SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aspiring tech professionals can now apply to BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, being unveiled today via live stream, which is a new approach that empowers more people than ever to achieve life-changing increases in income. The new CareerFlow learning experience provides a seamless, direct path from Day One of all BloomTech programs straight to a well paying job. No matter their starting point, students can gain the skills needed to fill in-demand tech positions, faster.

“Our new flexible, live learning experience removes a critical barrier to gaining the skills that lead to a higher income,” said Austen Allred, Co-founder and CEO of BloomTech. “More people than ever will have the opportunity to get the kind of education that can transform their lives and even reverse generational patterns of poverty—on their schedule. Our approach of teaching exactly the skills employers want, without any filler, also addresses the skills gap that is holding back the economy.”

Get the skills that employers want at your pace, on your schedule, for your goals

Building on BloomTech’s time-proven curriculum, the CareerFlow learning experience adds greater flexibility to its direct path to a well paying job. Now more people, in more life circumstances, can earn a higher income via a career in web development, backend development, and data science.

“Joining BloomTech and completing the program was the greatest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” says Stu Darsey, who graduated from BloomTech in 2021. Darsey had worked in dozens of jobs, from barista to chimney sweep, and had no coding experience before he enrolled in BloomTech. Now he is a full stack engineer, saving up to buy a house, and earning a salary that shocked his family. “I’m now in a position where I’m building applications that change people’s lives. It’s all because BloomTech offers such flexibility in how you can learn and when you can learn.”

Students of BloomTech can access its team of experts and more live instruction than ever, 7 days a week. This means that learners can take control of their education and their future—whether they choose to blaze through their program at top speed or balance learning with work and family—with BloomTech support guiding the way.

BloomTech CareerFlow features include:

• Customized Flexible Learning – Learners choose when to access live instruction and on-demand sessions from experts 7 days a week. They can accelerate or slow down their progress at any point, enabling them to achieve a “flow state” of learning and retain more knowledge.

• 1:1 Career Support – BloomTech analyzes company data to understand the actions that lead to job offers, then designs its career support so learners get higher paying jobs, faster. Personalized career support begins on Day 1 and includes preparing for interviews, practicing whiteboarding and technical assessments, building a resume and portfolio, gaining the confidence to negotiate, and more.

• Real-World Experience – Assignments mirror the problems professionals tackle every day. Learners also work with a team of peers to build a real product for a real client. With these practical skills and hands-on coding experience, learners graduate ready to thrive in well paying technical roles.

• Accessible Tuition Options – Financial circumstances should not dictate who has the ability to land a better job and earn more money. BloomTech works diligently to expand accessibility to results-driven education. Learners can choose from flexible tuition payment options, including the Outcomes-Based Loan. This popular option requires zero tuition up front and is covered by the 110% Tuition Refund Guarantee. The guarantee means that if learners follow the BloomTech job search program and don’t get job offers paying at least $50,000 a year within a year of graduation, the company will refund their full tuition plus pay an additional 10% of their tuition. (Terms apply.)

Applications are now open for BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, which will go live on July 18, 2022. Please visit: BloomTech.com/How-It-Works

About Bloom Tech:

BloomTech designed everything within its learning experience with one goal: to help learners get a well paying job, faster, and with less risk. The innovative edtech company teaches the skills employers want plus supports learners in the job search, every step of the way.

Founded in 2017, Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly Lambda School and also known as BloomTech) was built on the premise that traditional higher education is broken. Too many people are left out and left behind, leaving them without the opportunities that come from a well paying job. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but is proud to be a remote-first organization, employing leaders from all corners of the US

The post BloomTech Launches New CareerFlow Studying Expertise, Offering College students a Versatile Strategy to Incomes a Excessive-Paying Tech Job appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SALISBURY, NC (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Rowan-Salisbury Schools started class just about two weeks ago, but already, some students are back at home.

West Rowan Middle School informed families they will close the school for the rest of the week due to the detection of “microbial growth” in the HVAC system.

Cleaning crews set to remove mold from Guilford County jail

In a message sent to parents, the district said janitorial staff notified the community of mold earlier this month. Still, when they brought in an independent consultant to test for mold, it returned negative. They said on Aug. 17, more mold was detected, and this time, the test came back positive.

