The Epitome

Mariane, c. 1950

     GOSH it’s been a nice day.

     Late this afternoon, Teddy and I did as we always do; we walked down to my sister Annie’s place, where we found her tending the plants of her big landscaping project, which involves maybe a thousand square feet of a knoll covered with Live Oak and Eucalyptus trees, plus some cool native cactus. We hang out there a lot, Teddy included.

     Annie dashed over to her studio and got the boy his usual “fish prizes” (pricey cat food); then, she and I sat in some lawn chairs and consumed our official covid-era snack, a few strips of vegan jerky (Primal Spirit) that I buy online.

     So here’s the thing. Annie told me that, earlier, she had called “Tante [Aunt] Mariane” (we pronounce this as Germans do: TAUN-ta Mehr-ee-AH-nah)—who lives, with her husband Hermann (“HAIR-mahn”) in a little seaside town (White Rock) south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Hermann and Mariane moved up there from the city of Orange about thirty years ago, avowedly to “take advantage of far-superior Canadian healthcare.” They never regretted it.

     I always liked the utterly warm and friendly Mariane, who was my mom’s best friend (we only call her “Aunt”). In 1945, when the remnants of my mom’s Pomeranian family—both of my mom’s parents were dead—fled west, via rail, to evade the advancing Soviet Army (the train was strafed by Soviet fighter planes), her little group ended up in a town south of Hamburg. As a “displaced person,” mom and the others were hated by the locals, who did not want to share what little they had; nevertheless, Mom, who was 12-years old, met the very sweet Mariane, also 12, and they became close friends. They remained so until my mom’s death from Alzheimer’s about a year ago.

Hermann and Mariane, Trabuco Canyon, c. early 80s

     That’s a 74-year friendship!

     Mariane, who’s in her late 80s, is as sharp as a tack. (I’ve spoken with her a couple of times in the last year or so.) The dementia-related deaths of my parents really weirded her out. She seemed positively freaked by my mom’s zaniness during attempted conversations over the phone those last few years. Sometimes, I joined in to serve as a kind of intermediary/translator. One of mom’s Alzheimer’s-derived lunacies: she was fond of Donald Trump.

     I’m glad Mariane has felt the need to stay connected to us “kids” after my folks’ deaths. I love that old gal.

     “So, how are they doin’?” I asked my sis.

     “They’re doin’ great!” said Annie. Annie enjoys being the one who has managed something desirable, such as a conversation with an old family friend.

     “How are they copin’ with the Covid thing up there?”, I asked.

     “Pretty well.”

     After a pause, she continued: “–I think they’re really worried about us, though. Turns out, the only thing people talk about in BC is the craziness goin’ on in Orange County!”

     I thought about that. “Wow. Really?”

     “Yep.”

Mariane and my mom, Orange, 1963

     Mariane and Hermann lived in Orange County for maybe thirty years (like my parents, they moved from Germany to Canada and then, finally, to the U.S. circa 1960). They seemed to fit in fine when they were down here, livin’ in rednecky Orange, not far from downtown. Since they’ve moved back to Canada, though, they seem to have adopted the Canadian Weltanschauung. At this point, I think, they see Americans as benighted and dangerous.

     The world is a big place and there’s a lot to try to keep track of. So, inevitably, people embrace simplifications; that is, one embraces caricatures of the realities of “other” places. So lots of foreigners—lots of Canadians, I think—look at the good old U.S.A. as a bunch of slack-jawed rubes. Who else would vote for a guy like Trump? Obviously, we do the same or worse to Canadians.

     “I hate Trump,” declared Mariane, over the phone, talking to Annie, or so Annie said. I don’t recall ever hearing so simple a declarative sentence coming out of Tante Mariane's mouth. She’s way too nice for that.

     “I hate Trump,” she declared, and then added, “He’s a terrible man and an idiot.”

