Protesters attempt to stop a vehicle after hitting a protester at 8:54 p.m. at the intersection of Seward and Schroeder near Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Video shot by Conor Heeley for Viking News.
How K-12 adjusted to online learning
Due to COVID-19, teachers, students, and parents across Long Beach have had to adjust to online learning and the new obstacles that have emerged for the fall 2020 semester. Households with young children have encountered distinct challenges while working as a unit to excel through K-12 education.
Child Development experts, teachers, and LBUSD administrators have worked to provide resources for parents worrying about their child’s future as a result of the pandemic.
A first-grade teacher at Burbank Elementary, Dawna McVicker said the biggest adjustment to online teaching is, “Not being able to hear the students all day and seeing if they are understanding the subject.”
However, according to McVicker, a positive side to online learning is “This will get them 21st century ready. It will teach them to adapt to the real world.”
Many teachers found themselves in need of resources to better support students throughout online learning. To help support teachers, the LBUSD district has provided a Smart Start Curriculum that has yet to be fully implemented for the semester.
Special Assistant to LBUSD Superintendent Tammy Lavelle shared her insights into Smart Start Curriculum with Viking News over a phone call on Sept. 16.
Lavelle said that the Smart Start Curriculum is 18 days of emotional learning with an intentional focus on students, and she will not be able to disclose further information on the curriculum until later in the year. A survey conducted and shared by LBUSD shows that 60% of parents were concerned about their children’s learning. 47% were worried about their emotional well-being.
Aurora Rico Flores, a parent of a local middle schooler commented, “The camera is very anxiety provoking for my child. She feels like she’s on stage rather than sitting in a classroom.” She said that it has been hard for her daughter to focus on her schoolwork.
LBUSD recognizes the challenges being faced by students and parents that are doing remote learning.
LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker said on Aug. 5, “Parents can call the level offices or their school principals for more details.”
A district handbook is being developed that will include not only protocols for COVID-19 responses but also descriptions of the instructional programs.
According to a Sept. 10 announcement from Baker on the LBUSD YouTube channel, online learning will continue until January 28, 2021. L.A. County may have no more than 100 per 100,000 people testing positive for COVID-19 in order to remove itself from the state watch list and become eligible to consider in-person learning, said Baker, and Long Beach has not yet met this criteria.
LBUSD has made efforts to make technology more accessible to families throughout online learning.
Chris Eftychiou, Public Information Director at LBUSD said, “After our school closures in the spring, we provided more than 11,000 Chromebook tablets to students who needed the devices to access the internet at home. We will continue to work with families to make sure they have access to the technology they need for students’ success.”
With K-12 institutions remaining online, parents question how online teaching will affect their children later down the road. Kathleen Volkoun, a professor for Child Development at Long Beach City College talked about the positive and negative effects on K-12 long-distance education.
“Parents are learning more about their children’s learning behaviors, increasing parents’ involvement, which is positive,” Volkoun said. As a result, parents are developing a relationship with their kids’ education, which Volkoun said is creating a new appreciation for teachers.
Volkoun also remarked that examining the learning habits set in place for kids doing long-distance is beneficial, because those learning habits determine their educational competency in the long term. Her ultimate advice for K-12 learning is “Kids need more interactive learning environments to help kids adapt to new settings, so their development does not halt.”
“We will see more kids with ADHD-like qualities, and explosive behaviors or kids who are emotionally dysregulated,” Volkoun said.
According to Volkoun, an adolescent’s brain is more vulnerable when coping with world events or traumatic experiences, such as COVID-19. Children may handle the experience differently than adults in general, but this can vary through households.
The future is unknown for the students, parents, teachers, and staff of LBUSD. However, one thing is certain: key players such as parents, teachers, and district officials remain committed to helping K-12 students to succeed in their education.
