TimesOC: For now, back to school in Laguna Beach is only for elementary school students

Good morning, and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 7.

My name is David Carrillo Peñaloza, the author of the TimesOC newsletter and an editor for Los Angeles Times Community News.

For the first time since March, elementary school students in Laguna Beach are back in the classroom.

But what about the city’s middle school and high school students? It looks like they have to wait until late November before they can return for in-person instruction during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, reporter Andrew Turner covered the first day the Laguna Beach Unified School District reopened its elementary schools. Three days before, he covered a protest at Main Beach, where dozens of mask-wearing parents demanded the district also reopen the secondary schools.

“Our district of less than 3,000 kids, they couldn’t figure it out,” how to reopen all of its schools at the same time, said Celeste Gilles, who has two sons at Laguna Beach High School. “I just think we’re better than that. We could do better. We have the resources here, and we could do better.”

Kindergartners walk past a marquee sign welcoming them back Monday for in-person instruction at Top of the World Elementary School in Laguna Beach.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Meanwhile, Laguna Beach’s youngest children showed up to school this week wearing masks, sporting new haircuts and lugging around oversized backpacks.

Even though the district offered voluntary COVID-19 testing for students before they returned to campus, some parents worried about being away from their kids.

“It’s hard because we have been together for so long,” said Tiffany Frey, whose son, Maddox, 6, a first-grader, returned to Top of the World Elementary School. “I’m excited for him, and he’s excited, too, but at the same time, the new normal was for everyone to be together.”

More O.C. stories

— Columnist Gustavo Arellano welcomed President Donald Trump to the coronavirus club, which no one wants to be a part of but has a lot of Latino members from the 92704 ZIP Code in Santa Ana. That ZIP Code has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Orange County.

— Even with Trump sickened by COVID-19, the mask debate continues in Huntington Beach. Some called him irresponsible for holding rallies and others questioned the use of masks.

— Orange County officials held a news conference on Monday to assure voters that they would defend ballot integrity and protect polling places from outside interference.

— Surfer magazine, founded in Orange County in 1960, printed its final edition. Todd Prodanovich, the editor in chief, posted on Instagram that the entire staff was let go.

— The photography work of William Camargo on the depiction and erasure of Chicanx and Latinx identity is on display from storefront windows at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana and MUZEO Museum & Cultural Center in Anaheim.

— UC Irvine is teaming up with the Irvine Co. and Pacific Symphony and negotiating with other Orange County businesses to develop safe reopening protocols.

— Michael Zeng, who came to the U.S. from China two years ago, has given away most of what he’s saved and masks to help others. The Newport Beach teenager donated $5,000 and 1,000 masks to the Los Angeles Rohingya Assn., a nonprofit advocacy group.

— Natalie Salvatierra, a 16-year-old student at Foothill High School in Santa Ana, launched Solely Sunshine, an organization that sends letters of encouragement to teenagers struggling with mental health.

— Due to the pandemic, junior college students enrolled at Orange Coast, Golden West and Coastline colleges will continue with distance learning through the spring semester.

— Katie Tinto, a UC Irvine law professor, said undercover policing creates criminals and is not effective at combating crime.

— Over the weekend, a 68-year-old bicyclist was killed after he collided with a tow truck in Costa Mesa, and a dead body was found at a park in Newport Beach.

— There’s now a 24-hour hotline fielding complaints and nonemergency issues related to short-term rentals in Newport Beach.

Get in touch

Have any questions or suggestions for the TimesOC newsletter? Email me at david.carrillo@latimes.com.

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See you Friday morning.