“I was weary and scared,” said Lauren Rowland, who has three kids at West Rowan Middle School. “It’s hard on us parents too, because it goes from us working our 9-5 every day, and then having to be home with the kids all day.”

But it’s not just frustrations over missing work that upset parents; it’s the potential physical health effect on their kids.

Queen City News spoke to at least four parents who said their kids had had asthma flare-ups since school started. One agreed to talk to us under the condition of anonymity.

“She’s had the worst cough that she’s had in a long time,” said the mother. “We had notifications from her asthma doctor letting us know they were monitoring her and wanting to know what was going on because her stats were falling.”

Rowan County man posed as Duke Energy employee, tampered with people’s meters, sheriff’s office says

While students learn at home, the district will give families iPads and Wi-Fi hotspots to help them with online learning. Pickup for those devices is at West Rowan High School on Wednesday and Thursday from 11 am – 1 pm and from 4 pm to 6 pm

They’ll also offer meals to students in need at West Rowan Elementary School through Friday from 11 am to 1 pm Parents must register their children for those meals by 9 am on Wednesday. They can do so by clicking this link.

Some students say they feel sad about having to return to remote learning.

“They’re kind of disappointed. It’s their first year in middle school, and you know, this ain’t the way they thought it would start out,” said the anonymous mother.

Parents are also wondering if there was a better way to prevent this from happening.

“I’m not angry; I’m disappointed. Because somebody knew that it was here,” said the mother.

A representative from Rowan-Salisbury Schools says they can’t say precisely when students will be able to head back to class, but they know it will take about ten days to clean the ventilation system thoroughly.

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SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 18, 2022–

Aspiring tech professionals can now apply to BloomTech ‘s CareerFlow learning experience, being unveiled today via live stream, which is a new approach that empowers more people than ever to achieve life-changing increases in income. The new CareerFlow learning experience provides a seamless, direct path from Day One of all BloomTech programs straight to a well paying job. No matter their starting point, students can gain the skills needed to fill in-demand tech positions, faster.

“Our new flexible, live learning experience removes a critical barrier to gaining the skills that lead to a higher income,” said Austen Allred, Co-founder and CEO of BloomTech. “More people than ever will have the opportunity to get the kind of education that can transform their lives and even reverse generational patterns of poverty—on their schedule. Our approach of teaching exactly the skills employers want, without any filler, also addresses the skills gap that is holding back the economy.”

Get the skills that employers want at your pace, on your schedule, for your goals

Building on BloomTech’s time-proven curriculum, the CareerFlow learning experience adds greater flexibility to its direct path to a well paying job. Now more people, in more life circumstances, can earn a higher income via a career in web development, backend development, and data science.

“Joining BloomTech and completing the program was the greatest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” says Stu Darsey, who graduated from BloomTech in 2021. Darsey had worked in dozens of jobs, from barista to chimney sweep, and had no coding experience before he enrolled in BloomTech. Now he is a full stack engineer, saving up to buy a house, and earning a salary that shocked his family. “I’m now in a position where I’m building applications that change people’s lives. It’s all because BloomTech offers such flexibility in how you can learn and when you can learn.”

Students of BloomTech can access its team of experts and more live instruction than ever, 7 days a week. This means that learners can take control of their education and their future—whether they choose to blaze through their program at top speed or balance learning with work and family—with BloomTech support guiding the way.

BloomTech CareerFlow features include:

• Customized Flexible Learning – Learners choose when to access live instruction and on-demand sessions from experts 7 days a week. They can accelerate or slow down their progress at any point, enabling them to achieve a “flow state” of learning and retain more knowledge.

• 1:1 Career Support – BloomTech analyzes company data to understand the actions that lead to job offers, then designs its career support so learners get higher paying jobs, faster. Personalized career support begins on Day 1 and includes preparing for interviews, practicing whiteboarding and technical assessments, building a resume and portfolio, gaining the confidence to negotiate, and more.

• Real-World Experience – Assignments mirror the problems professionals tackle every day. Learners also work with a team of peers to build a real product for a real client. With these practical skills and hands-on coding experience, learners graduate ready to thrive in well paying technical roles.

