New Hermosa Beach Schools Superintendent Jason Johnson tackles the pandemic
Jason Johnson became Superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District on July 1, as cases of the coronavirus in the area were skyrocketing. Photo by Philicia Endelman by Ryan McDonald Six days into his tenure as the Superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District, Jason Johnson was told to prepare to keep campuses closed. The warning came July 7 in a conference call with Barbara Ferrer, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and other district leaders from around the country. Rapidly escalating case counts for COVID-19, Ferrer warned, meant that districts might have to continue with an exclusively distance-learning model when school resumes in the fall. “It seems to me what is happening in L.A. County from the Department of Public Health’s perspective is a crisis. I walked away from that conversation feeling very discouraged about the state of Los Angeles County. It was definitely a sobering conversation,” Johnson said in an interview. Johnson is beginning a new job in a new school district in the midst of what he called “the most dramatic change in education, ever.” He spoke on July 9, as he and other officials anxiously awaited…
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