Category: Schools

Irvine students have returned to in-person learning. 

In preparation, the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) launched a new webpage that offers up-to-date information on how many students and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 in their schools.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the recommended national standard should be one full-time school nurse per school. 

Here in Irvine, there are only 21 FTE (full-time equivalent) school nurses to cover 43 schools.  That’s a problem, especially in the middle of a global pandemic.

School nurses are specially trained and certified.  They understand and educate others about childhood development; they promote health and safety; intervene with actual and potential health problems; provide case-management services; and actively collaborate with physicians.

As students head back to the classroom, school nurses will be key in keeping our kids safe.

When this period of distance learning ends, there will be hundreds of studies released on how it impacted our children.  However, it’s important for us to recognize right now the effects of isolation and loneliness.

Social media can help! I’ve recently learned how a few local moms are using creative ways through social media channels to keep their kids connected to friends and classmates.

Irvine Community News & Views is launching a new series of articles, discussing the current situation at IUSD and TUSD schools, now that students have shifted to an e-learning environment.

Students, teachers, and parents are having to adjust to the “new normal” of online classrooms.

Due to concerns around the coronavirus outbreak, all Irvine schools have closed. Classes have been moved online.

Irvine Community News & Views has compiled a list of Irvine schools with direct links to each school’s coronavirus resource page.

With America awash in guns and gun violence, the shocking fact is that school shootings have become the “new normal.”

In 2018 and 2019, the country suffered through a combined, record-breaking total of nearly 200 school shooting incidents.

Summer 2019 in America drew to an ugly, horrific end.  Mass shootings in August generated scores of new gun-violence casualties and a growing list of newly terrorized communities: Gilroy, California; Dayton, Ohio; and the El Paso, Odessa and Midland communities in Texas. ICNV asked three of our columnists to once again weigh-in on the gun violence issue.

When teachers and the community stand shoulder-to-shoulder, marching in support of school kids, good things usually happen.

This story is worth re-telling, because it is a powerful lesson all of us should remember: Citizen activism works! When the City proposed a 20 percent cut in City support for our schools, teachers, and students, the Irvine community responded, and leaders listened.

Important Update: Citizen engagement in Irvine has stopped a proposed 20 percent cut in annual City funding for our schools, teachers and students.

Each weekday morning, Monday through Friday, there is a crush of traffic: teachers and staff driving to school; teenage high school drivers; and parents driving to school to drop off their own kids, while dodging young pedestrians and bicyclists.