• Accessible Tuition Options – Financial circumstances should not dictate who has the ability to land a better job and earn more money. BloomTech works diligently to expand accessibility to results-driven education. Learners can choose from flexible tuition payment options, including the Outcomes-Based Loan. This popular option requires zero tuition up front and is covered by the 110% Tuition Refund Guarantee. The guarantee means that if learners follow the BloomTech job search program and don’t get job offers paying at least $50,000 a year within a year of graduation, the company will refund their full tuition plus pay an additional 10% of their tuition. (Terms apply.)

Applications are now open for BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, which will go live on July 18, 2022. Please visit: BloomTech.com/How-It-Works

About BloomTech:

BloomTech designed everything within its learning experience with one goal: to help learners get a well paying job, faster, and with less risk. The innovative edtech company teaches the skills employers want plus supports learners in the job search, every step of the way.

Founded in 2017, Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly Lambda School and also known as BloomTech) was built on the premise that traditional higher education is broken. Too many people are left out and left behind, leaving them without the opportunities that come from a well paying job. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but is proud to be a remote-first organization, employing leaders from all corners of the US

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220518005871/en/

CONTACT: Media Contact:

Carmen Mantalas

Mantalas Communications, Inc for BloomTech

carmen@mantalascomms.com

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE INTERNET PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DATA MANAGEMENT TRAINING TECHNOLOGY OTHER EDUCATION CONTINUING UNIVERSITY EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES OTHER TECHNOLOGY

SOURCE: BloomTech

Copyright Business Wire 2022.

PUB: 05/18/2022 12:00 PM / DISC: 05/18/2022 12:03 PM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220518005871/en

Copyright Business Wire 2022.

The post BloomTech Launches New CareerFlow Studying Expertise, Offering College students a Versatile Strategy to Incomes a Excessive-Paying Tech Job | Enterprise appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aspiring tech professionals can now apply to BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, being unveiled today via live stream, which is a new approach that empowers more people than ever to achieve life-changing increases in income. The new CareerFlow learning experience provides a seamless, direct path from Day One of all BloomTech programs straight to a well paying job. No matter their starting point, students can gain the skills needed to fill in-demand tech positions, faster.

“Our new flexible, live learning experience removes a critical barrier to gaining the skills that lead to a higher income,” said Austen Allred, Co-founder and CEO of BloomTech. “More people than ever will have the opportunity to get the kind of education that can transform their lives and even reverse generational patterns of poverty—on their schedule. Our approach of teaching exactly the skills employers want, without any filler, also addresses the skills gap that is holding back the economy.”

Get the skills that employers want at your pace, on your schedule, for your goals

Building on BloomTech’s time-proven curriculum, the CareerFlow learning experience adds greater flexibility to its direct path to a well paying job. Now more people, in more life circumstances, can earn a higher income via a career in web development, backend development, and data science.

“Joining BloomTech and completing the program was the greatest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” says Stu Darsey, who graduated from BloomTech in 2021. Darsey had worked in dozens of jobs, from barista to chimney sweep, and had no coding experience before he enrolled in BloomTech. Now he is a full stack engineer, saving up to buy a house, and earning a salary that shocked his family. “I’m now in a position where I’m building applications that change people’s lives. It’s all because BloomTech offers such flexibility in how you can learn and when you can learn.”

Students of BloomTech can access its team of experts and more live instruction than ever, 7 days a week. This means that learners can take control of their education and their future—whether they choose to blaze through their program at top speed or balance learning with work and family—with BloomTech support guiding the way.

BloomTech CareerFlow features include:

• Customized Flexible Learning – Learners choose when to access live instruction and on-demand sessions from experts 7 days a week. They can accelerate or slow down their progress at any point, enabling them to achieve a “flow state” of learning and retain more knowledge.

• 1:1 Career Support – BloomTech analyzes company data to understand the actions that lead to job offers, then designs its career support so learners get higher paying jobs, faster. Personalized career support begins on Day 1 and includes preparing for interviews, practicing whiteboarding and technical assessments, building a resume and portfolio, gaining the confidence to negotiate, and more.

