Compton Unified Heads Back to Class, How the Pandemic Has Put Limits On Our Grief, Wind Company to Breed Condors

Published March 2, 2021 at 3:21 PM PST

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Students work on their laptop computers at St. Joseph Catholic School in La Puente, California on November 16, 2020, where pre-kindergarten to Second Grade students in need of special services returned to the classroom today for in-person instruction. - The campus is the second Catholic school in Los Angeles County to receive a waiver approval to reopen as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. The US surpassed 11 million coronavirus cases Sunday, adding one million new cases in less than a week, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Prepping Kids to Go Back to Class - and Other Coronavirus Questions Answered

It's been a year since many of California's kids have sat in an actual classroom - and a LOT has changed. The experience of being in school, for many, will feel different than it did prior to March of 2020. So how to prep kids for going back?

Guest:

Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Children's Hospital.

Compton Unified Heads Back to Class - "It's the Right Thing to Do."

Governor Newsom announced a deal with the California legislature to provide $2 billion for districts that reopen transitional kindergarten to second grade by April FIRST. But as much as some families want their kids back in classrooms, there are challenges to reopening while we’re still in a pandemic. Compton Unified serves TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND students across 36 sites, and more than ninety percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Fifty Percent of these students are headed back to class March 8th. We'll talk about how - and why.

Guests:

Darin Brawley, Compton Unified School District Superintendent
Micah Ali, Board of Education President

Dealing with Assault on College Campuses During the Pandemic

The increase in domestic violence during the pandemic is affecting college students too. A statewide group that monitors sexual assault and harassment is praising the work of "confidential survivors' advocates" found at many California colleges. KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports.

How the Pandemic Has Put Limits on Our Grief

Grief is never easy, but grieving for a loved one during a pandemic is even harder. With the rituals of death upended - like the inability to have large gatherings during funerals, or even see the person before they die - one of the experts we talked to said she'd seen a rise in "complicated grief". That's where grief disrupts daily life, with extreme sorrow, isolation, and an inability to feel joy long after suffering a loss. KPCC'S Julia Paskin has more.

Why a Wind Power Company Wants to Breed Condors - a Controversial Solution to an Environmental Problem

LA Times reporter Louis Sahagun tells us about the coordinated effort to breed more California condors out of concern that their booming population in the state might be threatened by the spinning blades of wind turbines.

Guest:

Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times Reporter