UUSD considers reopening plan, distance learning update
b'January 19, 2021 \\u2014 The Ukiah Unified School District, the largest in the county, met last week for an update on distance learning and the governor\\u2019s not-yet finalized proposal to partially reopen schools by mid-February. The California Safe Schools for All plan is an incentive program that would give schools grants to bring kids back into the classroom. \\nAnd a letter signed by sixteen local doctors to Mendocino County leaders and representatives laid out in stark terms how detrimental distance learning has been for children, citing widening disparities in academic success and \\u201cmore and more kids suffering from isolation, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, obesity and diabetes,\\u201d as well as an addiction to screens, social media and gaming. The letters\\u2019 signers include Dr. Drew Colfax of the regular KZYX Coronavirus Update, and Dr. Mark Luato, the county\\u2019s EMS medical director. It closes with the unambiguous exhortation that \\u201cGetting children back to in-person school now is essential!\\u201d\\n\\nEnrollment in the district is down slightly, and could go down further if Sanel Valley Academy, a charter school in Hopland, opens next year. The majority of students in the district have seen a decline in their academic assessments, with only about a third of them meeting proficiency levels in most areas.\\nMost of the district\\u2019s 800 employees received their first round of the covid vaccine during events at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center on January 12 and 15. Assemblymember Jim Wood, who is also a forensic dentist, participated in giving some of the shots.\\nIn other vaccination news, the county reports that public health has vaccinated 5,970 people over the age of 18. That\\u2019s not counting those who have been immunized through hospitals, pharmacies, or the Indian health centers, which get their supplies through other channels in the state and federal government. According to a county press release, the approximately 1,200 people who came to the vaccination event at the Redwood Empire fairgrounds on January 13, many of them senior citizens who waited in a light rain for hours, have been vaccinated or scheduled for their first shot.\\nThose who received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on December 30 or 31 can receive their second shot on Thursday, January 21, between 9am and 4pm, at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah. You\\u2019ll need your ID and the vaccine card you got with your first shot. \\nVaccines don\\u2019t play into the safety plan that schools must have if the governor\\u2019s proposal to reopen passes, but they could make it safer.'