     Well, OK then. One grows tired of explaining to one’s foreign friends and relatives that, no, not everyone in this country approves of Mr. Trump—that, in truth, most people (maybe even most people in OC) view him as a loutish idjit and daily hope for some shred of evidence that his disastrous reign might soon come to an end. For instance, he could just drop dead one day. That would be wonderful.

     Maybe Tante Mariane understands all this. No doubt she knows we're anti-Trumpians.

     But this notion that Orange County, California, is some hot spot of Trumpian lunacy, some hellmouth of stupid and hateful knuckle-draggery—that British Columbians pursue their days with that thought, however simplistic, pleased me.

     It is a curious fact that Orange County often comes up when one traces the origins of the lunacies and idiocies of our times. For instance, I’m told that some of the convoluted financial contrivances that led to the crash of 2008 had their origins in Orange County.

     Seems plausible. I really don’t know.

The grassy knoll

     I do know that the “birther” movement (remember Orly Taitz?) owed a great deal to Orange County. And the notion that it is right and proper to torment “wetbacks” on the Mexican border?—that definitely owes much to Orange County trailblazers. As we all know, the OC was a locus of Bircherism back in the day; John Birch conspiracy theories rival Trumpian contentions for sheer idiocy. And, back in the 1920s, the KKK dominated the Anaheim City Council.
     –You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty special.

     Since 1979, Orange County has been home to the foremost Holocaust denial organization in the country. The no-holds-barred “dirty tricks” tradition in American politics—that, too, depends a lot on Orange County innovators of half a century ago.

     Still, I’M an Orange Countian, and MY FRIENDS are mostly Orange Countians, and we’re not like that at all; we’re sworn enemies of this hideous hayseed right-wingery and this assault on reason and ethics.

     So, anyway, if my Tante Mariane is to be believed, British Columbians see the world like this: Trumpian inanity has a strangle-hold on the USA, threatening to set the world afire, and the epitome of abject Trumpian folly is, in fact, good old Orange County, CA, that shining shit-pile on a hill, where government officials believe that this Covid thing is somehow a Chinese and/or Democratic conspiracy and that surgical mask-wearing mandates are acts of “terrorism” against God-fearing, freedom-loving citizens and their goddam kids.

     Just a little perspective for you.

That's my mom, sister Annie, and me, c. 1958
(British Columbia)

White Rock, British Columbia

Abject Covidity

✅With coronavirus antibodies fading fast, vaccine hopes fade, too
San Francisco Chronicle

     Disturbing new revelations that permanent immunity to the coronavirus may not be possible have jeopardized vaccine development and reinforced a decision by scientists at UCSF and affiliated laboratories to focus exclusively on treatments.

     Several recent studies conducted around the world indicate that the human body does not retain the antibodies that build up during infections, meaning there may be no lasting immunity to COVID-19 after people recover.

     Strong antibodies are also crucial in the development of vaccines. So molecular biologists fear the only way left to control the disease may be to treat the symptoms after people are infected to prevent the most debilitating effects, including inflammation, blood clots and death.

     “I just don’t see a vaccine coming anytime soon,” said Nevan Krogan, a molecular biologist and director of UCSF’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute, which works in partnership with 100 research laboratories. “People do have antibodies, but the antibodies are waning quickly.” And if antibodies diminish, “then there is a good chance the immunity from a vaccine would wane too.”

     The latest bad news came from scientists at King’s College of London, whose study of 90 COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom found antibody levels peaked three weeks after the onset of symptoms and then dramatically declined.

     Potent antibodies were found in 60% of the patients, according to the study, but only 17% retained the same potency three months later. In some cases, the antibodies disappeared completely, said the study which was published as a preprint Saturday, meaning it has not yet been peer-reviewed.

     The report is the latest in a growing chain of evidence that immunity to COVID-19 is short-lived….

