Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), the second and 21st largest school districts in the United States, respectively, have announced that they will not be physically opening schools when the academic year starts as fears over the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) remain.
The decision was announced on July 13, as many school districts across the country continue to remain skittish with restarting in-person learning – the country continues to feel the crushing weight of the second wave of coronavirus infections. Some districts have decided to simply move back the start dates of their school years by up to several weeks. Others, like the LAUSD and the SDUSD, have opted to simply hold all their classes online for the upcoming academic year.
LAUSD's academic year begins on August 18, while the school year for the SDUSD starts on August 31. Both have defied the wishes of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who have threatened to cut federal funding from school districts that do not physically open their facilities for in-person learning.
“Those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control,” said the two school districts in a joint statement.
While the two school districts, which together account for around 750,000 students, have stated that they will rely on online instruction for much of the upcoming academic year, they have stated that they plan to return to in-person learning at some point, “as soon as public health conditions allow.”
Watch this episode of Brighteon Conversations with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he interviews Dr. Paul Cottrell, who warns about how the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is being used by authorities, including in the United States, to push for more tyrannical and Orwellian policies that will keep people imprisoned long after the worst of the crisis is over through mandatory testing, face mask requirements, stay-at-home orders and vaccine mandates.
Other school districts in California pledge to not reopen schools
A growing number of school districts in California have stated in recent weeks that they will be unable to reopen school campuses in the fall, especially if the state's coronavirus outbreak isn't handled with the level of efficiency necessary to make sure that children don't unwittingly fall victim to the virus. Among these school districts are Oakland Unified and San Bernardino City Unified, which have both committed to starting the new school year with online distance learning instead of holding physical classes. (Related: Coronavirus-enforced remote schooling hurts America's most vulnerable students.)
Unfortunately for advocates of reopening schools, this move is seen as very popular among school staff. In LAUSD, for example, a poll of the 35,000 members of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the main labor union representing non-administrative teaching staff in the district, showed that 83 percent of UTLA members agree with the LAUSD's decision to not physically reopen schools.
“Reopening schools will significantly increase the interaction between children and adults from different families,” said Austin Beutner, superintendent of the LAUSD, who agreed with the district's decision to focus on remote learning.
“A 10-year old student might have a 30-year old teacher, a 50-year old bus driver or live with a 70-year old grandmother. All need to be protected. There's a public health imperative to keep schools from becoming a Petri dish.”
Learn more about how various parts of American society are planning to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in the next few months at Pandemic.news.
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