Safely trading in person at Long Beach City College
Career Technical Education (CTE) Programs at Long Beach City College took serious cuts to its class offerings in 2013. In 2019 classes were reinstated in response to a high industry demand for skilled workers, but COVID-19 has brought challenges to the partly state-funded trades program.
Damon Skinner, Department Head of Trades, who has been an instructor of metal fabrication for 11 years said, “This is one of those things that is still living history.”
CTE classes have resumed in-person labs for the fall semester at Pacific Coast Campus while most classes are still structured around online remote learning.
LBCC recently announced that they will be continuing online remote learning through spring semester 2021.
LBCC canceled in-person classes in March due to COVID-19, causing some students taking CTE classes to drop or make an excused withdrawal of the classes, however, according to Skinner, “When the administration allowed in-person labs, enrollment shot up,” for the fall 2020 semester.
Because of those demands, part-time welding professor Harry Kim-Park is teaching his first semester at LBCC and said “Lectures can be online,” but some technical labs should be in person.
“I don’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe here, I feel really comfortable here,” Kim-Park said.
Social distancing measures and the use of face coverings are heavily enforced at LBCC.
Students taking in-person classes at LBCC must fill out a form saying they show no symptoms of COVID-19, wear a badge and sticker, and sign into their class when on campus as part of LBCC’s effort in contract tracing.
“Every morning vocational technicians wipe every door handle, every knob, drinking fountain. We’re taking COVID very seriously to keep those doors open for the students,” Skinner said.
Sara Carey, a metal fabrication student, expressed thanks about being able to attend her lab in-person saying she is “happy to have the opportunity to be able to work with my hands while some people can’t.”
Gaming; The Faceless Solution to Depravity
Correction: The caption has been updated to correct the photographer’s name.
“In quarantine, through video games, my friendships actually had more opportunities to talk and connect with friends that before quarantine, I wouldn’t have talked to as much.”
Harrison Battle
With all the chaos of the pandemic and wildfires on the news, playing video games seems to be an enjoyable opportunity to pass time while strengthening social bonds with others.
Under the pressures of the law and debates surrounding righteousness, people keep searching for various methods of coping with the hardships stemming from this pandemic; to find a middle ground that allows people to relax, while still engaging in a positive environment. For the people that like playing video games, gaming has become a more viable activity recently.
“It’s taken over as the avenue to still feel that connection of going out and hanging out with your friends when we can’t leave the house,” a LBCC student and gamer stated.
Through different social platforms, the gaming community has reiterated their biggest fear; not being able to play any video games. In other words, gaming is a very time-consuming hobby that some take seriously. For some, without it can mean hours of excruciating migraines and stressful panic attacks, all induced from a lack of gaming productivity.
It seems most gamers are becoming impatient from being isolated in their home. To deal with this stagnation, some individuals indulge in multiplayer recreation, allowing players to interact virtually on an online network with other players.
Boredom is constantly around the corner, and people need an escape to withstand the stay at home orders. People can just use video games as a virtual simulation to experience the freedom to make choices without suffering from the consequences of their reality.
Typical gamers gave their own insights and experiences concerning how they use video games to savor every passing minute of their limited time.
LBCC student Harrison Battle is a twenty-five year old gamer that stated gaming during the pandemic only left positive impacts on his lifestyle. Battle said, “In quarantine, through video games, my friendships actually had more opportunities to talk and connect with friends that before quarantine, I wouldn’t have talked to as much.”
Gaming gives players the ability to socially connect with others, without the risky cost of meeting them face-to-face; a bargain some might say is worth pursuing.
Developing stronger social attributes through playing video games has proved to be quite relatable for many gamers. Ryon Meador, a nineteen year old gamer and LBCC student expresses his opinions regarding gaming while stuck in quarantine.
“Oh yeah, of course more people are online because of Covid. It’s something to do to let time pass,” says Meador.
Playing video games allows individuals the possibility to be enticed with excitement, creativity, and fervor so they don’t succumb to stagnation from being overwhelmed with being stuck at home.