• Real-World Experience – Assignments mirror the problems professionals tackle every day. Learners also work with a team of peers to build a real product for a real client. With these practical skills and hands-on coding experience, learners graduate ready to thrive in well paying technical roles.

• Accessible Tuition Options – Financial circumstances should not dictate who has the ability to land a better job and earn more money. BloomTech works diligently to expand accessibility to results-driven education. Learners can choose from flexible tuition payment options, including the Outcomes-Based Loan. This popular option requires zero tuition up front and is covered by the 110% Tuition Refund Guarantee. The guarantee means that if learners follow the BloomTech job search program and don’t get job offers paying at least $50,000 a year within a year of graduation, the company will refund their full tuition plus pay an additional 10% of their tuition. (Terms apply.)

Applications are now open for BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, which will go live on July 18, 2022. Please visit: BloomTech.com/How-It-Works

About Bloom Tech:

BloomTech designed everything within its learning experience with one goal: to help learners get a well paying job, faster, and with less risk. The innovative edtech company teaches the skills employers want plus supports learners in the job search, every step of the way.

Founded in 2017, Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly Lambda School and also known as BloomTech) was built on the premise that traditional higher education is broken. Too many people are left out and left behind, leaving them without the opportunities that come from a well paying job. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but is proud to be a remote-first organization, employing leaders from all corners of the US

The post BloomTech Launches New CareerFlow Studying Expertise, Offering College students a Versatile Method to Incomes a Excessive-Paying Tech Job appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 18, 2022–

Aspiring tech professionals can now apply to BloomTech ‘s CareerFlow learning experience, being unveiled today via live stream, which is a new approach that empowers more people than ever to achieve life-changing increases in income. The new CareerFlow learning experience provides a seamless, direct path from Day One of all BloomTech programs straight to a well paying job. No matter their starting point, students can gain the skills needed to fill in-demand tech positions, faster.

“Our new flexible, live learning experience removes a critical barrier to gaining the skills that lead to a higher income,” said Austen Allred, Co-founder and CEO of BloomTech. “More people than ever will have the opportunity to get the kind of education that can transform their lives and even reverse generational patterns of poverty—on their schedule. Our approach of teaching exactly the skills employers want, without any filler, also addresses the skills gap that is holding back the economy.”

Get the skills that employers want at your pace, on your schedule, for your goals

Building on BloomTech’s time-proven curriculum, the CareerFlow learning experience adds greater flexibility to its direct path to a well paying job. Now more people, in more life circumstances, can earn a higher income via a career in web development, backend development, and data science.

“Joining BloomTech and completing the program was the greatest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” says Stu Darsey, who graduated from BloomTech in 2021. Darsey had worked in dozens of jobs, from barista to chimney sweep, and had no coding experience before he enrolled in BloomTech. Now he is a full stack engineer, saving up to buy a house, and earning a salary that shocked his family. “I’m now in a position where I’m building applications that change people’s lives. It’s all because BloomTech offers such flexibility in how you can learn and when you can learn.”

Students of BloomTech can access its team of experts and more live instruction than ever, 7 days a week. This means that learners can take control of their education and their future—whether they choose to blaze through their program at top speed or balance learning with work and family—with BloomTech support guiding the way.

BloomTech CareerFlow features include:

• Customized Flexible Learning – Learners choose when to access live instruction and on-demand sessions from experts 7 days a week. They can accelerate or slow down their progress at any point, enabling them to achieve a “flow state” of learning and retain more knowledge.

• 1:1 Career Support – BloomTech analyzes company data to understand the actions that lead to job offers, then designs its career support so learners get higher paying jobs, faster. Personalized career support begins on Day 1 and includes preparing for interviews, practicing whiteboarding and technical assessments, building a resume and portfolio, gaining the confidence to negotiate, and more.

• Real-World Experience – Assignments mirror the problems professionals tackle every day. Learners also work with a team of peers to build a real product for a real client. With these practical skills and hands-on coding experience, learners graduate ready to thrive in well paying technical roles.

