules? And it does seem like the rules keep changing in the middle of the game.”
Matt Willis, a public health officer in Marin County, said the data problem, the rapid spread of the virus and resignations of top leaders have left California in “a vulnerable position.”
“We are coming out of a month and a half of significantly elevated transmission across the state and a lot of dynamic changes and policies to try and match that,” Willis said. “ The ground has been shifting in a lot of other ways and this is another stress for us as a state.”


latimes--2020-08-14--Magnitude 3.1 earthquake reported near La Quinta, Calif.

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was reported at 2:05 a.m. Friday 26 miles from La Quinta , Calif. , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
The earthquake occurred 26 miles from Coachella , 30 miles from Indio , 32 miles from Brawley and 35 miles from Palm Desert .
In the past 10 days , there have been 13 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada , according to a recent three-year data sample .
The earthquake occurred at a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel this earthquake ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Even if you didn ’ t feel this small earthquake , you never know when the Big One is going to strike .
Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit .
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot , a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS .
A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published .
If you ’ re interested in learning more about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frequently asked questions .

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was reported at 2:05 a.m. Friday 26 miles from La Quinta, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake occurred 26 miles from Coachella, 30 miles from Indio, 32 miles from Brawley and 35 miles from Palm Desert.
In the past 10 days, there have been 13 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
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An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 5.1 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Even if you didn’t feel this small earthquake, you never know when the Big One is going to strike. Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit.
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions.


latimes--2020-08-13--Evacuations lifted in Skyline fire near Corona in Riverside County

Officials have lifted evacuation orders as firefighters gained control over a vegetation fire near the city of Corona in Riverside @ @ @ @ @ was reported at 4:37 p.m. by Skyline Drive and Foothill Parkway , according to the @ @ @ @ @ Fire Protection and the Riverside County Fire Department .
It was 51 acres and 40 @ @ @ @ @ p.m .
The Corona Fire Department had ordered precautionary evacuations for the streets of Clearing @ @ @ @ @ Burrero Way , Corbett Street and Overland Lane .
Corona High School was designated as @ @ @ @ @ than 200 firefighters , as well as several helicopters and air tankers , responded to @ @ @ @ @ of the fire is under investigation .

A helicopter drops a load of water Thursday evening to battle the Skyline fire behind homes on Clearing Lane in Corona.
Officials have lifted evacuation orders as firefighters gained control over a vegetation fire near the city of Corona in Riverside County.
The Skyline fire was reported at 4:37 p.m. by Skyline Drive and Foothill Parkway, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Riverside County Fire Department. It was 51 acres and 40% contained as of 8:30 p.m.
The Corona Fire Department had ordered precautionary evacuations for the streets of Clearing Circle, Meandering Lane, Burrero Way, Corbett Street and Overland Lane. Corona High School was designated as an evacuation center.
More than 200 firefighters, as well as several helicopters and air tankers, responded to the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.


latimes--2020-08-13--What happens when California eviction moratoriums expire? Ask our reporters

More than 5 million renters in California could lose their homes after state courts again begin processing evictions on Sept. @ @ @ @ @ pandemic spurred millions of job losses , federal , state and local governments imposed eviction @ @ @ @ @ to protect tenants .
But those protections are expiring , and an “ eviction cliff @ @ @ @ @ Liam Dillon and Andrew Khouri have covered housing and evictions in California throughout the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ Smith for a live video event Wednesday to discuss the coming eviction cliff .
They @ @ @ @ @ YouTube , Twitter and Facebook at 6 p.m. to answer your questions about their reporting @ @ @ @ @ housing issues .
Share your questions ahead of time in the comments at the bottom @ @ @ @ @ ’ s our recent coverage of the eviciton cliff :

Join us Wednesday 8/19 at 6 p.m. to talk with reporters Liam Dillon, Erika Smith and Andrew Khouri about covering evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 5 million renters in California could lose their homes after state courts again begin processing evictions on Sept. 1. After the coronavirus pandemic spurred millions of job losses, federal, state and local governments imposed eviction moratoriums and financial assistance programs to protect tenants. But those protections are expiring, and an “eviction cliff” is near.
Reporters Liam Dillon and Andrew Khouri have covered housing and evictions in California throughout the pandemic and will join columnist Erika Smith for a live video event Wednesday to discuss the coming eviction cliff.
They’ll be live on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook at 6 p.m. to answer your questions about their reporting on California’s biggest housing issues.
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Share your questions ahead of time in the comments at the bottom of this article.
Here’s our recent coverage of the eviciton cliff:


latimes--2020-08-13--Firefighters stop forward progress of Galster fire in West Covina

