131-24 : Holidays and Early Closings 2024-2025

The switch to remote learning in rural New Mexico has left some students profoundly isolated—cut off from others and the grid by sheer distance.

The switch to remote learning in rural New Mexico has left some students profoundly isolated—cut off from others and the grid by sheer distance.

File photo: Lorne Street Elementary students had to grab books from a book bin after their library was closed during the recession.; Credit: Annie Gilbertson/KPCC

More than 200 Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school libraries have reopened in just two months, according to district officials.

Recession-era budget cuts had left many libraries without staffing. The cuts persisted even when the economy began to improve: a year ago half of the district's 650,000 students were still without a librarian or library aide.

Without library workers, state law prohibits students from browsing collections, pulling reference materials or checking out books. 

“We have been living without libraries and, no, we don’t want to because they are essential for academic achievement and learning for our students," said Mark Bobrosky, a librarian at Walter Reed Middle School.

School board member Monica Ratliff created a task force to recommend ways to expand libraries after KPCC reported that Lorne Street Elementary in Northridge had a library full of books collecting dust.

"This idea of equity — we are trying to make sure we don't have library deserts," Ratliff said at the board's curriculum, instruction and assessment committee meeting on Tuesday.

Even when the board committed funds for elementary school libraries, the district found it hard to fill openings. Library aides worked just three hours a day, five days a week.

Members of the task force suggested assigning library aides to two schools, doubling their hours and providing benefits.  Elementary school libraries began to quickly reopen. 

But while conditions have improved for elementary students, middle school libraries are still hard hit, with nearly 65 percent of their campus libraries shuttered.

Bobrosky said reopening the libraries is vital for L.A. Unified's success in implementing the Common Core state standards, which require research projects incorporating a variety of texts.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Retailers that were already ailing before the coronavirus are beginning to crumble as the crisis raises the threat of store closings and bankruptcy.

Snow continued into early Wednesday morning with a dusting to 1 inch around Baltimore, and higher amounts northwest of Baltimore City.

Thanks to virtual tours, online mortgage applications, remote notarization and tech tools like Facetime, real estate agents in South Florida are still conducting business these days.

The coronavirus pandemic has shut down theaters, which may result in big changes for the Oscars.

As national, state and local officials consider ways to slow the spread of COVID-19, many are closing schools.