• Accessible Tuition Options – Financial circumstances should not dictate who has the ability to land a better job and earn more money. BloomTech works diligently to expand accessibility to results-driven education. Learners can choose from flexible tuition payment options, including the Outcomes-Based Loan. This popular option requires zero tuition up front and is covered by the 110% Tuition Refund Guarantee. The guarantee means that if learners follow the BloomTech job search program and don’t get job offers paying at least $50,000 a year within a year of graduation, the company will refund their full tuition plus pay an additional 10% of their tuition. (Terms apply.)

Applications are now open for BloomTech’s CareerFlow learning experience, which will go live on July 18, 2022. Please visit: BloomTech.com/How-It-Works

About Bloom Tech:

BloomTech designed everything within its learning experience with one goal: to help learners get a well paying job, faster, and with less risk. The innovative edtech company teaches the skills employers want plus supports learners in the job search, every step of the way.

Founded in 2017, Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly Lambda School and also known as BloomTech) was built on the premise that traditional higher education is broken. Too many people are left out and left behind, leaving them without the opportunities that come from a well paying job. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but is proud to be a remote-first organization, employing leaders from all corners of the US

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220518005871/en/

CONTACT: Media Contact:

Carmen Mantalas

Mantalas Communications, Inc for BloomTech

carmen@mantalascomms.com

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE INTERNET PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DATA MANAGEMENT TRAINING TECHNOLOGY OTHER EDUCATION CONTINUING UNIVERSITY EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES OTHER TECHNOLOGY

SOURCE: Bloom Tech

Copyright Business Wire 2022.

PUB: 05/18/2022 12:00 PM / DISC: 05/18/2022 12:03 PM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220518005871/en

Copyright Business Wire 2022.

The post BloomTech Launches New CareerFlow Studying Expertise, Offering College students a Versatile Strategy to Incomes a Excessive-Paying Tech Job | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

MILPITAS (CBS SF) – The Milpitas Unified School District said Sunday school students can return to virtual learning for at least the coming week as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to hamper the districts in the Bay Area that try to reopen to get the latest updates after the holidays.

The superintendent’s office released a statement stating: “During the week of January 10-14, MUSD school sites will be open for personal learning to meet the needs of our community. For parents / carers who care about the health and safety of their students, you can choose our independent study program, short or long term. “

The statement encouraged families to contact their school principal for more information on self-study.

The statement also states: “After consulting the Santa Clara County Office of Education, we learned that we cannot offer a ‘district-wide quarantine’ as stated in our Friday notice. Community quarantines can be declared by the district health authority.

“In order for us to contain the rise in COVID cases among students and staff, everyone must follow safety protocols for masking, vaccination, or refresher when authorized and available.”

“We have to find ways to live together and live with COVID. We are two years under our belt and have learned a lot, ”said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County Health Officer. “We have learned that in-person learning is what they need and distance learning does not benefit their mental health, emotional health and academic well-being.”

Other school districts in the Bay Area were motivated to avoid returning to distance learning.

The San Francisco Unified School District says it has distributed more than 50,000 COVID-19 tests in one week and will distribute more in the coming weeks.

“We are committed to keeping schools open as long as it is safe to do, and the Department of Health said that with our safety protocols, schools continue to remain low-risk environments,” said SFUSD spokeswoman Laura Dudnick.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District was able to close the school for two days from Friday by moving the non-teaching days in the academic calendar and will remain closed on Monday.

Tests at the district’s locations will be available again on Monday before schools reopen on Tuesday. WCCUSD hopes this long weekend will not only give them time to thoroughly clean their schools, but also allow students and staff to recover from COVID infections.

Milpitas Unified said families still concerned about sending students to school in their district can now conduct independent study for their children now that there will be no quarantine.

© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report

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In line with other Bay Area school districts that have been forced to close schools after facing staff shortages, low test availability and high COVID-19 case rates this week, Milpitas schools will open for most students from Monday through mid-January go back online temporarily.

The Education Committee of the Milpitas Unified School District voted on Thursday evening to send children back to virtual learning healthy to school by January 18.

“This week we had an exorbitant number of positive student and employee cases, which led to even more students and employees being quarantined,” said a letter from the school management to the school community. “In view of the number of cases, the possibility of being in close contact with a positive case has increased.”

The district is also struggling with a lack of teachers and staff. The district had 167 substitute teacher positions and 107 auxiliary positions that week, leaving administrative staff to teach instead of the teachers who stayed at home.