Only time can tell whether gaming will stay as efficient as it is now, or if it would slowly decay, losing its purpose.
Free Yoga on the Bluff is Back
“People come to a place where they feel comfortable, as opposed to going into a studio. Their mental health stabilizes and they feel at peace.”
Dharma Shakiti
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Dharma Shakti’s name.
After being closed from April to July due to COVID-19, free Yoga on the Bluff is open to the public for anyone who wants to join.
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a large group of people can be found practicing yoga every single day, at 11 a.m. on the corner on Junipero Ave. and Ocean Blvd.
According to the County of Los Angeles Public Health, as of June 12, fitness establishments were officially allowed to reopen, as long as they adhere to the requirements, such as being outdoors and socially distanced.
This class was created by Dharma Shakti, who also has a yoga studio called Yogalution Movement. These Yoga on the Bluff classes are donation-based with people coming from all around the city of Long Beach.
These free classes have been a part of the community since 2007, quickly growing into over 100 people attending these classes on a daily basis. It has brought the community a way to meet other people with the same interests and provided an outlet for any stress in their lives.
Dharma Shakti said she is excited to be open again and has placed new safety regulations. She said, “We ask that they wear a mask upon arrival, they social distance, and when they leave they wear a mask.”
With these regulations, many people are still eager to arrive and take up most of the park space. A frequent visitor, Isabel Cortes said, “I am very excited. To be able to go out in the fresh air and to be around other people is a good feeling.”
For those who are still not comfortable attending these in-person classes, there is a daily live Facebook stream for anyone to watch and participate in.
With these unprecedented times, yoga has brought the community together by being able to gather, even when socially distanced, and relax in nature.
Shakti said, “People come to a place where they feel comfortable, as opposed to going into a studio. Their mental health stabilizes and they feel at peace.”
Since this is a free yoga class, it has given people who do not have the money to pay for a studio class to have access to the practice of yoga, giving people a chance to try something new that they otherwise may not be able to.
Cortes said, “This yoga class made a positive impact on the community by bringing people together everyday and enjoying nature. It is such a blessing that it is free, since I wouldn’t be able to pay for a normal studio.”
Shakti also shared how yoga can help a person in many more ways. “We get feedback from people that get off surgery, get through school finals, divorce, and whatever people are going through.”
Many people are finding ways to self heal with this practice of mind, body and spirit, especially amid a global pandemic where anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders are impacting many.
With new policies changing everyday, the community hopes that these classes will continue.
Cortes shared, “I hope these classes don’t stop. It really makes an impact on my daily life for the better.”
For those who can make it a few times a week in person or online, Yoga on the Bluff allows many Long Beach residents to practice yoga with an open mindset and no need for expensive equipment. For those looking to relieve stress, there will always be this gem on the bluff.
Students Learn A New Kind Of Path For Teaching
Teaching Pathway Information Sessions for prospective teachers was held as a virtual workshop on Sept. 15 to improve students’ methods before entering the workforce.
Megan Kaplinsky, a teacher preparation coordinator, said many Long Beach City College students work as assistant teachers, after school program leads, summer camp counselors, mentors and tutors, and this workshop was intended to explore these opportunities.
The workshop presented volunteer opportunities as well as gave students the chance to meet with the Reading and Teaching Preparation Department.
“Facilitating students’ interests and allowing a lot of choices and options for them to open their eyes to a lot of possibilities, whether it be a counselor, administrator, etc. goes beyond a classroom and students can find a passion to make it into a reality,” Kaplinsky said.
“We have a shortage of substitute teachers,” said Kaplinksy, stressing the need for more students to enter this field amid an overall decline of teachers.
“What was lost is the ability to work in small groups, however, students definitely still need the connection and a sense of belonging as a feeling of their time being well spent,” said Kaplinsky.
