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DA District Administration
Virus spikes force big districts to go back to school online
Only Los Angeles and San Diego USDs cite unclear guidance from health officials and insufficient COVID testing
By: Matt Zalaznick
July 14, 2020
Several of the nation’s largest school districts, including Los Angeles
USD, Atlanta Public Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools, will
start the school year with full online learning due to spiking
coronavirus cases.
Los Angeles USD will reopen Aug. 18 and San Diego USD on Aug. 31, while
administrators work to return to in-person learning sometime during the
2020-21 school year, the districts announced in a joint statement.
New research on the spread of coronavirus and the experiences of other
countries were not enough to convince leaders that bringing students
and staff back to classrooms would be safe.
“Unfortunately, much of the research is incomplete and many of
the guidelines are vague and contradictory,” the systems said in the
news release. “One fact is clear: those countries that have managed to
safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and
on-demand testing available. California has neither.”
Systems leaders recognized that students, staff and administrators
would be disappointed by the decision, but said school districts need
more resources from the federal government to resume normal operations
safely.
Teachers will participate in expanded professional development in
online instruction while students will also receive more training in
remote learning. Parents also will get more support in helping
students with distance learning.
Administrators blamed some of the confusion on the American Academy of
Pediatrics, which reversed course last week and said it was no longer
confident that reopening schools would be safe.
“It is clear our two systems will need to create our own source for reliable scientific information,” the districts said.
Back-to-school with online learning
Across the country, officials at Metro Nashville Public Schools also announced classes would resume with fully online learning.
“This will allow social distancing, mask mandates, and other measures
to take effect and reduce the spread of COVID-19 before tens of
thousands of students and staff return to our schools, which could
spread the disease among our people and in the community if we aren’t
careful,” the district said in a statement.
Nashville officials said they had made significant improvements to
their online program based on lessons learned from remote instruction
this spring.
In Atlanta, new Superintendent Lisa Herring plans to move the first day
of school back to weeks to Aug. 24, when all students will begin the
year learning remotely. Online instruction will continue for at least
nine weeks, or until the city reaches at least moderate spread of COVID.
District staff will return to work on Aug. 3 for two weeks of virtual
pre-planning focused on instruction, safety and making family
connections.
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