✅ In new guidance, Gov. Newsom expected to impose strict regulations for school opening and closing

EdSource

     Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce Friday that all public and private schools in California counties on the state’s  monitoring list for rising coronavirus infections would be required to close for in-class instruction and meet strict criteria in order to reopen. 

     Under the expected guidance, children in kindergarten through 2d grade who are being taught in classrooms would be encouraged, but not required, to wear masks. That’s according to several participants in discussions with administration officials and others familiar with the guidance. However, students in grades 3 to 12, along with staff, would be required to wear them. Those who refuse could be sent home to be taught exclusively via distance learning.

     Students would be encouraged to stay as far apart as possible, but would not be required to maintain the 6-foot distance expected of staff.

     The guidance would represent a marked shift from leaving decisions over closing and reopening schools largely in the hands of local school district officials in consultation with county departments of health.  The California Department of Public Health would now play a stronger role in setting the criteria for reopening school facilities….

✅ Trump Administration Rejects New DACA Applications

Inside Higher Ed

     The Trump administration is refusing to process new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program despite a Supreme Court ruling that required reinstatement of the program, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

     Legal experts say the Supreme Court's ruling compels the administration to begin accepting new applications for the DACA program, which provides protections from deportation for certain young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. But immigration lawyers says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is rejecting new applications or confirming receipt of the applications and not acting on them. USCIS did not respond to the paper’s request for comment. 

The Celebrated Boiling Frogs of Orange County, California (Red Emma)

Red Emma

     Recall the classic tale of Jim Smiley, celebrated con man of Calaveras County, real or mythical, but outsmarted, or out-conned, by an even more clever and duplicitous flimflammer. Now substitute, for the stranger-feller who came to town the slickest civic grifter we reckon has come up in these-here parts, our very own 3rd district Orange County Supervisor. He’s that local elected official whose bait and switch – Wagnerian, you might call it – makes celebrated boiling frogs of us all, his unconstituents.
     Now that I’ve commenced to a-doin’ some first-rate bowdlerizin’ aimed in the direction of the great Mark Twain, why not introduce this nearly unbelievable updating of his famous ole yarn by reminding all who read this tall tale that, yes, reports of the demise of Super-dupervisor Donald Wagner’s OC Republican party are indeed greatly exaggerated. This, friends, neighbors, and fellow frogs a’boilin’, is easily evidenced in the local GOP’s impressive contribution to the rising temperature in the pan-demic (read: boiling frog contest) administered by Chef Don, who never held an elected position where he could accomplish either a whole lot of colorful nothin’ or, as of late, worse than nothin’.
     Yup, Don and his pardner Michelle Steel are doin’ what they do best: turnin’ up the heat. Not just on the big kettle o’ COVID, which the miserable and pitiful Democrats and the Blacks and the gays and teachers and pointy-headed intellectuals and them scientist-types say is a darn-tootin’ real life-and-death public health crisis but, in what you might call further ironing, on the whole idee of governification itself! Why, it’s a sure-fired GOP two-fer: Holler out to the Trumpy, Q-Anon, anti-vax, anti-tax, Boogaloo, Tea Party and John Birch crowd, feedin’ ‘em what them Sunday morning jawers call “red meat,” then sit back and watch while they go a protestin’ agin Doc Nichole Quick, the county’s public health boss, about how she’s takin’ away their bidness, flags and guns.

     Never you mind that two months ago most of these good folks couldn’t have picked out Don Wagner in a crowd, not even a line-up of B-1 Bob Dornan, Bill Dannemeyer, Surfin’ Dana Rohrabacher, John Briggs (look ‘em up!) or even Ronald Reagan, who had trouble sayin’ the letters “AIDS” and “HIV” aloud so long that somebody had to write it down for him on a cue card and give him time to practice.
     And why’s that, you wonder, with us all cookin’ together, the virus spikin’ higher? It’s on account of what them newspaper and internet scribblers call a “down-ballot race.” Which leads to frog hoppin’, frog boilin’ and the mystifyin’ Mr. Wagner. See, friends, it begins when the ambitious founder of an outfit called the OC Federalist Society, so right-wing it flies in circles, gets to runnin’ for a community college race, of all things.