In Oakland, an organized teacher outage Friday caused the Oakland Unified School district to close at least 11 schools for the day. Teachers are calling for better safety measures for students, staff and teachers, and encouraging the district to teach online instead of face-to-face for two weeks.

In Milpitas, parents are required to sign an independent study contract so that their children can virtually go to school while the school is closed. The district also offers parents who have to work or whose household has insufficient internet connection the possibility of sending their children to school, where they can take part in classes virtually on the laptops provided by the district. All students enrolled in the classroom option will be mentored, said Scott Forstner, a district spokesman.

West Contra Costa schools and some private and charter schools are also temporarily closing, and others in the Bay Area are making efforts to keep classrooms open amid testing and staff shortages.

The post Milpitas Unified faculties are shifting to on-line studying till mid-January appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Two of the city’s largest high school buildings will close on Friday and students will be given online tasks to do themselves due to staff shortages, Portland Public School sources said late Thursday evening.

After that, students at McDaniel High School (Leodis V. McDaniel) in NE Portland and Cleveland High School (Grover Cleveland) in SE Portland will attend classes exclusively online starting next week.

In total, about 3,000 students will be affected by the Portland closings.

According to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard, four adults are currently in isolation at McDaniel’s due to the virus, and another is in quarantine due to an off-school exposure of a total of 109 teachers.

Cleveland currently has 10 adults in isolation from a total of 84 teachers and three more are in quarantine due to off-site exposure. Elsewhere in the district there are a handful of schools with similar numbers of staff that are being quarantined and isolated – particularly at Mount Tabor Middle School and Vernon K-8 – but these schools have so far not announced any closings.

The news comes against the background of industrial disputes between the Portland Association of Teachers and the school district. In the autumn, representatives of the teachers’ union advocated incorporating significantly more planning time into everyday school life and adding up to six non-teaching planning days to the calendar. The district countered by offering more limited early discharge days and flexible time frames, but fewer non-class planning days, citing the documented toll of distance learning demanding on student academic, mental, physical, and socio-emotional health.

Negotiations stalled during the winter break and the teachers’ union announced its withdrawal from the negotiating table.

As the Omicron variant has spread across the country, some school districts have switched back to a distance learning model; elsewhere the debate has become more controversial, such as in Chicago, where teachers have refused to work in school buildings and the district responded by withdrawing their salaries. Meanwhile, in San Francisco on Thursday, 20 percent of teachers and aides were absent from public school classrooms after a group of educators publicly called for a sick note to protest a lack of COVID safety protocols.

The Portland Association of Teachers did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday night.

The post Two of Portland’s Largest Excessive Faculties Are Shifting to Distant Studying appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Demand for home learning this fall was much higher than expected from San Francisco schools, creating a number of logistics issues that have left some children in limbo or are still awaiting the start of the school year.

The San Francisco Unified School District is struggling to accommodate any students whose families tried to remotely study them because they were uncomfortable about the transmission of the coronavirus. District staff initially planned an online program for approximately 450 students, or one percent of the student population, who were classified as “medically fragile” under federal guidance, with the remaining students expected to be in person again.

Instead, 735 students applied and were accepted, district officials said on Monday. And in July, state lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 130, which allows independent instruction of children at risk for personal instruction as directed by a parent or guardian. Just a few weeks before the start of the school year, the district had to add another 1,200 places.

In total, more than 1,900 students were offered places in the online programs that were not yet completely finished. This has left some students with no instructions or curriculum to learn from as their parents keep them at home for safety reasons.

“We did not have the lead time to start and implement this program thoughtfully,” said Eikia Ford-Morthel, SFUSD deputy headmistress, at a school committee meeting on Monday. “The resource and personnel constraints are real. There is a great personnel crisis in the education sector. “

Despite these setbacks, the staffing levels for the online learning program for the medically vulnerable students are now set. But the on-demand tutorial for parents who feel personal learning is too risky for their children needs 55 more educators, with dozens more open educator positions open, Ford-Morthel estimates. She said they hoped to leverage existing staff at websites that the online students are familiar with.

