The Brave News

by Lucas Garrison, Sports Editor

As the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, continues to have pandemic ramifications, the Bosco community finds itself the most recent victim of the fast-spreading global disease, as school administrators opt to suspend on-campus classes through at least next Friday. School will continue online for students starting next Wednesday via Schoology.

The Bosco community received an emailed statement from Principal Dr. Christian De Larkin at 8:16 pm Thursday night stating that a member of our community is in the process of being screened for the novel coronavirus. In response, the Brave administration decided to cancel school tomorrow Friday, March 13th through Monday, March 16th for faculty and staff. Next Tuesday, faculty and staff will return to receive training for online-based learning for students, which will resume beginning next Wednesday.

“Further details will be communicated regarding online learning guidelines and expectations. We will reevaluate school operations for the week of March 23 and update all early next week,” said Principal De Larkin in his emailed statement to the community.

In addition, all Bosco athletic events, both on- and off-campus, have been canceled through the end of march, according to Athletic Director Monty McDermott. This includes not just games but also practices and team workouts.

In surrounding areas, several other schools have continued to close their doors and either switch to online-based learning or remain closed for the time being, most notably Harvard- Westlake and Loyola High Schools.

While parents, students, teachers and school administrators deal with the crisis on the ground, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (ADLA) releases updates via its website as news breaks. As of now, there has been no official statement on whether or not they will be shutting down all churches and/or schools that fall under the Diocese, but concerned faithful can check their website, lacatholics.org, for updates.

“We will provide updated liturgical guidelines and accommodations regarding the celebration of Mass tomorrow morning,” ADLA said in a brief statement posted last night at 7:00 pm.

Other notable school closers include, North Hollywood’s Oakwood School, Studio City’s Campell Hall, Mar Vista’s Windward School, Chatsworth’s Sierra Canyon and Bel Air’s Marymount School. UCLA and USC are the two most notable universities in the area to close and switch to online-based learning.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) continues to evaluate whether or not they will shut down schools for the time being, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times. LAUSD’s 860 campuses potential shut down can result in containment and prevention of the spreading of Coronavirus, but the large question remaining is whether LAUSD will switch over to an online-based learning system in the interim.

In a Tweet Thursday night, ABC 7 reported that the LAUSD board called an emergency meeting to discuss the district’s ongoing response to the virus.

With many schools and universities closing campus and moving classes online, the question for families now is not if we will suspend on-campus activities, but how long this response will persist as the novel coronavirus reaches pandemic levels. For now, all we can do as civilians is follow the basic measures of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other public health officials: wash your hands often and thoroughly (if you can’t, in any case, use hand sanitizer), avoid touching your face, stay away from high-populated areas and if you present symptoms, stay away from others and contact your doctor immediately for screening.