     Sure enough, after winnin’ a seat at South Orange County Community College District, he’s elected president, by golly, then commences to tantalizin’ voters with attacks on a suspect crew called the American Association of University Women and cancelling the district subscriptions supportin’ another unlikely gang callin’ themselves the American Library Association or some-such, all while gettin’ endorsements and lucre aplenty from a rival bunch called the Education Alliance, funded by a crazy millionaire. 
     Then it was on to the California Assembly, advocatin’ with considerable uselessness but plenty of hoopla and no-cost mailers, to the folks back home pro-gun, anti-immigrant, anti-same sex marriage and LGBTQ rights laws, and, just for the heck of it, speechified agin’ birthin’ control for women-folk and those gosh-darned uppity teachers’ unions.
Why, the next thing you know, Don W. is on the Irvine City Council, then mayor. His amazin’ trajectory is blessed all along with complete unscrutinization by the press, voters, auditors or investigative-type journalists, with his curriculum vitae – Spanish for resume – just listing all them other positions where he’d showed up only to vote for whatever that feller Shawn Steel – yup, Michelle’s hubby – or Devin Nunes, Mitchell McConnell or them good old boys at the NRA told him to until Irviners got sick and tired of him but then got a job where he could, with a straight face, tell good Judge Carter it’d be a winning idea to erect a homeless shelter in the canyons, havin’ forgot to check via the Googlizer that there was already a public library there, far from bus stops, provisions, health services or other accoutrements of civilization. 

     Here’s what you might call the funny part, if you didn’t know better, and plenty voters don’t. With the legislature and Congressional reps gone blue, the real power in this county – funding, policy and infrastructurin’ – still falls to the red side. All that historical ballot-casting for Sacramento and D.C.? Why, those same voters plum forgot to vote for judges, water district officials, community college board members and Supes. I swear, most of the good people I talk with can’t tell you what them Supervisors even do until they hear on the national news that one of them is acting like the biggest con man of all, a feller named Trump. 
     That’s the tale of Don Wagner, a real character. He’s a-fixin’ to reopen the County, cuz he don’t like masks and what you call social distancing. Why, he’s just like that stranger who forced buckshot down the gullet of a famous frog, and won the bet. Ceptin’ for that amphibious critter lived, and the stranger-feller weren’t never seen again. Meanwhile, you and I set and figger how much longer Don Wagner’s gonna turn up the flame, murderize more of our kinfolk and then get hisself re-elected! —RE

Andrew Tonkovich

The Board of Ed Recs FIASCO!

Wagner, Chau back away from controversial Orange County School Board recommendation

OC Register

 

Though they support the idea of local students returning to classes, they note that they did not have direct input into a report that has drawn national attention and criticism.

     Supervisor Don Wagner and acting county health officer Clayton Chau issued a statement Wednesday that put some distance between themselves and a controversial recommendation from the Orange County Board of Education that students should return to school, in class, without masks, during the pandemic.

     While Wagner and Chau wrote that they “applaud the efforts” of the Board of Education to “bring children back to school,” they also pointedly noted that they did not “write, edit or review” the report. [Wagner was on the panel that supposedly produced the report.]

     Since Monday, when the county Board of Education issued its symbolic recommendation to 27 local school districts it doesn’t oversee, the report has drawn national media attention and often angry criticism.

     Among other things, the report suggests that students would be better served to attend school without masks, and that social distancing isn’t needed.

     On Wednesday, Orange County reported 911 new cases of coronavirus and 22 deaths.

     Wagner and Chau were among several public officials and health experts whose names were attached to a report approved by most of the five-member elected panel that comprises the Board of Education. [4-1]

     The report from the Board of Education differs from recommendations made by the agency it’s connected to, the Orange County Department of Education. The Department recommends that schools should follow public health officials, and that any in-class education should include social distancing and masks for students and staff.