SFUSD was unable to provide demographic information on students seeking distance learning in time for release, but staff said very few attend high school. There is also evidence that Chinese families living in communal housing have strong online preferences. The Chinatown Community Development Center surveyed 294 families living in single rooms prior to the school year, 70 percent of whom were against sending their children for personal study.

Almost 900 students who have been admitted to either program have yet to confirm their participation by signing the agreement. Some may not know or have not accessed the agreement, but others struggle to understand what it involves and whether it is the right step as the schedule includes far less live teaching than distance learning.

Monolingual families in particular fear that their children will be left behind without practical support and staff to connect with. Some parents reported school management members Monday that more than a month had passed and they either had no information about their application status or had received schoolwork for their children to learn from.

“You are stuck in this dilemma,” said Jen Chan, resident services manager at CCDC, which owns and runs SROs. “Some of them may still be enrolled in their current school to take the risk. Some parents are at home trying to teach them. It also brings a lot of psychological anxiety to the families. “

Nearly 500 students admitted to the online program have returned to the physical classroom since their admission, while 577 opted out for distance learning.

School and public health officials have worked to reassure families that face-to-face learning is safe and that COVID-19 cases among adolescents are falling. The Department of Health noted that schools in San Francisco had no COVID-19 outbreaks, defined as “three or more cases in unrelated households where the source of infection was at the school”. By September 10, about 90 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 17 had been fully vaccinated.

School board members Jenny Lam, Gabriela López and Alison Collins met with SRO families in Chinatown to hear concerns about access and distancing testing in schools, Han said. Lam said the focus is on understanding concerns and educating families about safety measures and guidelines to increase confidence in sending children in person.

“That’s why it’s so important that we communicate consistently so that families know what we’re doing to protect our students,” said Lam. “We know that we have to do even better in strengthening communication, increasing the number of staff and implementing the program.”

imojadad@sfexaminer.com

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Over the course of about 35 years I have written descriptions of more than 100 hikes to remote locations in what I call the Magic Circle around the city of Guadalajara, where all five of Mexico’s ecosystems happen to converge.

Every now and then I was asked to organize a hike to one of these scenic spots, and I inevitably chose a route that involved climbing cliffs, squeezing under barbed wire fences, dragging yourself through swamps, or climbing overhead at a cliffside for dear life 100 meter fall: exactly the kind of excursion that I found challenging and fun in my youth.

I would think, “They wanted an adventure, and what an adventure they got!”

However, the most common request I received from the participants on these hikes was: “When are you organizing something I can take my children to?”

In all honesty, I’ve had so many inquiries about hikes that are suitable for a five-year-old that I finally started looking for trails that could meet that criterion. I chose caminos (paths) that were interesting, challenging and not very long.

Investigating a scorpion on the Chuyville Loop, a relaxing nature trail in Jalisco.

Loops are of course always more fun than trails that you have to ride back on, so I focused on loops with a maximum length of three kilometers. To make the whole thing more interesting, I got botanists, biologists, geologists and archaeologists to help me tell me about special features along the way that I could later present to the families on the hikes.

The Chuyville Loop is one of those educational trails that I believe will delight not only kids and their parents, but abuelitos and abuelitas (grandpas and grandmas) as well. It is entirely located in the vast Primavera Forest, which is next to Guadalajara along the city’s western border.

The hike starts in the Río Seco (dry river) canyon next to the municipality of Pinar de la Venta.

The tall, steep canyon walls have a story to tell, the story of a giant explosion 94,000 years ago that hurled 40 cubic kilometers of volcanic ash and pumice stone into the air, leaving a large hole in the ground that geologists call the Primavera Caldera.

Long horizontal lines on the canyon’s walls – indicating layers of sediment – tell us that the caldera filled with water and became a lake for 10,000 to 20,000 years. Eventually volcanoes appeared in the lake, spitting out their volcanic foam, which then solidified into light pumice stone.

These large “icebergs” made of pumice stone floated for a while on the surface of the water and then sank to the bottom of the lake, forming a layer or layer several meters high, which is now known as the giant pumice stone horizon.

A golden scorpion. Chuy Moreno advises his children: “Put your hands in a place where you cannot see your fingers.”

It’s easy to spot, even for a five year old.