Firefighters have stopped the forward progress of a brush fire by Galster Wilderness Park in the city of West Covina @ @ @ @ @ responded Thursday afternoon to a fire in the city of West Covina that officials said @ @ @ @ @ The Los Angeles County Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 2:25 pm , @ @ @ @ @ Firefighters had responded to the 1500 block of Westridge Road by Galster Wilderness Park .
@ @ @ @ @ acres by about 4 p.m .
Firefighters stopped the fire ’ s forward progress about @ @ @ @ @ Fire Department spokesman Marvin Lim said .
He said that no structures were lost and @ @ @ @ @ poses a threat to homes .

Firefighters responded to the 1500 block of Westridge Road by Galster Wilderness Park in West Covina.
Firefighters have stopped the forward progress of a brush fire by Galster Wilderness Park in the city of West Covina, authorities said.
Firefighters responded Thursday afternoon to a fire in the city of West Covina that officials said was moving toward homes.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 2:25 pm, spokeswoman Leslie Lua said. Firefighters had responded to the 1500 block of Westridge Road by Galster Wilderness Park. It was 2 to 3 acres by about 4 p.m.
Firefighters stopped the fire’s forward progress about 5 p.m., L.A. County Fire Department spokesman Marvin Lim said. He said that no structures were lost and that the fire no longer poses a threat to homes.


latimes--2020-08-14--Officials warn of California power outages due to strain on grid during heat wave

The body that runs the electric grid for most of California declared a statewide Stage 2 emergency late Friday afternoon @ @ @ @ @ up electricity use and straining the grid , warning of rotating power outages if the @ @ @ @ @ .
The California Independent System Operator had issued a statewide flex alert earlier Friday , @ @ @ @ @ between 3 and 10 p.m. That alert asked consumers to set air conditioner thermostats to @ @ @ @ @ turn off unnecessary lights and not use major appliances .
In a statement , the @ @ @ @ @ working closely with utilities and neighboring power systems to manage the strain on the grid @ @ @ @ @ power disruptions .
”

The body that runs the electric grid for most of California declared a statewide Stage 3 emergency Friday evening for the first time since 2001 due to excessive heat driving up electricity use and ordered utilities to implement power disruption programs.
The California Independent System Operator had issued a statewide flex alert earlier Friday, asking residents to conserve electricity between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. That alert asked consumers to set air conditioner thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turn off unnecessary lights and not use major appliances.
We “were monitoring the flex alert to see if consumers would answer the call to lower the energy use so we wouldn’t have to go into Stage 3,” said Anne Gonzales, a public information officer for the corporation. “We are in Stage 3 now and hopefully demand will keep going down.”
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In the wake of the decision, there were a scattering of power interruptions in Southern California, but it was unclear how widespread they were. The emergency notice was issued at 6:36 p.m. and lifted at 8:54 p.m. One thousand megawatts of electricity were taken out of service, the corporation said.
The power shortage is being driven by what officials say is one of the worst statewide heat waves in years. The broiling conditions that began Friday in California may rival the deadly seven-day heat event of July 2006, the National Weather Service said.
The valleys, mountains and deserts of Southern California are likely to see daytime and nighttime temperatures challenge records through at least Thursday, and humidity will make conditions feel 2 to 5 degrees warmer during the day.
Air quality officials also issued an advisory Friday warning that the heat wave is pushing lung-damaging ozone pollution to “very unhealthy” levels and that much of Southern California will experience elevated smog through Monday. On Friday afternoon, ozone pollution in some areas reached its highest levels in a decade as a result of high temperatures and wildfires, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
David Song, a public information officer for Southern California Edison, said that approximately 132,000 of the utility’s 5 million customers were without power as of 7:30 p.m. because of rotating power outages it had put in place. The outages were scattered throughout Southern California Edison’s service area and were set to last about one hour for each outage group. These groups include customers from a cross section of cities so that an entire city is not affected, he said.
Song urged customers to take steps as simple as turning off the lights in a room once they leave in order to save power, emphasizing that “every little bit helps.”
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“In past instances we encouraged customers to go to the movies or the mall to get away with the heat,” he said. “We understand with COVID that’s not a reality…. We’re mindful to customers and what they’re going through right now, especially staying home.”
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said its customers were not affected by the declared emergency because it generates and imports its own electricity and was able to meet the city’s demand.
Spokesman Joe Ramallo said the DWP had in fact provided excess power Friday evening to the California Independent System Operator. The DWP, he said, has never had to institute rotating outages due to not having enough power to meet demand.
Times staff writers Tony Barboza and Sammy Roth contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-08-14--How to adapt special education to the remote-learning reality

