Most schools remain open until further notice as virus spreads.

Petitions to close schools have garnered thousands of signatures

While several Bay Area schools have closed and a few are mulling the same course of action as the coronavirus spreads, most are waiting to take their cue from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was scheduled to meet with school officials from across the state Monday afternoon to talk strategy.

On Sunday, Newsom said the likelihood of statewide school closures is increasing, and he invited representatives from the 58 county offices of education to the meeting.

“It’s a question of when — not if — some California public schools will face closure because of COVID-19,” Newsom said during a news conference in Oakland days after declaring a state of emergency in California. “School districts must prepare for these scenarios so that parents and children can plan for what would happen if their local school faced closure.”

But with no clear direction from the state other than to take precautionary measures, school districts are taking matters into their own hands as they face pressure from worried parents.

In Palo Alto, nearly 2,500 people have signed a petition asking the school district there to close all campuses.

On Feb. 28, the district sent two students home after receiving reports that one parent may have been exposed to the virus, though the students have not been diagnosed.

The petition asks district officials to immediately start an extended two-week spring break and provide online learning options for students who choose to study at home.

“We parents are calling out to the public to support us in our effort to request school closure to protect our kids, school staff and our community,” the petition says.

But district Superintendent Don Austin said Monday that there was “no reason for us to close schools” and switch to online instruction, although state standardized testing will be suspended because low student attendance could invalidate results.

“The short answer is, I think some districts are overpromising what’s possible to do with online instruction,” Austin said. “There would be a massive inequity for home online learning opportunities. Some homes would have no capability for online learning.”

A similar parent-driven petition circulating in Cupertino has garnered almost 3,500 signatures, roughly the same number the Northshore School District in Washington state received before it closed all schools Thursday.

At least one California school district isn’t waiting, though.

The Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento County — among the largest in the state — on Friday canceled classes and student-related ac

tivities through this Friday after the Sacramento County Public Health Department confirmed that a district family who tested positive for COVID-19 was quarantined.

In the Bay Area, some individual schools — mostly private and charters — have followed suit while others are doing deep cleans and developing strict precautionary measures.

In San Francisco, the all-boys Catholic Archbishop

Riordan High School announced Monday that it would close for a thorough cleaning after parents of one student tested positive for the coronavirus.

ICA Cristo Rey Academy said it would close until March 20 after discovering that a staff member had tested positive for the virus, although that person did not come into direct or prolonged contact with students or staff members.

Lowell High School also closed for classes Monday after learning that on Thursday, a relative of a district student was being treated for COVID-19. The private Presidio Hill School also closed Thursday but reopened a day later.

Oakland’s Aspire Monarch Academy charter school closed temporarily last week but reopened Monday.

Menlo School in Atherton closed Wednesday through the weekend after learning that a staff member had contact with a relative who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 3, but the school returned to classes Monday.

Meanwhile, the state is taking steps to ensure that the nearly 60% of

California students eligible for free or reducedprice meals have access to them even if their schools close.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved requests from Washington and California to let schools distribute meals to students at locations on and off campus in the event classes are closed.

The waiver, which will be administered by the California Department of Education in coordination with local school districts, will last through June 30.

“Under this waiver, students would be able to pick up meals and leave to consume them off-site,” California Department of Education employee Gurjeet Barayah said in an email.

For Nicole Matuil, an event planner living in Palo Alto, and her husband, Robert Meehan, a special education teacher at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, the news that Palo Alto Unified won’t be closing its schools elicited a sigh of relief.

Meehan said he was concerned about what might happen to some of his students — whose parents rely on the school district to provide care for their children with disabilities

— if parents are forced to take care of them all day.

“It’s easy for people who are stay-at-home moms or who have nannies, but it’s hard for us working parents,” Matuil said.

“I was very worried. I thought, what am I going to do now? My first thought was who is going to take care of my kids if I can’t find someone? How am I going to make a living? It’s already a tough thing living in Palo Alto, so it’s great news that the district won’t be closing.”