In the Dry River we also find pieces of obsidian, volcanic glass that was perhaps more valuable than gold to the pre-Hispanic natives here.

They didn’t have metal tools, but an obsidian knife can be sharpened much finer than a steel blade. Obsidian was also the raw material for much-needed cutting and scraping tools and a really clever flat sword called the Macuahuitl.

This weapon was made of hardwood with a groove on the edge into which sharp obsidian blades were glued with chicle (natural rubber). It’s hard to believe, but the Spaniards testified that this native sword could behead a horse.

From the Río Seco we dive into a pine and oak forest. There is no hiking trail along this 325 meter stretch.

We hike uphill through a large piece of aromatic wild sage plants, interspersed with wild flowers. If it’s around October we’ll likely see the Flor de San Francisco, and the sage will be replaced with jarra plants, the stems of which were traditionally used to make charcoal sticks, a favorite of Mexican wall painters.

A short hike gives you plenty of time to stop and appreciate the shape of a beautiful pine tree.

Now we dive into the forest, hike on a carpet of pine needles and occasionally avoid the sharp spines of the agave guadalajarana, which is endemic to the region.

In this forest neck, the most common pine is Pinus oocarpa, known in Spanish as el pino amarillo and in English as eggcone pine. This species was the progenitor of many other Mexican pine trees.

As the name suggests, its small, oval pine cones are easy to spot.

It seems that the pine nuts in these little cones are delicious too, with dozens of pine cone kernels littered all over the hillside that were recently gnawed by hungry squirrels.

Here we also find many robes with large, broad leaves and encinos with long, slender leaves. Oddly enough, both are oaks, but it’s only the Encinos acorns that the local woodpeckers store in hundreds of holes not drilled in oak but rather in the soft bark of the cone pines.

Arrived on a high ridge, we follow a very old and well-trodden path to Chuyville, that’s what I called a shallow forest clearing that looks like a small village. It’s littered with rustic shelters made of branches and other ad hoc material.

“This shelter was built by kids like me,” says a young visitor to Chuyville.

Each animal shelter represents a project carried out by children who over the years have taken part in one-month summer courses organized by nature photographer Jesús “Chuy” Moreno.

In these courses, around 80 children of all ages spend eight hours a day – rain or shine – learning everything about flora and fauna by searching, finding, collecting, measuring, dissecting, drawing and sometimes eating the wonderful plants and creatures hide in the woods.

Moreno’s hands-on approach to teaching science has drawn hundreds of Mexican children to the outdoors, inspiring many of them to choose biology, botany, or agronomy for their careers.

The Chuyville Loop takes about two hours at a leisurely pace, but that can easily grow to three hours if you can’t resist looking at every praying mantis, mushroom, or woodpecker you come across.

If you’ve never visited the famous Jalisco Primavera Forest, you can agree with Luis López who commented, “I think this caminata (walk) was the perfect introduction to Bosque la Primavera!”

If you live near Guadalajara and want to do the Chuyville Loop, you can preview the route on Wikiloc.

Deep gorges descend on both sides of this narrow ridge.

If you’d rather have a guide, you can join one of the short walking tours I organize on occasion. Just send me an email ([email protected]) and I’ll sign you up for the next one.

The author has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco for 31 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. You can find more of his writing on his website.

Most of the Senderos in Mexico are very different from the well-maintained trails in US National Parks.

The acorn woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, can be recognized from afar by both its red cap and its loud scream.

During the rainy season, the forests of the Primavera Forest are filled with mushrooms.

Acorn pines are a popular place for woodpeckers to store their acorns.

In this gorge wall you can see the giant pumice stone horizon right above many layers of sediment that have deposited on the bottom of Primavera Caldera Lake. Bakpak Adventure Magazine

The silhouette of Pinus oocarpa, whose pine cones are small and egg-shaped.

The Mexican aster, or flor de San Francisco, is said to bloom around October 4th, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, each year.

What’s left of pine cones after squirrels remove all of the pine nuts.

The three kilometer long path meanders through a forest of oak and pine trees.

This narrow arroyo (stream) is about to turn into a slot canyon. Bakpak Adventure Magazine

A narrow opening in a canyon wall is the hidden entrance to the starting point.

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