When the pandemic forced schools to transition to remote learning in the spring , some families struggled more than others .
Families of students in special education programs were suddenly expected to adapt to an online learning environment that was often inaccessible to children with a variety of physical , emotional or developmental needs .
As another period of distance learning dawns , we asked parents , educators and service providers for recommendations and advice about special education .
Here ’ s what they said .
Although it may seem obvious , parents should know that schools must still provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stile Marshall , chief executive of the national Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates , which protects the civil rights of students with disabilities , said she received an outpouring of calls in March from parents — especially from California — struggling to get their school districts to accommodate every student ’ s needs .
Some school districts , Marshall said , completely suspended special education courses until the closures ended .
Marshall said that is illegal under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act , the law that makes about 7 million students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ education .
Every child , regardless of need , is entitled to a “ free , appropriate public education.
” “ The pandemic and the closures that resulted from it have not waived any requirements or obligations under the law , ” Marshall said .
“ The districts are still supposed to be providing what the student needs.
” If a school district is not meeting its requirements , Marshall said , caregivers should write their concerns down to create a record .
Any data that families can collect on any student — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work or other documentation — can be helpful for tracking the student ’ s progress or regression .
Then , she said , get into contact with the school district and the student ’ s individualized education program coordinator .
Don ’ t be afraid to change your child ’ s learning goals for the year .
“ When we talk about expectations for the coming year , we need to listen to students and families about what works , ” said Beth Lasky , who just completed her 40th year as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and previously taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 13 years .
That may mean reevaluating a student ’ s individualized education program , or IEP .
Set up a meeting with the child ’ s IEP team to assess the goals for the year .
They might not be the same as last year — and that ’ s OK , said Erica Howell , co-director of the Center for Autism at Cal State Fullerton .
“ We might say , ‘ This goal was great , and it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re not going to be able to target this in the home environment as we could in the school environment , ’ ” Howell said .
“ But instead , ‘ Hey , here ’ s another skill and goal that we can really develop while we have this opportunity now with this child at home.
’ ” The IEP may require more intense services to counter an achievement gap caused by last year ’ s sudden shift to virtual learning .
If some in-person services such as physical or occupational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Marshall recommends setting an agreement for when the service can resume .
“ I just want to caution parents : Everybody ’ s tempted to think ... that something must be different because of COVID , ” she said .
“ Perhaps , if the team decides that .
But ... it really is team dependent.
” The goals may remain the same , but the way each student achieves them looks different .
For example , perhaps one student answers a question with a written response while another creates a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ verbally .
“ They can still be expected to demonstrate a common core standard , but we give them options or choices of how they ’ re going to demonstrate that understanding or ability , ” Lasky said .
Lasky also recommended setting up an informal meet-and-greet with teachers to familiarize them with the student ’ s family , home life and learning environment .
Opening that relationship early on will reap returns later , she said .
“ We know from research that when teachers connect with students and their experiences and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to remember and they learn more , ” Lasky said .
However the child performs , Howell recommends responding to any positive behavior with praise .
“ We get a salary for our jobs ; that reinforces us , ” Howell said .
“ We want to keep our kiddos in mind that it ’ s not easy , and we want to give that reinforcement to keep them engaged.
” Whether during school time or after the virtual bell rings , kids will need time with friends .
Parents and teachers recommend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Children may especially enjoy connecting with others similar to them .
For the last six years , Tustin parent of four Marsha Hansen has sent her 16-year-old son , who lives with a congenital heart disease , to Camp del Corazon on Catalina Island .
Every year , Hansen said , she noticed her son returning with renewed confidence and a stronger sense of self after spending a week with nearly 500 other children “ with a scar running down their chest.
” This year , the camp went virtual .
Campgoers interacted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Padlet , a child-friendly social media wall where people can post pictures and sticky notes .
The virtual experience may be different , but don ’ t underestimate your children ’ s ability to have fun , Hansen said .
“ I heard laughter ... and screams and shouts and joy coming from his bedroom , ” she said .
“ He was having a great time as a 16-year-old boy on a Zoom call with a bunch of other 16-year-old boys at a virtual camp .
I would have never guessed that.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ loved making friends at Camp del Corazon so much that Miner and a few parents formed a Facebook group so the children can stay connected through the school year with Friday night virtual dance parties , online bingo games and even Zoom hide-and-seek .
More parental involvement might be needed For a child struggling with a speech issue , for example , speech-language pathologist Jimmy Nguyen is frank : Therapy from home is going to be hard and require more parental involvement .
Adults at home may need to monitor the student to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paying attention .
“ In the beginning , it can be very difficult , because parents don ’ t have that knowledge or that education that we work on .
We ’ re able to dissect and evaluate these little pathways on how to facilitate it , ” Nguyen said .
Still , he said , there ’ s hope : “ For parents , it ’ s just tweaking their routine a little to [ achieve ] those goals and making them a part of their skill set.
” For example , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trip to the grocery store can turn into a lesson .
Analyzing a box of cereal can help with language skills , while adding up calories on a candy bar can teach simple math .
Playing board games as a family is another way to engage a child and improve a host of skills — social , analytical , critical thinking and sometimes even math .
Interactive lessons — which he recommended finding on websites and — can also facilitate learning .
Keep a schedule — as best you can Everyone interviewed for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and maintaining a schedule .
“ Kids , especially with special needs , need that consistency , ” El Segundo High School science teacher Tiffany Maisonet said .
“ They know that every day , no matter what , 10:30 is when they should log in.
” Keeping a schedule doesn ’ t necessarily mean following a typical six- or eight-hour school day .
“ Expecting kids to sit from 8 to 3 online all day is not realistic , ” said Lasky , the special education professor .
“ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t have disabilities , and it ’ s not realistic for kids with disabilities.
” Mix up the traditional schedule by adding in plenty of breaks for small rewards , like a snack , a few minutes of TV time or a romp outside .
Some educators suggested creating an incentive chart of different rewards , so the child gets to choose how to spend the break .
But , they acknowledged , some children won ’ t be motivated by charts .
Listen to your child to know how best to incentivize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t want is students sitting down all day at the computer and making parents check off every task until it ’ s done , ” Howell said .
“ We want there to be a balance so we keep children in the framework for learning.
” Theresa Quary , a coordinator at CSUN ’ s Family Focus Resource Center and the founder of a support group for Black and African American families of children with special needs , suggested taking notes on which rewards and schedules seem to work for your child .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ when it goes off , reading time is over and playtime can begin .
As anyone with children knows , the schedule will change .
Don ’ t beat yourself up , and do your best to get back on schedule tomorrow .
You and your kids can do it Families are not the only ones struggling .
Teachers and educators are navigating the virtual environment too , and everyone is learning alongside the students .
Here are some of their words of advice .
Hansen , mother of four : “ Give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smart .
This is a super , super smart generation .
They have the whole world at their fingertips .
They ’ re not going to get behind.
” Nguyen , speech-language pathologist : “ It ’ s good also to remember [ that children ] ... don ’ t have those social skills .
They don ’ t have the patience that we do .
They don ’ t have the critical thinking skills that we have .
… There is going to be that learning curve.
” Quary , coordinator at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ We have to come at it with a different approach and just say , ‘ Families , do what you can do .
It ’ s not going to be the same .
We know that .
But do what you can do.
’ ” Miner , mother of five : “ We ’ re all being asked to do something that we ’ re not equipped for , and nobody ’ s equipped for .
We ’ re all going to have to figure out as we go and give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to meet everybody ’ s needs the way they are .
”

