Schools likely closed for the rest of this academic year.
Decision to extend closure comes after recommendation by governor and state superintendent of schools
After last week’s recommendation from the governor and state superintendent of schools, six Bay Area counties announced Tuesday that schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year amid the threat of the coronavirus.
The decision comes a week after campuses throughout the Bay Area announced they would stay closed for in-person classes until May 1 — and after the schools received a letter from Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond saying schools likely would close for the academic year.
“Due to the current safety concerns and needs for ongoing social distancing it currently appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year,” Thurmond wrote.
Officials representing the counties of Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Marin said in a joint statement that they had reviewed their closure timelines after the comments made by Thurmond and Gov. Gavin Newsom last week. Oakland schools announced April 1 that they would remain closed for the school year.
As a result, schools already struggling to transition to at-home learning will have to ramp up their efforts to educate kids at home, a heavy lift for districts in the Bay Area with limited resources and high populations of students without regular uninterrupted access to the internet.
Schools won’t be closed entirely: They’ll remain open to distribute breakfasts, lunches and, in some cases, dinners for students in need. Facilities also will be open for child care.
“The decision to further extend closures is critical for maintaining social distancing and protecting the health and safety of all San Mateo County and Bay Area residents,” said San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow. “We will continue to work closely with school leaders and adjust our orders and guidance once the data reflects that we’ve significantly stemmed the spread of COVID-19.”
The extension of school closures is the latest example of several joint actions that six Bay Area counties have made to stem the spread of the coronavirus; they also include shelter-inplace orders, social distancing requirements and other safety measures.
“The decision to extend the campus closure dates throughout the Bay Area was made jointly with Public Health Officials, dis
trict superintendents and County Superintendents in the Bay Area region,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan. “While campuses cannot reopen this academic year, the 20192020 school year has not ended. The remainder of the school year will be focused on continuing education support for students through distance learning.”
San Francisco Unified School District officials said in a statement that they already were “preparing for extended school closures,” phasing in a learning plan districtwide and lending out computers before publishing a full distance-learning program this coming Monday.
Many districts are faced with the reality that teacher-student interaction will be limited to video lectures, phone calls and paper assignment packets for the rest of the academic year.
“We know that distance
learning comes with its own set of challenges, and we commit to provide students, families and educators with ongoing support,” said San Francisco Board of Education President Mark Sanchez. “We are working to find ways to stay connected, which will continue to help us learn together and celebrate important milestones.”
Harley Litzelman, a 10th and 12th grade history and government teacher at Skyline High School in Oakland, said the prospect of not returning to school will only worsen the precarious situation many of his students’ families are in.
Litzelman said he has seen firsthand in his classroom how families are dealing with loss of income and jobs, threats of eviction, and the “postponed threat of eviction” as Bay Area cities that have instituted eviction bans expect renters to pay back-rent.
He said he’s worried about how the school closures will affect educational achievement and the students’ ability to retain knowledge.
“I’m scared for my students in terms of their education and well-being,” Litzelman said. “There’s going to be a serious cost here. We already talk about the ‘summer slide.’ This will double that, let alone the social and emotional impact of living in toxic or abusive homes.”
Litzelman said his students complain most often about boredom and, as a result, he has seen more kids who are participating in his online classes and assignments.
But he worries that school districts across the Bay Area won’t have the same expectations for students who are forced to recreate a school environment at home. He said schools should adopt progressive grading, attendance and distance-learning expectations so that students are not penalized for not completing work.
“We can’t pretend we can do school as normal,” Litzelman said. “There are so many challenges just with the online format. My fiancée is a teacher, and we can’t have two Zoom calls at once at our apartment without it collapsing the internet.”