. . .

     Wagner, who represents the Third District, said in a brief interview Wednesday that the county isn’t connected to the Board of Education or its report.

     “I want to make sure there isn’t any misunderstanding about the county’s role,” Wagner said. “Ultimately, it’s the school districts’ decision. As a county supervisor, it’s not my call.”

     Still, Wagner said he would prefer to see kids in school and not learning online.

     “I’m not convinced, personally, that online education is sufficient. And I hope they find a way to get back to in-person teaching as soon and as safely as possible.”

. . .

     The Orange County Board of Education got pushback from districts.

     “We will not be operating in the way that OCDE’s Board has suggested,” said Bob Pletka, superintendent of the Fullerton School District. “Their recommendations contradict legal mandates such as the governor’s executive order for people, including students, to wear masks in public. We will be following O.C. Health department’s regulations and California Department of Health directives”

. . .

     The broad outline for the report issued Monday, July 13, was set during a June 24 forum convened by the Board of Education, board members said.  Wagner, Chau and nine others were invited to participate as forum panelists.

     The June forum’s official agenda included a set of “first principles,” which stated that requiring children to wear masks at school “is not only impossible to implement but not based on science and could be potentially harmful.”

. . .

     Wagner, who was interviewed Wednesday on CNN, said the June forum was skewed to one point of view, and that he would have liked to hear all sides represented…..

For TRANSCRIPTS of the CNN interview (Don Wagner) go here.

Panel Experts Walk Away From Controversial OC Board of Education Reopening Guidelines

Voice of OC

 

   …The report was originally hailed in public by the board majority that ultimately approved it as a group analysis from an 11-person panel in June that included multiple education and health experts, as well as county health care agency director Dr. Clayton Chau and County Supervisor Don Wagner. 

. . .

     But now, multiple members of that panel have disavowed the report, saying it does not represent their views and that they were never consulted on the document. 

     Instead, the report was written by Dr. Ken Williams Jr., president of the Board of Education, and Will Swaim, president of the nonprofit California Policy Center, who also moderated the panel.

     Neither were identified as authors within the report, with one small note thanking Swaim for his “assistance and input in the preparation of this document.” 

     Members of the panel were all listed on the title page, with short bios at the end of the report. 

     In an interview, Swaim said he was approached about a month before the panel met by Williams and Mari Barke, the board’s vice president, and asked to write the report and serve as a moderator for the panel. 

     “I’m not a doctor. They said we’re not looking for a doctor, we’re looking for someone to manage the town hall circus,” Swaim said. “They wanted to limit the conversation to are kids at risk, and looking at the data it was pretty clearly no.” 

     Swaim said he examined the data himself from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and at the Orange County level, and said the narrative that a return to schools would be harmful was largely propagated by teachers unions. He also brought up concerns that keeping kids home could lead to long term damage as well. 

     “I knew from just looking at OC data, the kids are not at risk, they’re almost supermen. I’m not saying they’re invulnerable, but almost,” Swaim said. “Kids have more to risk from the adults in the room and the adults have much more to risk from other adults in the room.” 

     The report’s statement that the use of masks are not based on science was contradicted by the CDC earlier this week, with the agency saying that even the use of cloth face masks can help protect others and the person wearing it, with a recommendation that children under the age of two not wear masks. 

     Swaim said he was not paid for his work, which he said was largely on his own time but called it consistent with work done by the California Policy Center. He also hosts a podcast called Radio Free California, which is produced by the National Review [a conservative journal]. 

     Swaim took issue with those that disputed panel experts participated in the report, saying it was written as an honest summary of the deliberations of panel members he witnessed. He said he included a note about that fact, which he shared with Voice of OC, in the draft of the report he submitted.

     But Swaim also acknowledged the report’s final version ultimately didn’t include that kind of language. 

