Las Virgenes Students Stage Sit-In Protest To Reopen Schools

CALABASAS, CA — Las Virgenes schools reopened to grades 4-5 Monday, but some older students wanted in on the action. As younger students joyfully headed back to campus - some of them for the first time in nearly a year - a group of around 30 middle and high school students parked themselves in front of Arthur E. Wright Middle School to protest the continued lack of in-person learning.

Currently, students in grades 7-12 cannot return to campus until Los Angeles County hits a daily adjusted COVID case rate of seven per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate at or below eight percent for two straight weeks. As of Tuesday, the LA County adjusted case rate was 7.2 and the case positivity rate was 3.5 percent. This means these students and parents could potentially get their wish as soon as next week.

But for many Las Virgenes parents and students, that’s not soon enough.

“353 days since I’ve been in school!” one student’s sign read Monday as cars honked in support.

“Give us back a real education!” read another.

Other students got out laptops and tried to log into Zoom to demonstrate what they saw as the program’s glitchiness, according to organizer Jessica Taggart.

Taggart, a Calabasas mother who sends some of her six children to LVUSD schools, started a private Facebook group just under a week and a half ago called “Open Los Angeles Schools Now!!” that has already garnered 670 members.

“We are a coalition of parents, teachers and students with a united mission of getting Los Angeles County schools to safety and swiftly reopen their doors to provide essential in person learning and support for all,” says the group’s description. “After more then a year of distance learning, it is more evident than ever how critically our students education, mental and physical health have been impacted.”

Taggart said the group is planning future events and “will not stop until we’re heard” to get kids back on campus.

“Kids are the ones who are not being heard in all this,” she said. “Adults have been arguing all year on social media about COVID and other political things, but the kids’ voices are getting lost, so we’re really trying to amplify their voices and what they’re going through.”

Taggart says that she was also motivated to protest by seeing her eighth daughter struggle through virtual learning throughout the year.

“It’s been just heartbreaking for me to watch [my daughter] who was an Honors Society student both semesters of sixth grade and seventh grade and got C’s this first semester of eight grade,” she said. “She doesn’t want to get out of bed, she’s not eating well, she’s so withdrawn. I’m like this is ridiculous already.”

Still, Las Virgenes Unified must comply with county regulations, and the district was the first public school district to bring students back to campus over the course of the fall and winter. As of Monday, 3,600 out of the district’s 10,000 students are back on campus, including hundreds of students with special needs. Even so, many parents and teachers do not want their students to return to campus until they are certain it is safe.

In fact, an LVUSD employee told The Acorn that several employees have asked to work from home, but were told they could not. The district says that it has invested $1.6 million in PPE, cleaning materials, infrared scanners, and more.

Taggart thinks parents and teachers should have the option to attend in-person schooling if they want to, and stay with virtual learning if they don’t. “I respect that everybody has their own situation,” she said. “I respect that people are still unsure...I just think that why are people taking away my choice and options? Why am I being told by everybody else what’s best for my family? I’m not telling those teachers, ‘you have to go back in person.’ What I’m trying to say is you have to do what’s right for your family and your situation, but please let me have the option to do what’s right for me and my situation?”

On Feb. 8, before school staff could get vaccinated or 4th and 5th graders could return, a similar protest was held in Chumash Park in Agoura Hills. About one hundred people, including LVUSD Board President Angela Cutbill and many district teachers, parents, and students attended.

"What has been taken from us and what we've been asked to sacrifice is beyond comprehension," said Agoura High senior Grace Teague. "We didn't get to play our sports, rage at our last homecoming, dress up for Halloween. We didn't get to celebrate each other's birthdays or exchange holiday gifts."

Two days later, the LVUSD Board of Education approved a resolution calling for the reopening of campuses, given the relatively low number of COVID-19 cases in the community. Calabasas currently counts 1142 cases and 29 deaths, while Agoura Hills has had 978 cases and 17 deaths. By comparison, nearby Canoga Park counts 9,004 cases and 149 deaths.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Stepenosky, whom Taggart said was invited to come outside to join the sit-in Monday but refused, has not returned Patch’s request for comment.