When the pandemic forced schools to transition to remote learning in the spring, some families struggled more than others. Families of students in special education programs were suddenly expected to adapt to an online learning environment that was often inaccessible to children with a variety of physical, emotional or developmental needs.
As another period of distance learning dawns, we asked parents, educators and service providers for recommendations and advice about special education. Here’s what they said.
Know your rights
Although it may seem obvious, parents should know that schools must still provide their students with special education. Denise Stile Marshall, chief executive of the national Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, which protects the civil rights of students with disabilities, said she received an outpouring of calls in March from parents — especially from California — struggling to get their school districts to accommodate every student’s needs.
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Some school districts, Marshall said, completely suspended special education courses until the closures ended. Marshall said that is illegal under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the law that makes about 7 million students in the United States eligible for special education. Every child, regardless of need, is entitled to a “free, appropriate public education.”
“The pandemic and the closures that resulted from it have not waived any requirements or obligations under the law,” Marshall said. “The districts are still supposed to be providing what the student needs.”
If a school district is not meeting its requirements, Marshall said, caregivers should write their concerns down to create a record. Any data that families can collect on any student — including video of the child, school work or other documentation — can be helpful for tracking the student’s progress or regression. Then, she said, get into contact with the school district and the student’s individualized education program coordinator.
California Back to school in a pandemic: Resources and news for parents The new school year of remote learning will bring unique challenges. Here are guides to help parents of school-age children navigate remote learning, as well as recent updates about education in Southern California.
Adjust expectations
Don’t be afraid to change your child’s learning goals for the year.
“When we talk about expectations for the coming year, we need to listen to students and families about what works,” said Beth Lasky, who just completed her 40th year as a special education professor at Cal State Northridge. and previously taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 13 years.
That may mean reevaluating a student’s individualized education program, or IEP. Set up a meeting with the child’s IEP team to assess the goals for the year. They might not be the same as last year — and that’s OK, said Erica Howell, co-director of the Center for Autism at Cal State Fullerton.
“We might say, ‘This goal was great, and it was really meeting an important skill, but we’re not going to be able to target this in the home environment as we could in the school environment,’” Howell said. “But instead, ‘Hey, here’s another skill and goal that we can really develop. ’”
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The IEP may require more intense services to counter an achievement gap caused by last year’s sudden shift to virtual learning. If some in-person services such as physical or occupational therapy are not available now, COPAA’s Marshall recommends setting an agreement for when the service can resume.
“I just want to caution parents: Everybody’s tempted to think ... that something must be different because of COVID,” she said. “Perhaps, if the team decides that. But ... it really is team dependent.”
The goals may remain the same, but the way each student achieves them looks different. For example, perhaps one student answers a question with a written response while another creates a video, draws a picture or responds verbally.
“They can still be expected to demonstrate a common core standard, but we give them options or choices of how they’re going to demonstrate that understanding or ability,” Lasky said.
Lasky also recommended setting up an informal meet-and-greet with teachers to familiarize them with the student’s family, home life and learning environment. Opening that relationship early on will reap returns later, she said.
“We know from research that when teachers connect with students and their experiences and their family life, that kids tend to remember and they learn more,” Lasky said.
However the child performs, Howell recommends responding to any positive behavior with praise.
“We get a salary for our jobs; that reinforces us,” Howell said. “We want to keep our kiddos in mind that it’s not easy, and we want to give that reinforcement to keep them engaged.”
Your kid needs friends
Whether during school time or after the virtual bell rings, kids will need time with friends. Parents and teachers recommend intentionally setting aside some social time.
Children may especially enjoy connecting with others similar to them. For the last six years, Tustin parent of four Marsha Hansen has sent her 16-year-old son, who lives with a congenital heart disease, to Camp del Corazon on Catalina Island. Every year, Hansen said, she noticed her son returning with renewed confidence and a stronger sense of self after spending a week with nearly 500 other children “with a scar running down their chest.”
