San Diego Unified School District teachers have been asked to teach migrant children in-person during their spring break, though students in the district are still learning in an online-only format, according to a new report.
While SDUSD students are scheduled to begin a hybrid model of learning on April 12, with a combination of in-person and online formats, an SDUSD spokeswoman told Fox News that teachers had been offered an opportunity to teach, in-person, migrant children who are staying at the San Diego Convention Center. The spokeswoman did not know if the teachers would be paid for the teaching.
“The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) is providing the educational program for the unaccompanied migrant children who will be staying at the San Diego Convention Center through July. All children in California, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to education. We also have a moral obligation to ensure a bright future for our children,” an SDCOE spokesperson told Fox News.
“The educational program will include English language development and social-emotional learning opportunities,” the statement adds. “The teachers who are participating in the program are doing so voluntarily, and the program is following a COVID-19 screening protocol based on guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond criticized the move: “We have 130,000 kids who haven’t been allowed in a classroom for over a year in the San Diego United School District. It’s great that there’s in-person learning for those unaccompanied minors from Central America, but I wish every child in San Diego Country was allowed the same opportunity for in-person teaching.”