This archive report was first published on 14 July 2020.
California's Largest School Districts Abandon Plans for Fall Reopening ¶
On July 13, 2020, California's two largest public school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, announced that instruction would be online-only in the fall, citing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
The decision came as Governor Gavin Newsom announced sweeping rollbacks of California's plans to reopen, including the closure of indoor operations for restaurants, bars, wineries, movie theaters, and zoos statewide.
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner stated, 'There's a public health imperative to keep schools from becoming a petri dish.'
The California decisions are the latest blow to President Trump's push to fully reopen schools across the country this fall, with districts, parents, and teachers struggling to maintain the education of tens of millions of K-12 students while keeping them and their teachers healthy and safe.
President Trump denounced the decision in Los Angeles, arguing that schools should resume because children wanted to attend. However, public health experts say the virus spreads quickly in poorly ventilated, closed areas, the condition of many American schools.
Across the country, school districts are taking a patchwork approach to reopening, with some districts opting for hybrid models and others choosing full-time remote learning.
Los Angeles and San Diego districts will maintain online instruction until local infection rates have been sufficiently lowered and public health authorities have put into place adequate testing and contact tracing systems.
Many parents, students, and teachers are still waiting to learn whether their districts will open this fall, with some districts adopting plans for full-time remote learning and others rolling back plans for in-person learning.