This year, the camp went virtual. Campgoers interacted with one another using video chats and Padlet, a child-friendly social media wall where people can post pictures and sticky notes. The virtual experience may be different, but don’t underestimate your children’s ability to have fun, Hansen said.
“I heard laughter ... and screams and shouts and joy coming from his bedroom,” she said. “He was having a great time as a 16-year-old boy on a Zoom call with a bunch of other 16-year-old boys at a virtual camp. I would have never guessed that.”
Mother Gretchen Miner said her 10-year-old loved making friends at Camp del Corazon so much that Miner and a few parents formed a Facebook group so the children can stay connected through the school year with Friday night virtual dance parties, online bingo games and even Zoom hide-and-seek.
California Strategies for supporting your child’s social and emotional learning from home Math homework and history reading can mostly be done alone. But social and emotional learning requires interaction. Here’s how parents can help their children during remote schooling.
More parental involvement might be needed
For a child struggling with a speech issue, for example, speech-language pathologist Jimmy Nguyen is frank: Therapy from home is going to be hard and require more parental involvement. Adults at home may need to monitor the student to make sure they are logged on and paying attention.
“In the beginning, it can be very difficult, because parents don’t have that knowledge or that education that we work on. We’re able to dissect and evaluate these little pathways on how to facilitate it,” Nguyen said.
Still, he said, there’s hope: “For parents, it’s just tweaking their routine a little to [achieve] those goals and making them a part of their skill set.”
For example, he often advises families that a simple trip to the grocery store can turn into a lesson. Analyzing a box of cereal can help with language skills, while adding up calories on a candy bar can teach simple math. Playing board games as a family is another way to engage a child and improve a host of skills — social, analytical, critical thinking and sometimes even math. Interactive lessons — which he recommended finding on websites Nearpod and N2Y — can also facilitate learning.
California Children with disabilities are regressing. How much is distance learning to blame? California has mandated that school districts continue to provide special education to students with disabilities during the pandemic, but has waived key timelines that allow students to receive assessments and services quickly.
Keep a schedule — as best you can
Educators and emphasized the importance of making and maintaining a schedule.
“Kids, especially with special needs, need that consistency,” El Segundo High School science teacher Tiffany Maisonet said. “They know that every day, no matter what, 10:30 is when they should log in.”
Keeping a schedule doesn’t necessarily mean following a typical six- or eight-hour school day.
“Expecting kids to sit from 8 to 3 online all day is not realistic,” said Lasky, the special education professor. “It’s not realistic for people that don’t have disabilities, and it’s not realistic for kids with disabilities.”
Mix up the traditional schedule by adding in plenty of breaks for small rewards, like a snack, a few minutes of TV time or a romp outside. Some educators suggested creating an incentive chart of different rewards, so the child gets to choose how to spend the break. But, they acknowledged, some children won’t be motivated by charts. Listen to your child to know how best to incentivize them.
“What we don’t want is students sitting down all day at the computer and making parents check off every task until it’s done,” Howell said. “We want there to be a balance so we keep children in the framework for learning.”
Theresa Quary, a coordinator at CSUN’s Family Focus Resource Center and the founder of a support group for Black and African American families of children with special needs, suggested taking notes on which rewards and schedules seem to work for your child. She also suggested setting a timer — when it goes off, reading time is over and playtime can begin.
As anyone with children knows, the schedule will change. Don’t beat yourself up, and do your best to get back on schedule tomorrow.
You and your kids can do it
Families are not the only ones struggling. Teachers and educators are navigating the virtual environment too, and everyone is learning alongside the students. Here are some of their words of advice.
Hansen, mother of four: “Give the kids credit because they’re smart. This is a super, super smart generation. They have the whole world at their fingertips. They’re not going to get behind.”
Nguyen, speech-language pathologist: “It’s good also to remember [that children] ... don’t have those social skills. They don’t have the patience that we do. They don’t have the critical thinking skills that we have. … There is going to be that learning curve.”
Quary, coordinator at CSUN’s Family Focus Resource Center: “We have to come at it with a different approach and just say, ‘Families, do what you can do. It’s not going to be the same. We know that. But do what you can do.’”
Miner, mother of five: “We’re all being asked to do something that we’re not equipped for, and nobody’s equipped for. We’re all going to have to figure out as we go and give each other the grace and the space to meet everybody’s needs the way they are.”