. . .

     “In this white paper, we have done our best to capture the general assessment of the various expert opinions. And, of course, some panelists were careful to say that they were speaking only for themselves and not necessarily for all colleagues or organizations with which they work in their professional capacities (see e.g. Appendix A.).”

     Swaim stands by the draft he wrote. 

     “I did my best to summarize the general sense of the panel’s discussion. Fortunately, there’s a record of this, a recording on the board’s website. I would encourage those who are interested to listen to the audio,” Swaim said. 

     When pressed, Williams ultimately described the role of panel members in writing the report as “inconsequential.” 

     “The expert panel neither approved of the paper or was involved in writing it. For my knowledge, I have had virtually no contact with our panel since the special community forum in June,” Williams said in an email to Voice of OC. 

     According to Swaim, around 80% of the report was written before the panel ever met.

. . .

     Some experts whose names were associated with the report disagreed so strongly with its findings that they asked to have their names taken off entirely. 

     Dr. Steven Abelowitz, a former pediatric chair at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presybterian, said that aside from speaking at the panel he was never contacted in regards to the final guidelines. 

     “Besides being present as an expert, I had no involvement in what was written or prepared,” Abelowitz said in a phone call with Voice of OC. 

     Abelowitz asked that his name be removed from the report, and released a statement that he is in strong support of both masks and social distancing, and that he would follow the guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatricians.

. . .

     Multiple members of the county government also distanced themselves from the report. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Wagner said his only role was to share the county’s perspective, and that he had never endorsed returning to the classrooms with no additional safety measures in place. 

     “I never said that, and most of the folks that came from the county…were never saying that,” Wagner told CNN’s Brianna Keilar. “The panel itself never wrote this, I never saw or drafted it.” 

     Wagner did not respond to requests for comment from Voice of OC. 

     Dr. Chau was the fourth member of the panel to condemn the board of education’s decision in a statement sent to Voice of OC Wednesday evening. 

     “I believe that schools should follow guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health,” read a statement sent by Chau on Wednesday night. “I continue to be a strong proponent for public health prevention measures.” 

     After the issue drew national attention, Chau and Wagner also issued a joint statement praising the efforts of the department of education, which just days before had put out a statement that flew in the face of the primary recommendations of the panel, which included both of them as members. 

     “Orange County Supervisor, Don Wagner, and Health Director, Dr. Clayton Chau, applaud the efforts of the Orange County Department of Education to bring children back to school with safety measures in place,” the statement said. 

     In the same statement, Wagner and Chau – in a seeming about face – issued a statement backing the county department of education plans and had different words for the Board of Education members. 

     “Both Supervisor Wagner and Dr. Chau encouraged the Orange County Board of Education to remain guided in their plan by the medical professionals,” the statement said. “It is important to reopen safely when the epidemiological data makes sense.”

Today's 7-day average (cases/day): 912 cases

You Coronavirus: Breaking down the outbreaks in Northern and Southern California

Southern California has fueled the state’s spread but NorCal is beginning to catch up

The Mercury News

 

Pace of California schools planning to open with distance learning accelerates

EdSource

…State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he recognized the health realities that many districts are facing, and applauded districts for “putting safety first.”…..

 

Back to school in Orange County without masks and social distancing? Many call that reckless -- Recommendations approved by the Orange County Board of Education to welcome students back to campuses without increased social distancing in classrooms or the mandatory use of masks were met with a fierce backlash from educators and parents Tuesday, highlighting the larger divide in the county over the use of face coverings and other coronavirus protections. Anh Do, Sara Cardine, Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/15/20

 

Smith: The latest rallying cry of coronavirus deniers, brought to you by Orange County -- If we’re indeed only as strong as our weakest link, we’re in trouble, California. Big trouble. For proof, look no further than the Orange County-inspired lunacy that went down hundreds of miles away on the rustic streets of Nevada City. Erika D. Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/15/20

7-15: hospitals bracing; 22 new dead reported

✅Orange County Hospitals Brace for Coronavirus Surge Mode

Voice of OC

     Orange County hospitals are preparing to enter surge mode as the county saw another bump in coronavirus hospitalizations, while the virus continues to spread.

