SACRAMENTO — California's two largest school districts announced Monday they will start the upcoming school year with full distance learning as the state grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases.
Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified, which collectively enroll more than 700,000 students, issued a joint announcement that students will resume classes next month online with hopes of returning to physical classrooms sometime this school year "as soon as public health conditions allow.
"The decision defies growing pressure from President Donald Trump and his administration to reopen campuses when the school year begins.
But teachers have ramped up their opposition to campuses reopening in the fall, with the California Teachers Association saying last week that schools are not safe to open, citing a resurgence in cases and a need for more personal protective equipment and other supplies.
"Unfortunately, much of the research is incomplete and many of the guidelines are vague and contradictory. 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," district leaders said in a statement. "The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control."
The California Department of Education and the California Department of Public Health have offered a slew of recommendations for how schools should reopen in the face of the pandemic, but Gov. Gavin Newsom is leaving those decisions up to districts in a state that has long emphasized local control of education.