latimes--2020-08-14--Priest's lawsuit alleges LAPD officer struck and kicked him in chest at protest

A 55-year-old Armenian priest has alleged in a lawsuit that a Los Angeles police officer struck him in the stomach with the end of a tactical gun and then violently kicked him in the chest as he sought to regain his balance at a recent protest .
Father Armen Bagramyan , a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church , claims the officer ’ s actions during a demonstration outside the Azerbaijani Consulate in Brentwood in July represented excessive force and violated his civil rights , sending him to UCLA Medical Center in an ambulance .
He also says they came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helping police maintain order throughout the day .
“ On numerous occasions , Father Bagramyan positioned himself between protesters and law enforcement and would speak to protesters via megaphone , instructing them to comply with the officers ’ commands , ” the lawsuit says .
Video of the incident reviewed by The Times appears to show the officer shove a bright green gun — designed to shoot tactical projectiles — into Bagramyan , who bends forward .
The officer then appears to kick the priest , enraging members of the crowd .
Another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frock with a large cross hanging around his neck , holding on to the end of the officer ’ s gun just before he gets kicked .
Greg Kirakosian , Bagramyan ’ s attorney , says the priest had been blindsided by the officer shoving the barrel of the gun in his stomach , and had grabbed the gun as part of a “ knee-jerk reaction ” as he doubled over .
“ He grabs the object that just pummeled his stomach , ” Kirakosian said .
Then , “ the officer gives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Is Sparta'-type kick , ” he said , a reference to the 2006 film “ 300.
” As other officers step into the fray , the masked officer who kicked Bagramyan raises his gun and points it at the crowd .
Josh Rubenstein , an LAPD spokesman , said the incident is being investigated by the department but he could not comment on the pending litigation .
The July 21 protest was organized by the Armenian Youth Federation .
Hundreds of people marched to the Azerbaijani Consulate , where they were met by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The incident became violent , as bottles flew through the air , and several people were injured .
The protest followed the eruption of violence earlier in the month in Tavush , a northern province of Armenia near the border of Azerbaijan .
Allegations of violence and territorial encroachment have been lobbed back and forth between the two countries .
Bagramyan claims he had been working tirelessly during the L.A. protest to “ maintain peace ” and deescalate tensions between Armenian protesters and Azerbaijani counterprotesters , and never represented a threat to officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LAPD officers , provided them with water , and even prayed with them , ” the lawsuit , filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court , claims .
“ Moreover , throughout this period and following the scuffle , Father Bagramyan was seen and heard on a megaphone working tirelessly with LAPD officers to maintain peace and quell the unrest.
” Bagramyan claims he suffered “ severe pain , bruising and internal injuries ” as a result of the encounter , and is suing for unspecified damages .
The LAPD has said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assaults on Armenian protesters at the event .
It also said one officer was injured .