     “Hospital Surge Plans are already activated to an extent, as conditions worsen,” reads a Wednesday situation report from the county office of Emergency Medical Services. 

     “The trends are very concerning and we can continue to expect the impact on the healthcare system to get worse in the coming days and weeks,” states the report. 

At the beginning of June, 292 people were hospitalized, including 121 in intensive care units. There were also 226 dead out of 7,767 confirmed cases. 

     Since then, cases have more than tripled, while hospitalization and death counts keep climbing….

An attention-grabbing "political gesture"

✅ OC school board’s symbolic bid to put kids in class grabs attention (OC Reg)

Orange County’s Congressional delegation “deeply concerned” over advocacy by the Orange County Board of Education in support of a full return to campus, without face masks or social distancing.

Ken Williams

     The Orange County Board of Education, a five-member body with little power, on Monday voted 4-1 to issue a document saying students should return to traditional classrooms, without masks, when local schools resume next month.
     A day later, that symbolic vote – which urges a plan that, if implemented, could run counter to federal and state health guidelines – drew national media attention and a letter of rebuke from the county’s congressional delegation.
     “We are deeply concerned by the Board’s decision to not address the health threats that COVID-19 poses to our community with its recommendations to reopen schools without the use of face masks, social distancing or reduced class sizes,” wrote House members Linda T. Sanchez, Harley Rouda, Katie Porter, Alan Lowenthal, Gilbert Cisneros, Lou Correa and Mike Levin, all Democrats.

. . .

     On Tuesday, Santa Ana Unified said it will offer only online instruction when education resumes in the district, possibly next month. And trustees for Anaheim Union High School District will consider a similar online-only plan when they meet on Thursday.

     Meanwhile, lawmakers who wrote to the Orange County Board of Education requested a briefing and asked a number of questions.

. . .

     The board’s specific responsibilities include approving the Orange County Department of Education’s annual budget and serving as an appellate board for cases of expulsion and transfer requests….

     But the board has no control over the county’s 27 school districts, and it doesn’t set policy regarding school re-opening plans during the current health crisis.

     It’s why some observers on Tuesday described the conservative board’s push for in-class education – something also urged by President Donald Trump and many national Republicans – as a partisan move.

Fred Smoller

     “It’s clearly a political gesture,” said Fred Smoller, Chapman University associate professor of political science.

     It also got attention. News of the School Board’s push for no masks and no social distancing in schools … was picked up by CNN and National Public Radio, among others.

     Smoller said this is the type of attention that paints Orange County in its former conservative mold,  pushing back against experts who say resuming in class instruction could boost the pandemic and possible endanger teachers and at-risk students.

. . .

     Though some parents support the board’s push for in-class instruction, many others do not. A recent survey by Santa Ana Unified found one in four parents in that district support putting kids back in classrooms full-time next fall, while about half want a hybrid program and another 24 % prefer going strictly online. And a national survey posted Tuesday by CNN found 71% of American parents don’t want in-class schooling in the fall.

     Also, a local online petition critical of the school board’s white paper collected more than 51,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

     Still, at least one board Trustee, Ken Williams, argues it’s the push for online instruction during the health crisis that’s the more political path.

     “This public effort is political and consistent with the narrative that governors from blue states and unions want to keep schools closed (as a way) to protect union power. They disregard the concept of doing what is in the best interests of the children,” Williams said….

Board of Ed's Lisa Sparks interview

Sparks seems unable to answer the reporter's tough question: aren't your recommendations going against the science? 

(Sparks is one of the 4 Republicans on the 5-member board. Only Gomez is a Democrat—and she voted against the recommendations.)