Kaplinsky also discussed the importance of earning a Bachelor’s along with a teaching credential.
“That’s going to be the fast track, the most used track, because it gives you all that content that you need to know,” Kaplinsky said.
For many students trying to pursue a teaching career, volunteering is often a positive element to add to their resumes and to develop their skills. For this reason, LBCC is sponsored by Long Beach BLAST, one of the volunteer opportunities presented at the workshop.
The purpose of Long Beach BLAST is important in terms of giving support and recognizing the role of mentorship in a students’ life.
The program manager of Long Beach BLAST, Raul Vasquez said “There are two main programs we have in our organization, the academic mentoring program and the emotional support program.”
This opportunity is meant to shape a new path for students, opening the doors for more students to enter the teaching field.
Eateries find new ways to serve
Small eateries such as Chuck and Blaze near LBCC are facing new challenges and discovering new ways to maintain their business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic when the Stay At Home order was instated, all restaurants, fast-food establishments, and small eateries were required to switch to takeout only, leading many places to face major losses in business.
Cluck and Blaze, specializing in authentic Nashville hot fried chicken has faced drops in business, but has discovered new ways to provide service to customers.
The owner of the eatery Jerry Tut has made major changes and managed to regain customers and improve safety along the way.
“We were mandated to wear gloves, facemasks that we provided to the staff and have it mandatory to wash hands,” Tut said.
Despite the changes, the eatery has also dramatically lost business since the start of the mandatory order given by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, which prompted finding ways to help their service and keeping their eatery alive.
“The college was an important part of the business and it dropped drastically after the mandatory order. We started an online order service which it helped but still hurt,” Tut said.
Months later, the state eased several rules of the orders to allow outdoor dining and other options available for the eatery.
Customers such as Noe Gonzalez have gotten into the habit of eating at Cluck and Blaze once a week.
“It’s good since we need them open with the patio available and more than staying home getting stressed,” Gonzalez said.
Regarding the future of the eatery and ways to connect to customers alike, “We hope for the best as we can to provide fried chicken and see it grow and see the customers coming back,” Tut said.
Library with a drive-thru
The Long Beach City College library has begun a curbside service program which allows students to borrow textbooks and other resources safely for up to seven days at a time.
The program became available on Sept. 14, permitting students to pick up books and other resources either in their vehicles or in person.
The LBCC library has been shut down since March due to COVID-19, and has been operating online.
Nenita Buenaventura, Access Services Librarian, stated they “decided not to do curbside service at Pacific Coast Campus and everything will be done at the Liberal Arts Campus.” However, all library reserve textbooks from PCC may be requested for curbside service.
“Long Beach City College has one of the biggest reserve collections [of textbooks] in the state out of the other California Community Colleges,” said Jeffery Sabol, Library Technician Program Instructor. This extensive array of books helps a wide range of students get access to materials so they don’t need to buy it on their own.
In the coming weeks, LBCC plans to begin offering a digital version of books via the LBCC website at the students’ request to help with social distancing, according to Buenaventura and Sabol.
To prevent copyright infringement only one chapter can be requested from a textbook at a time. The library staff would “upload it to the file server and the students would read it, but they can’t download it because of copyright,” Sabol said.
Numerous precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of both the students utilizing the service and those working at the curbside program.
“When the students return the books it gets quarantined for three days before it’s able to be checked out again,” said Buenaventura.
Buenaventura hopes to cut down the quarantine of the books from three days to 60 seconds by purchasing “a quarantine machine” that acts as a microwave by sanitizing the books in one minute.
“We have a lot of contact with other people and their germs so we have been sanitizing. We have gloves, masks and everything else to prevent ourselves from getting sick and the students,” said Shala Copeland. Copeland is a student assistant for the library, and has been handing out library materials to fellow students.
Due to LBCC’s recent announcement stating classes will continue to be mostly remote learning through spring semester 2021, library services will likely continue to be online and/or curbside services through then.