A 55-year-old Armenian priest has alleged in a lawsuit that a Los Angeles police officer struck him in the stomach with the end of a tactical gun and then violently kicked him in the chest as he sought to regain his balance at a recent protest.
Father Armen Bagramyan, a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church, claims the officer’s actions during a demonstration outside the Azerbaijani Consulate in Brentwood in July represented excessive force and violated his civil rights, sending him to UCLA Medical Center in an ambulance.
He also says they came despite the fact that Bagramyan had been helping police maintain order throughout the day.
“On numerous occasions, Father Bagramyan positioned himself between protesters and law enforcement and would speak to protesters via megaphone, instructing them to comply with the officers’ commands,” the lawsuit says.
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Video of the incident reviewed by The Times appears to show the officer shove a bright green gun — designed to shoot tactical projectiles — into Bagramyan, who bends forward. The officer then appears to kick the priest, enraging members of the crowd.
“A priest?!” one man yells. “A f—ing priest?!”
Another video shows Bagramyan, in a traditional frock with a large cross hanging around his neck, holding on to the end of the officer’s gun just before he gets kicked.
Greg Kirakosian, Bagramyan’s attorney, says the priest had been blindsided by the officer shoving the barrel of the gun in his stomach, and had grabbed the gun as part of a “knee-jerk reaction” as he doubled over.
“He grabs the object that just pummeled his stomach,” Kirakosian said. Then, “the officer gives this nice, like, ‘This Is Sparta’-type kick,” he said, a reference to the 2006 film “300.”
As other officers step into the fray, the masked officer who kicked Bagramyan raises his gun and points it at the crowd.
Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, said the incident is being investigated by the department but he could not comment on the pending litigation.
The July 21 protest was organized by the Armenian Youth Federation. Hundreds of people marched to the Azerbaijani Consulate, where they were met by a smaller group of Azerbaijani counterprotesters. The incident became violent, as bottles flew through the air, and several people were injured.
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The protest followed the eruption of violence earlier in the month in Tavush, a northern province of Armenia near the border of Azerbaijan. Allegations of violence and territorial encroachment have been lobbed back and forth between the two countries.
Bagramyan claims he had been working tirelessly during the L.A. protest to “maintain peace” and deescalate tensions between Armenian protesters and Azerbaijani counterprotesters, and never represented a threat to officers.
“Father Bagramyan spoke to numerous LAPD officers, provided them with water, and even prayed with them,” the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claims. “Moreover, throughout this period and following the scuffle, Father Bagramyan was seen and heard on a megaphone working tirelessly with LAPD officers to maintain peace and quell the unrest.”
Bagramyan claims he suffered “severe pain, bruising and internal injuries” as a result of the encounter, and is suing for unspecified damages.
The LAPD has said it is also investigating three alleged hate crime assaults on Azerbaijani protesters at the event. It also said one officer was injured.