California ‘Zoom Out’ protests against distance learning planned this week

A week-long “Zoom Out” protest by families and students frustrated with distance learning began on Monday, Sept. 28, a member of the organizing group Reopen California Schools said.

The protest calls for families to inform schools of their participation in the “Zoom Out,” request homework for students and log off distance learning online platforms, said Syndie Ly, an organizer with Reopen California Schools and a parent of four boys in the Tustin Unified School District.

“We all logged out,” Ly said.  “They want to go back to school.”

The protest arrives as the first public schools in Orange County have reopened to at least some in-person instruction, with more starting this week. There are some districts that have delayed returns to campus or not announced dates. Schools switched to distance learning after the coronavirus pandemic physically shuttered campuses in mid-March.

One of Ly’s boys is in high school, one is a seventh-grader and two are elementary school. Tustin started its elementary school students on a hybrid schedule of some in-person learning and some distance learning last week and its older grades follow suit this week. Reopen California School, a state-wide group with 7,000 members, wants a full return to in-person instruction to be an option for parents as soon as possible.

The Tustin and Irvine districts said Monday that their schools weren’t affected by the “Zoom Out.”

Earlier this month, Reopen California Schools held a rally at Tustin Unified’s Beckman High. The group says students are not adjusting well educationally or emotionally to distance learning and it has seen a lack of socialization lead to depression.