Curbside service is only available on Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. and is located at the Liberal Arts Campus in the C Lot. Students must maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet and wear a face covering.
To reserve library materials and to be granted access for curbside service visit the LBCC library website.
For information on requesting materials through the LBCC library, visit: https://www.lbcc.edu/carousel/find-learn-connect-library-online-resources-curbside-pickup
Restaurant workers feel the impact of COVID-19
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant industry continues to be one of the hardest hit businesses, and its employees continue to suffer its effects.
According to 2020 National Restaurant Association data, prior to the pandemic, restaurants were projected to employ 15.6 million people this year.
In April, weeks into the mandatory closures of restaurants and bars across the state, California unemployment rose to a record 15.5%, a number that has somewhat stabilized as restaurants and bars have attempted to reopen under limited state-mandated conditions. The leisure and hospitality industry was reportedly hit the hardest, posting the largest job loss of 866,200 jobs lost in April according to California Employment Development Department data.
Patrick Ryan, an Orange County bartender, has still been unable to return to work after months of unemployment following California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s March 16 announcement shutting down bars and restaurants across the state.
Ryan formerly worked at the OC Brewhouse, a restaurant inside of the Hyatt Regency Orange County. “The hotel was closed for all of April, all of May, and all of June. They opened back up in July, but not for food and beverage, only for people to stay.” He also mentioned that during the first month of closure, the hotel would update the staff about what may happen next but he has not heard anything else since then.
Since the OC Brewhouse’s closing, he has received unemployment benefits and has been seeking out another source of work but said he feels it is very tough in the current climate.
“The thing with your unemployment is that your work pays into that, so if they call you to come back in, you have to. You don’t have a choice, because if you say no they will cut your unemployment off,” Ryan said.
When asked if the payments received from unemployment was similar to his usual work pay, Ryan said, “Much less. With unemployment, the maximum amount you can qualify for is $450 a week. For a while, they had the extra $600 a week they were giving people, so that put it close to the amount,” referring to the federal CARES Act that extended unemployment benefits but ended July 25.
Since the closing of Ryan’s bar, he has now been looking for work in alcohol sales and distribution rather than bartending jobs. When asked if it is strange applying to different jobs, he said, “Oh yeah, totally. I considered looking into it while I was still working at my old job, but working in food and beverage like that, especially in a bar that is so busy, it was hard to transition into a job and start from the bottom and not make the same amount of money, because it would have been a big pay cut.”
“I’ve been tending bars for like 7 years and I was always confident that when times were good, people drink, and when times are bad, people drink. I never considered a virus would go around and make it so you couldn’t go out,” said Ryan.
Like Ryan, Aisha Oliver, a former Long Beach-based waitress, also decided to change paths due to the pandemic.
Oliver previously worked at The Ordinarie, a restaurant located in downtown Long Beach, but chose not to return following the June reopening. She has temporarily relocated to Miami, Florida and has begun school.
Occurring to Oliver, prior to the pandemic and subsequent shutdown, “All the servers made a decent income and it was very livable especially for the L.A. area. Around February when rumors of COVID started to circulate, it was a pretty substantial kind of business, and we just kinda closed down.”
Regarding how restaurants have been coping with the pandemic, Oliver said, “I think they are doing the best they can. They are businesses that are trying to keep afloat, but the restaurant I worked at was fairly new.”
Despite the many safety precautions restaurants have taken to follow protocols and ensure their guests’ safety, such as only allowing a maximum of six people to a table and spacing tables six feet apart, Oliver said she questions restaurants’ safety.
“Given the nature of the food industry, I don’t really see it as safe, because people do have to remove their masks to eat. It’s not the customers’ fault or the restaurant’s, it’s the nature of things that makes it very difficult to regulate. So I would consider it to be a very risky environment to go,” Oliver said.
