Reopening update:
County officials can OK live classes, with cautions
Some elementary schools could get a waiver to open their doors. Here’s how.
SACRAMENTO — Many elementary schools in the Bay Area could be eligible to receive waivers to reopen for inperson learning, even if their counties haven’t hit state benchmarks in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, under guidelines the state released late Monday.
The guidelines from the California Department of Public Health largely leave it up to county health officers to decide whether elementary schools that want to reopen inclass instruction can do so, provided they follow strict safety protocols.
Schools will be allowed to open only if they are in counties where the case rate for the previous two weeks is less than 200 per 100,000 people. Every Bay Area county is currently below that threshold, according to a running state
tally.
That benchmark is double the figure that lands a county on the state’s monitoring list. Counties on that list must close various businesses.
Waivers for inperson classroom instruction will be available only for grades K6, even if the school includes pupils in higher grades. State officials said scientific data suggest young children are far less likely to shed and transmit the virus.
Dr. Erica Pan, California state epidemiologist and deputy director for the Center for Infectious Diseases at the Department of Public Health, said the guidelines are meant to balance the benefits of stayathome orders with the educational and social advantages children gain in an inperson classroom.
“When it is safe or safer, given the right conditions, we want to be able to get children back to inperson instruction,” Pan said. “There’s collectively a strong desire, in public health, to get our kids back to school when it’s safe.”
Many school districts across the state, including San Francisco, have already said they will start the year with remote learning and don’t have the resources to meet state guidelines for reopening inperson classes.
Some smaller districts, private schools and charter schools could face easier paths to obtaining waivers.
President Trump has been vocal about his desire for classrooms to reopen. Two weeks ago, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom said most California schools would not be able to have inperson classes until their counties can slow the spread of the coronavirus.
At the time, though, he said the state would allow elementary schools to apply for waivers. Under the guidelines released Monday, the superintendent of a district school or the principal or director of a charter or private school must be the one to file such an application.
The application must have the support of parents, labor unions and community groups. Schools must also comply with a host of state guidelines to provide face coverings, keep students socially distanced and disinfect classrooms.
Ultimately, local health officers must confer with the state Department of Public Health about whether to grant the waiver.
California also released new guidelines Monday for youth sports and physical education. The guidelines prohibit sporting events, such as tournaments and competitions, that would promote large gatherings.
Youth sports and recreation will be allowed only when 6 feet of social distancing is possible and a consistent group of participants can be maintained, the rules state. Face coverings are required for indoor recreation.
The California Interscholastic Federation, the body that oversees high school sports in the state, decided last month that fall sports would be delayed until at least January. Those sports include football, cross country, volleyball, water polo and field hockey.