On her decision not to return to the hospitality industry, Oliver said,“I think I would have gone back, but the money isn’t there anymore and tips are just not the same, and we are depending on tips.”
For those still working amid the partial reopening, such as Long Beach bartender Justin Ahn, conditions have been difficult to manage. Between working solely outside throughout heat waves and poor air quality, many restaurant workers have found it difficult to endure.
Along with wearing the required masks and face shields, many servers and bartenders have also seen a significant drop in income due to many factors such as limited seating capacity.
“Initially, when food service resumed operations the first time around I was reluctant to return,” Ahn said. “But since I see it as my career, I knew I had to plan ahead and make steps to advance so I went back to my two jobs and picked up a third one as insurance, cause no one can really know how long this would last for. ‘This’ being the reduction in income as a result of the overall reduction in restaurant traffic.”
Ahn bartends at three restaurants in Long Beach, the Mezcalero, Playa Amor, and The Ordinarie. He has noticed a difference in income, but explained that it depends on specific business models.
“Some jobs have cut labor significantly to make up for huge losses in income. So some people have been making more than they have before, but at the cost of others losing jobs. And other businesses, even with a reduction in labor, are still struggling because they might not have as much available outdoor seating, or even the potential to expand.”
Ahn said that with labor cutting efforts, more is expected of bartenders including aspects of serving as well.
“I definitely miss the social aspect of communicating with guests and not having physical boundaries like hugging and shaking hands,” said Ahn, who has been working in the service industry for five years.
“Most people who work probably feel safe because most people in the industry are young and healthy and aren’t susceptible to the worst of the disease,” he said.
“But personally, I worry. I know I’ll survive. But I don’t want to unknowingly get it and pass it off to people I care about who are more likely to die from it. Safety is not a guarantee, but if everyone puts in an effort, it will slow the spread.”
Despite potential safety risks both to employees and customers, Ahn does not foresee restaurants closing their doors once again.
“With the devastating effect on the economy so far, I don’t think we really can afford to just stop businesses again. Only to try our best to survive.”
When asked what he misses most of pre-pandemic restaurant life, Ahn simply said “The normalcy. Everything seems weird. But eventually, this will become normal anyways.”
LBCC to remain online in spring 2021
The decision was finalized in an email from the LBCC District this afternoon that Long Beach City College’s spring 2021 semester will be mostly online.
The email stated, “We had hoped that we could reopen campuses this spring; however, we need to continue to follow State and local guidelines including those received from Los Angeles County and our own City and Health Department.”
Said Board of Trustees President Vivian Malauulu on Sept. 8, “The number one thing that’s involved is the safety of our students, and the safety of our employees. First and foremost, whatever we do, we take into complete account that our students and our employees are safe, and their families and the community is safe, because by extension we have a responsibility to make ensure that whoever comes onto campus doesn’t become contaminated with a deadly virus that they can go out and infect their communities with, so we have to be very careful with that.”
Continued Malauulu, “Secondary of course, we want to obey the law. We want to make sure that we are compliant with the law, we want to make sure we obey whatever our public agencies tell us what we have to do, we want to make sure we meet all the protocol.”
The college will most likely follow a similar model as the fall 2020 semester, with most classes online with limited in-person offerings for disciplines that do not translate online well, such as nursing and welding.
LBCC will follow the same social distance and safety guidelines for the laboratory classes that will be held on campus.
Malauulu said she would like to see more labs potentially added to LBCC’s on-campus offerings, but this has yet to be determined.
Said Malauulu, one of her goals is to ensure that athletics return to campus for the spring 2021 semester, and she is working with Interim Athletic Director Bill Husak along with a couple of the coaches to develop a plan. “I believe student-athletes encompass a different slice of our student population and they don’t just show up on the game day, they have to train. They have to make sure they’re healthy and they have the right amount of stamina, that can only be developed from consistent training and working out and conditioning.”
The plans for Commencement will be announced during the spring 2021 semester.